Firetail hits VMS mineralisation right out of the gate at Skyline copper project

First diamond drill hole intersects shallow VMS (volcanogenic massive sulphide) mineralisation at the Skyline copper project
Result gives Firetail Resources confidence for future potential growth along this trend
Further drilling will test further updip and downdip of these mineralised zones

Special Report: Firetail Resources’ maiden diamond drill program at its Skyline copper project in Newfoundland, Canada, is off to a flying start with the intersection of shallow volcanogenic massive sulphide mineralisation in the first hole.

The first zone of massive, semi-massive and disseminated sulphides were intersected from a down-hole depth of 153m (135m real depth) while a second, visually more copper sulphide-rich, zone was intersected from a down-hole depth of 184.35m.

This second zone extends to a depth of 214.5m and is open both along strike and downdip.

Firetail Resources’ (ASX:FTL) managing director Glenn Poole said the company was encouraged to have such early successes from its maiden diamond drilling program at Skyline as it gave confidence for future potential growth along this trend where previous drilling had only targeted shallow sulphide lodes.

“This drilling reaffirms our belief that there is a broader system hosting multiple high-grade lenses within a mineralised corridor,” managing director Glenn Poole said.

“It is not uncommon for VMS systems to be blind from the surface and with no drilling up dip of the shallower massive sulphide intercept we are confident we will add further, shallow results to the mineralised inventory.

“The deeper sulphide intercepts broaden the scale of the system and we have multiple other opportunities from existing drilling to expand the footprint of mineralisation.”

Cross section of hole YH24-123 and planned drill holes with historical drill holes. Pic: Firetail Resources

Exploration push

The initial hole, which is part of a 5,000m program aimed at expanding upon the previous drilling completed to date by testing the extensional potential of defined mineralisation, was drilled to test both the updip mineralisation potential of the hanging wall mineralisation and the downdip potential of footwall mineralisation.

Its sulphide intersections have effectively served to bring the hanging wall mineralisation closer to surface and extrapolate the footwall mineralisation to depth across a 75m wide interpreted mineralised corridor.

Subsequent holes in the program will test both further updip and downdip of each of these mineralised zones within the broader mineralised corridors.

FTL will also conduct a systematic evaluation of the extensional potential along the 600m of strike with the aim of defining the extents of the mineralisation.

Additionally, the company will rank EM targets defined from a recently completed high resolution airborne EM survey across the initial project areas, which host 16km of prospective geological strike, and determine if they warrant drill testing.

Earlier this week, the company acquired four mineral claims adjacent to its existing ground under the current YHM earn-in agreement, increasing the total prospective strike length to over 25km.