Ardiden Limited’s (ASX: ADV) expanded drill programme has increased the strike length by 100m with final assays from its 2023 spring drill campaign at its 100% owned District-Scale Pickle Lake Gold Project in Northwestern Ontario, Canada.
Highlights
- Expanded drill programme has increased the strike length by 100m to the SE, taking the total length of higher-grade mineralisation to 600m.
- Planning is underway for a high-resolution magnetic geophysics survey and geological review covering the Dorothy and Dobie prospects portion of the Western Hub.
- A comprehensive review of all field costs is also underway to explore available options to reduce overall costs, enabling the drilling of more meters.
- West Zone results include confirmation of gold mineralisation in a new area of testing.
2023 Exploration Programme
Drilling commenced in early March 2023 with all holes planned to test the tertiary structure, herein referred to as the Dorothy Dobie trend, at the Dorothy Prospect. The Dorothy Dobie trend extends from the New Patricia Prospect through the historic Golden Patricia Mine which produced 619,796 oz Au @ 15.2 g/t Au1 between 1988-1997 travelling northwest (NW) towards and beyond the company’s West Prospect, spanning >35kms.
The results to date at Dorothy continue to build on the thesis that the geology in the Western Hub of the Pickle Lake Project is potentially significant,” MD and CEO, Greg Romain, said.
“The sheer complexity of the types of mineralisation we are encountering, the importance of the historical results, and the length of the strike we are trying to understand necessitates much deeper thought. Given the early stage and the new expertise I recruited to the project, we will take the required time to better understand the historic work completed in the region, including the geology at the historic Golden Patricia Mine. We plan to undertake a high-resolution magnetic geophysics survey to build a more robust plan for future drill programs.
“We will also use this time to undertake a comprehensive review of our drilling costs, including logistics, to reduce overall costs in order to drill more meters. I look forward to providing an update on our fall drill programme as soon as it is available.”
The 34-hole diamond drill programme totalled 5,473m, and was designed to test the extent of the mineralisation halo, along with the affinity to the presumed iron formation related sulphide sequence identified in Ardiden’s 2022 drill programme at both the Dorothy and Dobie prospects.
The assay results continue to drive the development of the company’s geological model, whilst adding further strength to our understanding of the shallow mineralisation zones within the Dorothy-Dobie Trend.
Initial results received from the first eight holes led to an extension of the programme towards a prospect historically known as the West Prospect, located approximately 1.6 km to the NW of the Dorothy Prospect.
