Heritage survey work will allow the company to test high priority targets. Pic: via Getty Images.
‘Tier-1 type discovery potential’: Hard drilling Strickland to test large Great Western and Rabbit Well prospects
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- Heritage surveys underway to clear the way for Strickland to test the Great Western and Rabbit Well prospects
- Great Western is just 5km west of the recent Marwari and Konik discoveries
- Rabbit Well has the potential to host massive sulphide mineralisation
- Major aircore drill program ongoing at Horse Well
With multiple emerging gold discoveries already in the bag, Strickland has started a heritage survey that will allow it to test the potentially massive Great Western and Rabbit Well targets within its Yandal and Earaheedy projects in WA.
Strickland Metals (ASX:STK) has more than doubled its market cap over the past month, thanks to some big discoveries during an major 50,000m aircore drilling program around the 148,000oz Horse Well prospect at Yandal.
The ~$130m capped company – cashed-up via the sale of the Millrose deposit to Northern Star for $61m — has surged to its highest point since May 2022.
Strickland now has an eye on Great Western, a compelling, large-scale, and entirely untested gold target ~5km due west of Horse Well’s Marwari and Konik discoveries.
Great Western is interpreted to be in the flexure of a regional granite body, which is an ideal structural setting for large, high grade orogenic gold deposits.
Here, a large surface geochemical anomaly coincides with promising geophysical anomalies and the intersection of critical northeast trending fault structures, shown to be of essential importance to high-grade mineralisation throughout Horse Well and Millrose.
Very promising indeed.
Drilling will also hit Rabbit Well, a 2.7km long dense gravity anomaly positioned at the Earaheedy Basin margin that is cut by two critical northeast trending interpreted ‘feeder structures’.
Significant base metal anomalism has been identified from shallow historic rotary air blast and aircore drilling.
The dense gravity anomaly is interpreted to be mapping potential massive sulphide mineralisation.
Additionally, 3D induced polarisation surveying over Rabbit Well has been completed with encouraging preliminary results.
Heritage survey and Horse Well drilling
Strickland has now started a heritage survey over Great Western and Rabbit Well, which will allow the company to expand its ongoing 50,000m aircore drilling program at Horse Well.
This program has already successfully intersected targeted shear zone and BIF unit in several regional areas along the Pegasus trend.
“With most of the key clearances already in place for Horse Well, successful completion of the survey will allow the company to test two additional high priority prospects at Great Western and Rabbit Well,” chief executive officer Andrew Bray said.
“Both targets offer tier-1 type discovery potential given their large scale. The targets, in combination with the ongoing Horse Well program, demonstrate Strickland’s flexibility to exploit multiple avenues to achieve significant exploration success for shareholders.
“Our primary Yandal gold exploration program is continuing at pace, with two additional rigs arriving at the project over the coming month – one RC rig arriving in the last week of October and one diamond rig arriving in the first week of November – allowing Strickland an aggressive drilling finish to the 2023 calendar year.
“These additional rigs will allow Strickland to immediately begin testing the highly exciting Marwari and Konik discoveries recently announced to the ASX, as well as undertaking initial drilling at Great Western and Rabbit Well.
“Horse Well is continuing to shape up as a very significant gold system. A number of keenly sought assays remain outstanding, most imminently from along strike at Marwari.”
Further exploration
The aircore rig will shortly move to start drilling south of Konik to start a systematic test along strike from the discovery hole before returning to the original systematic program across Horse Well.
This will test a number of promising areas with geological/geophysical similarities with Marwari, Konik and Pegasus.
Strickland is also awaiting the full dataset from the 3D IP survey over Rabbit Well as well as assays from drilling along strike at Marwari.
This article was developed in collaboration with Strickland Metals, 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.
