Battery Minerals Limited (ASX: BAT) has confirmed the potential for a gold discovery along the Coxs Find Trend with its latest exploration activities at the Stavely-Stawell Gold-Copper and Azura Copper-Nickel Projects in Victoria.
The Coxs Find high-grade gold target is defined by multiple high-grade rock chip results, up to 430g/t Au associated with sericite-silica-pyrite altered siltstone.
Recent AC results have further enhanced the scale and prospectivity of the Coxs Find area, highlighting a north-west trending gold corridor, >2500m long, with further shallow drilling results pending and detailed IP geophysics planned to commence in late-July 2022.
Results define a >160 m wide, open gold anomaly at the eastern end of an aircore traverse, including 8m @ 0.79 g/t from 27m, inc. 1m @ 4.94 g/t Au to end of hole (22BATAC136).
Aircore drilling forms a key part of the company’s exploration strategy, designed to define surface anomalism and enable effective ranking of targets for follow-up bedrock drill testing. The drilling activity covers multiple targets considered prospective for orogenic gold and copper-gold mineralisation within the Stawell Gold Corridor and Dryden Belt.
Results have been received from a further 127 holes for 4,057 metres, with a combined 629 holes for 24,436m completed to date (214 / 9971.3m in 2021, 415 holes / 14,465m in 2022, results pending for 236 holes).
The AC drilling results continue to define key bedrock target areas, including:
- >2500m open gold zone at Coxs Find, including anomalous end of hole AC results (8m @ 0.79g/t Au from 27m to EOH, inc. 1m @ 4.94g/t Au – 22BATAC136) and strong hypogene gold anomalism at surface, defined by multiple high-grade rockchip results, up to 430g/t Au
- >2000m open gold anomaly (>0.1g/t Au) at the Nine Mile Prospect, broadly coincident with the regionally prospective Moyston Fault and approximately 5km along strike from the historic Moyston Gold Mine (77koz at 22gpt Au)
- >800m gold anomaly (>0.2g/t Au) at the Frying Pan Prospect
- Broad gold anomalism in the Rutters Track district, defining multiple targets associated with the White Rabbit Diorite Expanding the company’s land access agreements from 3 in CY2021 to 17 in CY2022 has been a key element to accelerating AC coverage and assessment of targets.
AC drilling results from the Nine Mile area continues to extend the zone of gold anomalism, now stretching over 2km strike length at >0.1g/t Au and splitting into two zones associated with mafic units at the southern extents with the best results 1m @ 2.76g/t Au from 33m to EOH (22BATAC068).
Environmental permitting has been received with heritage clearance, earthworks and drilling planned in July-August 2022.
Target areas include:
- Olympio Target (copper): characterised by a discrete zone of conductivity (650m long at 100m depth) coincident with a concealed, likely structurally thickened portion of the Azura copper trend target stratigraphy
- Azura East Target (copper): defined by a discrete conductive VTEM anomaly, partly concealed and along strike from the prospective Azura copper trend stratigraphy
- Azura North Target (copper): located within the prospective Azura copper trend, defined by an approximately 120m wide zone of anomalous copper at surface with rockchip samples up to 9.7% Cu
- Russell’s Gossan Target (copper): defined by a widespread zone of strong surface copper anomalism, including up to 29.9% in rock chips (ASX BAT 22 June 2021)
- Trem Jones Target (nickel-copper): area is considered prospective for magmatic nickel-copper mineralisation, characterised by a zone of conductivity (>1,000m long at 100m depth) along strike from nickel-copper occurrences within in a rock sequence which hosts the nearby Savannah Ni-Cu-Co Mine.
