Zenith drills into ‘Snook’ copper-gold discovery at Develin Creek

Special Report: This maiden drill program will take about a week, Zenith (ASX:ZNC) says, with results expected about three weeks after.

In May, Zenith uncovered a brand new, very high-grade copper prospect called ‘Snook’ at the advanced Develin Creek volcanic hosted massive sulphide (VMS) project in Queensland.

VMS deposits are generally small, but very high in value. They also often occur in ‘clusters’, which means a VMS camp can be mined for a very long time.

This ‘clustering’ effect is already evidenced by Zenith’s current 2.57 million tonne resource for the Sulphide City, Scorpion and Window deposits at Develin Creek.

But Zenith’s ultimate goal is a 1mtpa operation for at least 10 years – which means finding a lot more metal.

The surface rock ‘signature’ at Snook is typical of a volcanic hosted massive sulphide (VMS) system.

Sampling returned high grade assays up to 7.58 per cent copper, 0.48g/t gold, 7.8g/t silver, 0.16 per cent lead and 0.3 per cent zinc.

A maiden six-hole RC drill program has now kicked off.

The deeper holes will be ‘cased’ for future downhole electromagnetic (DHEM) geophysical surveys to hunt of any ‘off-hole’ conductors that may represent sub-surface massive sulphide zones.

DHEM surveying involves sending a probe attached to a wire cable down a completed drill-hole.

The probe is able to detect conductive sulphide mineralisation off-hole, with the potential to “see” mineralisation up to 75m away.

Drilling will take about a week, Zenith says, with results expected about three weeks later.

“We have been systematically assessing the Develin Creek project for additional volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits to add to our existing JORC resource inventory,” Zenith Managing Director Mike Clifford says.

“VMS deposits commonly have very high in-ground values and generally occur in clusters.

“The Snook prospect is a compelling target and any success there has the potential to add significant value to the project and the company.”

Drilling activity at the Zenith’s core gold and copper projects in Australia is at an all-time high, Clifford says.

“In addition to the drilling at Snook (Devlin Creek), the board recently approved a major reverse circulation (RC) drill campaign to test the newly outlined 2km long gold target at the Split Rocks gold project in Western Australia,” he says.

“Drilling is also continuing at the Red Mountain gold project in Queensland with pre-collars recently completed for follow-up diamond drill testing of the newly discovered high-grade gold zone.”

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.