Upcoming drilling is looking to prove up a maiden silver-indium resource at Orient West. Pic via Getty Images.
Iltani says new drilling at its Orient silver-indium project in Queensland will set the scene for a maiden resource estimate
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- An 11-hole drill campaign at Orient West has begun
- Exploration backed by the QLD Government
- Orient contains Australia’s highest known grades of indium
Special Report: An 11-hole drill program is kicking off at the western end of Iltani Resources’ Orient project, which contains Australia’s highest known grades of indium – up to 1070g/t.
The QLD government has thrown its support behind Iltani Resources’ (ASX:ILT) Orient discovery as indium is a highly sought-after critical mineral used in coatings and tech applications such as semiconductors and TVs.
$299,000 was recently awarded to the explorer during Round 8 of the QLD Department of Resources’ Collaborative Exploration Initiative (CEI) to aid in proving up Orient’s silver-indium endowment.
Get those drills spinnin’
Previous drilling at Orient West was focused on a zone covering an 800m strike extent, with the bulk of that 12-hole RC drill program completed across half of that zone for 2550m.
The deepest drilling intersected mineralisation at a vertical depth of 220m, with multiple holes intersecting significant values 150m downhole.
The explorer’s upcoming 11-hole, 2300m drill campaign aims to infill some adjacent areas to the previous drill holes – particularly in the north-east where no drilling has been done before.
ILT says that will cover a 1800m strike extent and, dependent on results, will form the basis of eventual infill drilling to a 100m x 50m grid which will go towards an inferred resource estimate.
Previous and proposed drilling at Orient West. Pic: ILT
ILT MD Donald Garner says the 2024 exploration program at Orient is charged with delivering an initial JORC Resource estimate by the end of the season and continuing to explore the Orient system and test high-priority targets.
“The planned RC drilling at Orient West will seek to extend the known mineralisation over a 1800m strike length, enabling the estimation of an exploration target and forming the basis for subsequent infill drilling to estimate an initial resource estimate at Orient West,” Garner said.
“We also intend to drill one of the high-priority targets generated by the recently completed geophysical targeting exercise as part of our ongoing exploration activities at Orient.”
Drilling is expected to commence towards the end of April and take three to four weeks to complete.
Iltani personnel will shortly mobilise to Orient to mark out proposed RC drill holes and then commence First Nations clearance activities prior to spinning the drill bit.
“Following this, we will start the recently announced Orient Deeps diamond drill hole utilising funding from Round 8 of the QLD government’s CEI,” Garner said.
IItani will conduct a similar drill design program at Orient East to generate a separate initial resource estimate there.
This article was developed in collaboration with Iltani Resources, 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.
