Chalice Gold Mines Limited (ASX: CHN) has reported highly encouraging air-core (AC) drilling results from the Ironbark Target at its 100%- owned Pyramid Hill Gold Project in the Bendigo Region of Victoria.
The company’s 25,000m Phase 2 reconnaissance AC drill programme at the Ironbark, Karri and Beech targets continues in the Muckleford Area. A total of 55 AC drill holes for 5,389m have been completed at the Ironbark target, which is centred over an extensive >5ppb gold-in-soil anomaly with a peak value of 276ppb Au.
The Ironbark Target lies under 35-75m of Murray Basin cover, where Phase 2 AC holes were designed as a follow-up to the promising results generated from a single line of drilling in Phase 1. That programme intersected a broad zone of anomalous gold (>25ppb Au) extending over seven consecutive 100m-spaced AC holes, with a peak value of 1m at 1.1g/t Au associated with quartz veining in a diorite intrusion.
The Phase 2 AC drilling has intersected several broad zones of anomalous gold, principally associated with the contact between the Ironbark Diorite and Castlemaine Group sediments and within the Ironbark Diorite itself.
Anomalous gold (>25ppb Au) was intersected in basement over an area of approximately 500m x 500m and is broadly coincident with the interpreted outline of the Ironbark Diorite.
Several highly encouraging, wide >0.25g/t Au intervals were intersected over an ~600m long ENE trending secondary dispersion zone, immediately above the fresh rock interface.
Results to date show that the anomalous gold zone is largely open to the west and open along strike to the north-east and south-west.
The anomalous gold zone also has an extensive, coincident arsenic footprint, extending over an area of ~3.2km x up to 2.2km, which is open to the south-west and north-east.
Managing Director Alex Dorsch said the extensive footprint of anomalous gold and arsenic is viewed as very encouraging, given the limited amount of target basement drilled to date.
Drilling has also confirmed that an additional circular magnetic anomaly, located ~2km to the north-west of the Ironbark Diorite, is also a diorite intrusion. Assay results from these drill holes are pending.”
An additional 3,000 – 5,000m of AC drilling is planned in Q4 2019 (Phase 3) to in-fill and extend drill coverage on several existing lines and also step-out along strike to further refine the footprint of gold anomalism and define structural zones of interest. Planning for a phase of diamond drilling has also now commenced.