M3 Mining Limited (ASX: M3M) continues to grow its El Capitan prospect with promising results from a follow-up aircore drilling programme at the Edjudina Gold Project, located approximately 150km northeast of Kalgoorlie, WA.
Consisting of 74 holes for 3,182m, the programme was designed to test the extent of surficial mineralisation of the recently discovered prospect. El Capitan is believed to be situated on a splay structure to the major regional Keith-Kilkenny fault which hosts operating gold mines; Carosue Dam and Thunderbox, as well as gold developments; Lake Roe and Apollo Hill.
As outlined in prior announcements, El Capitan is a coarse-gold mineralised prospect. Whilst no further intensely high-grade zones were intersected, the identification of widespread anomalous gold mineralisation indicates the presence of a potential larger system and further drilling along strike and at depth in the primary zone is warranted.
M3 Mining is pleased to announce that gold mineralisation at the El Capitan prospect continues to the north and south of the previously intersected high-grade zone,” executive director, Simon Eley, said.
“This is a strong result as it confirms the exceptional high-grade results from EDJAC164 resides in an anomalous surficial footprint of at least 400m long by 100m wide. We have just scratched the surface with only two rounds of aircore drilling.
“The company is developing plans for a follow-up drill programme utilising RC drilling to test the depth extent of high-grade mineralisation encountered in the scout drilling. M3 Mining eagerly awaits the next round of drilling as we look to uncover more insights into the spectacular mineralisation.”
The recently completed programme consisted of 74 holes for 3,182m of aircore drilling across three different prospects. Following the El Capitan discovery from scout drilling earlier in the year, the current round of drilling was designed to test the extent of surficial mineralisation surrounding the previously drilled scout line.
The recent drilling successfully defined gold mineralisation 200m to the north and south of prior drilling bringing the total outlined strike length of the prospect to 400m.
Highlight intersects include: 4m at 1.09 g/t Au from 76m, 8m at 0.56 g/t Au from 20m and 4m at 0.53 g/t Au from 20m.
The El Capitan prospect is a newly defined area that had not seen any drilling prior to M3 Mining. The region has been surveyed by multiple generations of soil sampling from other companies in the past, first in the 1990’s and again in the 2000’s.
Both programmes identified moderate gold-in-soil anomalism that stretches over approximately 2km of M3 Mining’s tenure. The Company has now partially tested 400m of this anomaly and has encountered gold anomalism exceeding 0.1 g/t Au in every line drilled.
DroneMAG Survey
In July, a DroneMAG survey was commissioned to provide the company with a greater understanding of the geology surrounding the El Capitan prospect. The survey covered six square kilometres and utilised tight line spacing of 25m to acquire a detailed and thorough magnetic dataset of the area.
Mineralisation intersected at El Capitan sits in a localised magnetic low that is bounded to the east and west by magnetic highs. Future drilling programs at El Capitan are planned to extend much deeper into the fresh rock which will allow measurement of the magnetic signature of the bedrock. The relationship between mineralisation and magnetic signatures of the prospect will then be better understood.
