Taiton readies for drilling at Highway project in SA’s Gawler Craton with approval locked in

The delivery of approval from the Department of Mines and Energy in South Australia has paved the way for drilling to begin at Taiton’s Merino prospect at the Highway project.

Now that the drilling approval is locked in, Taiton Resources (ASX:T88) plans to take a staged approach to exploring the Merino prospect with an initial reverse circulation (RC) drilling program consisting of 3,000m and the provision to expand based on drilling capabilities and geological observations.

The systemic approach is key to exploring the prospect due to the potential scale in area (3.7km by 2.6km), depth (>500m from surface), and the style of mineralisation.

With a drilling contractor engaged and geological crews set to mobilise at the Highway project in later this month, T88 says the initial focus will be on high-priority targets identified from historical shallow geochemical anomalism in radiometric imagery and the recent IP survey.

To date the company has identified geochemical anomalism and alteration signatures which support the presence of a magmatic hydrothermal system driven by an interpreted intrusion.

Time to prove up prospectivity

“The time has finally come for Taiton to prove the prospectivity of the Highway project,” T88 managing director Noel Ong says.

“It has taken a lot longer than we would have liked to get to this stage, but nonetheless we are extremely excited to be finally able to begin our drilling stage.

“The drilling program will begin a steady flow of news in the coming months and will hopefully outline the steps in unveiling a new mineral system in South Australia.”

Drilling to provide the answers

A geological model is yet to be determined with potential for the interpreted intrusion to lend itself to a molybdenum porphyry system or in a recent in-house interpretation to a potential polymetallic greisen.

T88 says the drilling program will identify potential mineralisation and the type (metal content) while also looking to confirm and understand the geological setting of the prospect.

“The pending results from the UltraFine soil survey will hopefully allow the company to start looking deeper into the Merino prospect, and begin testing the other prospective parts of the highway project,” Ong adds.

This article was developed in collaboration with Taiton 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.