• Regional structural trends identified in the geological assessment and targeting study indicate significant upside to the current JORC-compliant exploration target for San Jose
  • Varsican says the new targets are already being drill-tested as part of the ongoing underground campaign 
  • The company’s planning and permitting is well advanced to conduct a surface drilling campaign over the 9km Novales-Udias trend in Q2 

 

Special Report: Variscan Mines has a bundle of new drill targets to test following a geological assessment and structural targeting study with world-renowned expert Dr Brett Davis at the San Jose mine in northern Spain. 

Variscan (ASX:VAR) commissioned Dr Brett Davis to work alongside its in-country technical team to provide an understanding of the controls on zinc-lead mineralisation within the Novales-Udias trend. 

The program, which was designed for VAR to gain a better insight into the potential for extensions of the known ore trends, both within the mine area and beyond, consisted of a very detailed underground mapping of geological relationships along the full strike of the San Jose mine development. 

VAR says this exercise has constrained the structural and geological history of the San Jose zinc deposit, resulting in a significantly improved understanding of the complex sequence of structural events and the discrete populations of structures associated with them. 

 

New targets 

Variscan Mines (ASX:VAR)
Approximate orientation of the dominant D1 and D2 structures overlaid with existing mine development at the San Jose Mine. Pic: Supplied (VAR)

This fieldwork and extrapolation of the structural trends highlighted priority exploration targets, where the D1 and D2 structures intersect. 

According to VAR, these zones of increased permeability favour the deposition of zinc-lead mineralisation and are now considered a high priority target for in-mine drilling. 

“These findings provide a more complete understanding of the influences giving rise to the ore bodies within the San Jose and Udias mine systems,” VAR managing director Stewart Dickson said. 

“The outputs from this work are valuable exploration vectoring tools for the discovery of additional mineralized lenses along and across strike.

“We are already applying the findings and have commenced drill-testing the new targets identified within the San Jose mine.” 

 

What’s next? 

Assays are pending from underground drilling conducted in Q4 2023 and will be released shortly, with further drilling results to follow. 

VAR’s planning and permitting is well advanced for a surface drilling campaign over the 9km Udias-San Jose-Novales Trend in Q2 this year.

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Variscan Mines, 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.

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