Alta Zinc Limited’s (ASX: AZI) international drilling and contract mining company Edilmac SRL has recommenced underground drilling at Pian Braccawithin in Gorno Project in Italy.
Managing Director Geraint Harris said Alta’s geologists have identified high priority step-out drilling zones accessible currently from underground, which are designed to test the extension of the known mineralisation to the west, north and south.
At the same time the company’s geology team have been continuing regional surface mapping and reconnaissance with the aim of identifying additional high priority mineralisation, which is both proximal to Gorno and evident along the regional geologic trend.
Our team has been working on site throughout May and June to both extend our regional exploration knowledge and identify additional high priority drilling targets close to the Pian Bracca and Ponente areas,” Mr Harris said.
“I am also delighted that our contractor has been able to re-start drilling so quickly and that it is back to ‘business as usual’ for Alta in Italy.
“Our recent successful capital raise and the rapid restart of our drilling puts us in a good position to generate strong news-flow whilst we continue to expand the extent of known mineralisation at Gorno”.
The company’s recent Pian Bracca drilling campaign defined multiple strongly mineralised horizons over a strike length of approximately 415m. The new drilling programme is aimed at expanding that to the west towards the Zorzone resource and also to the north and to the south.
Mr Harris said initially drilling in this campaign will progress west from Pian Bracca, towards hole GDD097, which is 260m along-strike of the recently drilled hole PBD16. This aims to test the extent to which the thrust-style mineralisation extends towards the Zorzone Resource area.
Underground exploration and geologic mapping, c.180m to the south of recent Pian Bracca drilling, has identified the presence of Pian Bracca thrust-style sulphide mineralisation in the sidewalls on three levels (990RL, 1040RL and 1054RL), therefore providing clear evidence of the extension of the thrust-style mineralisation and that it can also be present on multiple horizons.
Core drilled prior to the shut-down has now been dispatched to the assay laboratory. Alta’s geologists have also been carrying out exploration and sampling, to investigate the regional Resource growth potential of the district.