Codrus has struck gold at Red Gate. Pic: Getty
Enter the drilling: Codrus tastes blood at the Red Gates with high-grade gold hits
Mining
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Codrus Minerals’ maiden drilling at the Red Gate gold project is generating excitement with assays returning high-grade intersections within thick, ore-grade zones.
Notable hits include 1m at 21.35 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 80m down-hole (RGRC011), 5m at 14.29g/t gold from 27m within a broader 23m zone at 3.82g/t gold from 14m (RGRC002), and 24m at 1.04g/t gold from 42m (RGRC003).
The results demonstrate the presence of high-grade gold at Red Gate and are expected to improve Codrus Minerals’ (ASX:CDR) geological understanding of the project and help guide future drill targeting.
“The results not only confirm the style and tenor of mineralisation at the Porphyry West prospect but have also identified additional new areas for the company to pursue,” managing director Shannan Bamforth said.
“We are pleased to be able to report such strong results from our first expansive gold drilling program in WA, and we are looking forward to getting back into the field to resume drilling once we have finalised a comprehensive interpretation of our latest results for the full drill program.
“The results to date confirm that Red Gate is a project with significant potential. Given its location in a Tier-1 mining district close to several major operating mines, this is a project that is very much front and centre of our portfolio as a focus for follow-up exploration in 2022 and beyond.”
Assays are still pending for 40% of the holes that were drilled late last year.
Red Gate project
Red Gate consists of one granted exploration licence covering 145.2sqkm in the Edjudina district about 140km north of Kalgoorlie and immediately along strike from Northern Star Resources’ (ASX:NST) 1.14Moz Porphyry Mining Centre.
Historical exploration carried out in the project area had predominantly focused on the Porphyry North prospect with shallow rotary air blast, aircore and reverse circulation drilling targeting gold.
Numerous regional airborne and ground geophysical surveys have also been conducted, as well as some soil sampling.
A gradient array induced polarisation survey showed a positive correlation between chargeability and mineralisation at Porphyry North.
Codrus’ 2,980m RC drill program was designed to test IP anomalies, down-dip and down-plunge extensions of known mineralisation and to investigate under soil anomalies.
Assays received to date cover the Porphyry West, Arieta, Vonu, and Grunters targets.
The thick 23m at 3.82g/t gold intersection was made at Porphyry West, providing significant confidence in historical drilling about 25m along strike that had returned results such as 12m at 9.16g/t gold from 8m and 15m at 1.13g/t gold from 22m.
Prospective
Meanwhile, RGRC011 (1m at 21.35g/t gold) also encountered minor mineralisation of 16m at 0.30g/t from 85m to the end of hole but was unable to penetrate further to test the lower granite contact, which is currently believed to be more prospective.
In addition, while drilling of IP chargeability anomalies at Arieta and Vonu did not return significant intersections, drilling at the Grunters geochemical anomaly returned 8m at 0.57g/t gold from 20m and 4m at 0.36g/t gold from 32m. A very encouraging result for the first drilling at this never before drilled greenfields target.
Further work
The company believes once the remaining assays are received, it will gain a better understanding of the Porphyry West and the other prospects drilled in this program.
It is particularly interested in the correlation of mineralisation to pyrite, the applicability of using Induced Polarisation geophysical surveys as a proxy for mineralisation, and the generation of the project’s first structural geology model.
All composite samples that received a significant intersection will have single metre samples submitted for analysis to gain a clearer picture of the mineralisation.
This article was developed in collaboration with Codrus Minerals, 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.
