Antipa Minerals Limited (ASX: AZY) and partner Rio Tinto have commenced the Citadel Joint Venture Project 2020 Exploration Programme in Western Australia’s Paterson Province.
To be operated and fully funded by Rio Tinto, the Citadel 2020 Exploration Programme includes:
- Approximately 13,000m (5,000m diamond plus 8,000m reverse circulation) of resource drilling to test potential extensions and further define and improve ore body knowledge at the Calibre deposit which is located 45km from Rio Tinto’s Winu copper-gold project;
- Continuation of the Gradient Array Induced Polarisation (GAIP) Survey programme across structural corridors prospective for gold and/or copper mineralisation; and
- Processing and interpretation of the data from the airborne gravity gradiometer survey completed in late 2019 (AGG Survey).
The budgeted cost of Citadel 2020 Exploration Programme is $9.2 million inclusive of the AGG Survey undertaken in late 2019.
Prior to limited drilling completed in 2019, the Calibre deposit had a strike length of approximately 1.6km, was up to 480m thick and open in all directions to produce an Inferred Mineral Resource of 47.7Mt at 0.85 g/t gold, 0.15% copper and 0.48 g/t silver for 1.3Moz of gold, 69.5kt of copper and 0.73Moz of silver.
Antipa Managing Director, Roger Mason, says Calibre represents a very large-scale mineral system with material potential gold-copper exploration upside under just 80m of cover and located only 45km east of Rio Tinto’s Winu copper- gold project.
Mr Mason said the final Citadel 2020 Exploration Programme has been designed to ensure the safety and well- being of all Citadel Project stakeholders including local indigenous groups, employees and contractors and to also comply with government restrictions aimed at stopping the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
