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The mineralised footprint at Earaheedy zinc-lead discovery just increased by 44pc
Mining
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The zinc-lead envelope at the Chinook Zinc-Lead discovery – a potential company maker for joint venture partners Zenith Minerals and Rumble Resources – is running 4.1km long and 1.9km ‘down dip’. It remains open in all directions.
The Earaheedy Joint Venture Project – Zenith (ASX:ZNC) 25%) , (Rumble (ASX:RTR) 75% is ~ 110km northeast of Wiluna, WA.
In April 2021, the JV partners announced a major zinc-lead discovery at the Chinook prospect. This could be a large SEDEX style system, say the JV partners, who are neck-deep into a large 40,000m drilling blitz trying to define the limits of mineralisation.
Sedimentary exhalative deposits (SEDEX) are monstrous accumulations of zinc and lead, responsible for 25% of global zinc and lead production, and six of the 10 largest active zinc mines globally.
They are also an important source of silver and copper.
New results for 51 RC drill holes and two ‘Sonic’ drill holes form part of the ongoing ‘drill scoping’ of Chinook.
So far, this drilling has extended the size of the zinc-lead discovery by 44%.
Highlight results from the sonic drilling — which provides core samples for geological interpretation and metallurgical test work — included 19m @ 6.10% zinc and lead, 8.52 g/t silver from 55m.
Chinook remains open with plenty of room to grow.
There are still plenty of other targets still to test along the 17km of mineralised strike in the JV ground.
The current 40,000m drilling program will likely be expanded again to the enlarging mineralised footprint, JV operator Rumble says, highlighting the value of Zenith’s free carried interest in the joint venture.
“We are very pleased to finally being able to provide an update on drilling carried out on the Earaheedy Zn-Pb Joint Venture located in Western Australia (ZNC 25% free carried equity to BFS). A further expansion of the mineralised footprint to 4.1km x 1.9km is a great achievement, particularly as we are also seeing the higher-grade Zn-Pb zones holding together as the drill density is increased”, Zenith’s CEO Clifford said.
“In addition, the results from the first two holes in the sonic twin hole program alleviates any concern over the RC drilling methodology”.
Nearly 35,000m of RC drilling has been completed at Earaheedy with only 9,000m of RC assay results (~25%) reported so far.
“The JV operators comment that they are particularly excited about new prospects currently being drilled, ensures that news flow will continue from this exciting discovery” says Clifford.
This article was developed in collaboration with Zenith Minerals, 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.
