Conico's drilling and rock chip sampling has highlighted the potential extent of mineralisation at Mestersvig. Pic: via Getty Images
High-grade drilling, rock chips highlight scale of Conico’s Mestersvig project
Mining
share
Drilling at Conico’s Mestersvig project in east Greenland has returned high-grade lead and zinc intercepts at both the Blyklippen and Sortebjerg prospects.
Notable results include 5.6m grading 2.7% lead, 2.2% zinc and 9.2 grams per tonne (g/t) silver from a down-hole depth of 203.95m in hole BKDD003 at Blyklippen and 4.5m at 23.8% zinc from 134m in hole SBDD003 at Sortebjerg.
Conico (ASX:CNJ) noted that the mineralisation intersected by the drilling, which was completed during the 2022 field season, is analogous to the Blyklippen mine that produced 545,000t at 9.3% lead and 9.9% zinc between 1956 and 1962.
Importantly, the drilling confirmed the potential for additional discoveries along a fault structure running for 9km between the Blyklippen and Sortebjerg prospects and on other identified sub-parallel fault structures in the project area.
Highlighting the potential scale of the project, rock chip samples collected in 2022 have returned high-grade assays of up to 22.5% lead, 3.6% zinc, 3.1% copper and 226g/t silver at the Holberg, Nuldal, and Sortebjerg prospects.
“Both drill intercepts from Blyklippen and Sortebjerg together with high-grade rock chips at the Holberg, Nuldal and Pingo Dal, suggest an ore district at Mestersvig stretching over 40km north to south,” executive director Guy le Page said.
“The district contains multiple graben-related faults with quartz-vein hosted lead-zinc-silver plus copper mineralisation similar in style to the historical Blyklippen Mine where 545,000 tons of ore at 9.3% lead and 9.9% zinc were extracted in the ‘50s and ‘60s.
“Significantly, the area has only been lightly touched by modern exploration with multiple undrilled, high priority, prospects.”
Exploration results
While the 2022 drill program was limited to a small extent of the known vein-bearing fault structures, it nonetheless confirmed that lead-zinc-copper-silver mineralisation is present not just adjacent to the historical Blyklippen Mine but also throughout a wider part of the Mestersvig project area.
The company also noted that the combination of high-grade mineralisation intersected down dip from Blyklippen and along strike from previous drilling at Sortebjerg as well as high-grade galena-bearing rock chips from the Nuldal and Holberg veins, confirms its geological model and shows the exploration potential of the project area.
A review of historical exploration reports from the 1960s and 1970s has also noted high-grade lead and silver reported in rock samples 38km south of Blyklippen at a prospect now referred to as Pingo Dal.
Sixty-four of 145 historical samples from Pingo Dal are reported as having >1% lead with 13 samples having >50% lead (Appendix 8).
The similarities in metals, grades and geology of Pingo Dal to Blyklippen adds further weight to the suggestion that the Mestersvig ore-district stretches out over a broader extent than was previously known.
This article was developed in collaboration with Conico (ASX:CNJ), 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.
