Antipa Minerals Limited (ASX: AZY) and Rio Tinto have significantly increased the budget and scope for a revised Citadel Joint Venture Project 2020 Exploration Programme to $9.2 million after a major review.
The Citadel 2020 Exploration Programme, to be operated and fully funded by Rio Tinto Exploration Pty Limited, was under review to consider both the potential impact of COVID-19 virus related restrictions and precautions, in conjunction with ongoing reviews of the resource potential of the Calibre gold-copper deposit.
The new budget is substantially higher than the previous estimated 2020 exploration programme of $2 million as announced by Antipa in late January 2020.
In January this year, Rio Tinto elected to proceed with the next stage of its earn-in into the Citadel Project and has the right to spend an additional $14 million within five years to increase its interest in the Citadel Joint Venture from 51% to 65%.
The Citadel 2020 Exploration Programme will now encompass:
• Up to 13,000m combined diamond and reverse circulation resource drilling programme to test potential extensions and further define and improve ore body knowledge at the Calibre gold-copper deposit which is located 45km from Rio Tinto’s Winu copper-gold development project – with drilling expected to commence this Quarter;
• Continuation of a Gradient Array Induced Polarisation (GAIP) Survey programme across structural corridors prospective for gold and/or copper mineralisation on the Citadel Joint Venture Project tenements – prioritising areas which have had limited (or no) testing of the basement by drilling – which is expected to commence this Quarter (subject to certain access requirements);
• Processing and interpretation of the data from the airborne gravity gradiometer survey completed in late 2019 (AGG Survey); and
• An ongoing review of the Calibre drilling results and broader Magnum Dome modelling to identify further priority target areas, especially for higher grade mineralisation.
Prior to limited drilling completed in 2019, which intersected substantial gold-copper mineralisation significantly beyond the limits of the resource, 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 Resource0F 1 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.
Calibre represents a very large-scale mineral system with mineralisation open in several directions underneath approximately 80m of more recent sedimentary cover and located 45km east of Rio Tinto’s Winu copper-gold development project.
Antipa said the Citadel 2020 Exploration Programme and Budget will be subject to ongoing review based on results, field conditions, contractor availability and pricing and other relevant matters.
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