Eagle Mountain Mining’s latest drilling results at the Oracle Ridge project in Arizona, US, have extended mineralisation – boosting the company’s confidence in improving the current resource.

The project hosts a JORC resource of 12.2Mt at 1.51% copper, 16.3g/t silver, 0.19g/t gold for 184kt copper, 6.4Moz silver and 73,000oz gold.

“Resource expansion drilling at Oracle Ridge remains a key focus and these recent results confirm our view that there is more mineralisation to be found,” Eagle Mountain Mining (ASX:EM2) CEO Tim Mason said.

“The step-out drilling to the south of the Eastern Talon strongly indicates that mineralisation extends in this direction with both good thickness and grade.

“At the Western Talon, drilling intercepted multiple zones of broad alteration which shows that extensive amounts of fluids have travelled through this area, and we are currently targeting the sweet spots within this large system.

“Broad, lower-grade mineralisation was intercepted which has potential to build the contained metal content in the MRE.

“Finally, results from our second infill resource hole, which aims to enable measured resources to be defined, strongly supports the existing JORC model.”

Eastern Talon zone extended

Assay results from two holes at the Eastern Talon zone have extended the mineralisation by a further 45m to the south, and include:

  • 13m at 1.68% copper, 13.84 g/t silver and 0.35 g/t gold (WT-21-23);
  • 3.4m at 3.14% copper, 29.05 g/t silver and 0.28 g/t gold (WT-21-22); and
  • 2.1m at 4.30% copper, 38.20 g/t silver and 0.29 g/t gold (WT-21-22) within a 14.1m mineralized zone.

The company believes the results suggest the contact mineralisation is still open to the south and east with some potential also remaining to the west – with several drill holes planned to assess the area.

Western Talon exploration

At the Western Talon zone, three broad zones of alteration have been confirmed, with prospectivity increasing towards the south and multiple assays pending.

Results from two holes include:

  • 2.5m at 2.36% copper, 19.20 g/t silver and 0.75 g/t gold (WT-21-19); and
  • 1.9m at 1.59% copper, 13.00 g/t silver and 0.51 g/t gold (WT-21-21);

The results confirm the potential of the area to host multiple, mineralised stacked lodes, with drilling ongoing.

Potential for ‘measured’ resources

The second hole in the company’s resource upgrade program also returned strong results – which support the potential for defining ‘measured’ resources.

Significant intersections included:

  • 17.5m at 1.80% copper, 15.38 g/t silver and 0.27 g/t gold (WT-21-20) including 6.8m at 2.60% copper, 22.24 g/t silver and 0.43 g/t gold (WT-21-20);
  • 11.8m at 2.30% copper, 23.71 g/t silver and 0.34 g/t gold (WT-21-20); and
  • 11.7m at 2.06% copper, 27.88 g/t silver and 0.26 g/t gold (WT-21-20).

Drilling ongoing

“Drilling is ongoing with two rigs focusing on resource expansion drilling while the third rig is targeting prospective alteration areas at Golden Eagle, two kilometres to the east of the mine portals,” Mason said.

“We are awaiting assay results from a further 15 drill holes which are currently in the assay lab.”

The resources at Oracle Ridge include a spread of both high and low-grade mineralisation and the company is confident that – at lower cut-off grades – there is significantly more contained metal.

This provides potential upside for a future mining operation, especially as commodity prices increase.

 

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Eagle Mountain Mining, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

 

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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