Lode restarts high grade silver drilling at Webbs Consol

Special Report: Lode Resources is revving up the drills at its Webbs Consol silver project in NSW.

A key objective of the 2,200m, 17-hole program is to test for extensions at discovered lodes with multiple high-grade silver intercepts close to surface.

One of those is the Lode Resources (ASX:LDR)’s Webbs Consol North prospect which has yielded intercepts like 21 metres at 122 g/t silver equivalent from just 2m, with high-grade zones such as 779 g/t silver equivalent over 3 metres.

Lode will also do more testing at the Castlereagh prospect where there have been intercepts including 50 metres at 224 g/t silver equivalent from 17 metres, with standout zones such as 801 g/t silver equivalent over 4.1 metres.

Additional to the extension work, Lode will drill untested surface silver occurrences including at the Canoon prospect where selective grab samples have returned up to 126 g/t silver.

Also promising for Lode is that earlier follow-up holes have often shown high-grade mineralisation is contiguous at depth, with silver mineralisation showing continuity throughout both the upper lead-rich and the lower zinc-rich zones.

“We haven’t spoken to the market since the mid-March quarter about Webbs Consol but we have been working hard to configure this drill program at the project,” said Lode managing director Ted Lescke, speaking exclusively to Stockhead.

“The silver price is top of mind for a lot of investors these days and we are keen to get the rigs turning at our existing discoveries and follow up what are some pretty chunky intercepts, of up to 800g/t silver equivalent.

“We hope to have assays from the program in hand over the September quarter.”

Rich potential

So far most of extension drilling has been at the Tangoa West prospect where 12 drill holes have intercepted exceptionally high-grade silver mineralisation down to 300m.

A couple of top hits to date include 116.1 metres at 721 g/t silver equivalent from 90.9 metres and 149.2 metres at 455 g/t silver equivalent from 98 metres.

Lode’s aggressive exploration comes as the global silver deficit threatens be the second highest on record this year, with industrial demand – especially from the clean energy sector – reaching a new high.

Lode also recently announced it was planning more drilling at the Uralla Gold Project to boost its understanding of the project’s intrusive related gold system (IRGS) potential.

Lode has built up an impressive 1700km2 landholding in the New England Fold Belt, where mining giants Fortescue and Newmont Corporation have recently settled in as neighbours.

Webbs Consol is also just 10 kilometres to the southwest of Thomson Resources 100% owned Webbs silver project, where Lode owns a 2% Net Smelter Royalty. Lode additionally has right of first refusal over the project containing a significant undeveloped JORC mineral resource estimate of 2.2 Mt at 205 g/t silver equivalent for a contained 14.2 Moz silver equivalent.

This article was developed in collaboration with Lode 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.