Tennant Minerals Limited (ASX: TMS) have intersected thick zones of hematite alteration and copper mineralisation in another three diamond drillholes completed in the Stage 1 follow-up programme at the Bluebird copper-gold discovery in Australia’s Northern Territory.
The drilling success has extended the Bluebird discovery to the west and a further 100m deeper to more than 250m below surface.
We are delighted that the follow-up diamond drilling program at the Bluebird copper-gold discovery continues to intersect significant thicknesses of copper mineralisation,” Chairman, Matthew Driscoll, said,
“Critically, the latest drilling has intersected the mineralisation a further 100m down-plunge to the west on a steeper orientation. This has now opened-up the potential for the Bluebird discovery to continue to much greater depth.
“We look forward to finishing our Stage 1 follow-up drilling, receiving the assay results and completing the drone-magnetics modelling and targeting. The results of these critical programmes will enable the company to target Stage 2 step-out drilling at Bluebird, and test other key targets within the 5km Bluebird corridor, to unlock the true potential of what is clearly a very exciting copper-gold discovery in this historic and well-endowed mineral field.”
Bluebird is located within the company’s 100% owned Barkly Project, 45km east of Tennant Creek township in the Northern Territory, and at the eastern edge of the Tennant Creek copper-gold Mineral Field.
The current drilling programme at Bluebird is designed to scope out and expand the footprint of the high-grade copper-gold mineralisation in two stages, totalling up to 4,500m of diamond drilling comprising:
- Stage 1 diamond drilling program of six holes for approximately 1,500m targeting the central thickest part of the shallow, westerly plunging copper-gold shoot – immediately down plunge from the previously reported thick and high-grade intersections, and a
- Stage 2 diamond drilling program of up to 10 step-out holes for 3,000m designed to significantly expand the footprint of the Bluebird discovery to over 300m strike length and over 300m vertical depth.
Proposed Stage 2 Bluebird Drilling Programme
Bluebird has similar dimensions, geometry and mineralogy to Castille Resources’ Rover 1 discovery in the southwestern part of the Tennant Creek Mineral Field. Like Bluebird, the Rover 1 mineralisation has a moderate to steep plunge that continues for over 500m down plunge from 300m to 850m depth below surface.
Castile recently announced a resource of 4.7Mt @ 1.63% Cu and 1.73 g/t Au for the Rover 1 deposit.
Other examples of typical Tennant Creek style deposits include the Warrego discovery of Peko-Wallsend that produced 6.75Mt @ 1.9% Cu, 6.6 g/t Au7 from 1972 to 1989 and the Peko deposit, only 20km west of Bluebird, that produced 3.67Mt @ 4% Cu, 3.5 g/t Au7 from 1954 to 1976.
The Bluebird discovery starts at only 60m below surface has only been tested to ~250m depth and is completely open at depth and down-plunge to the west. There is significant potential for the Bluebird discovery to continue at depth and to be of similar scale to the afore-mentioned deposits. The 55m intersection of strong to intense hematite and copper mineralisation from BBDD00121 has been submitted to Intertek Laboratories in Alice Springs for sample preparation ahead of assaying in Townsville. Drillcore from BBDD0013, BBDD0014 and BBDD0015 is currently being logged and cut for sampling and will be submitted for analyses shortly.
Following receipt of drilling results from this Stage 1 follow-up program and the results of the DHEM, Stage 2 step-out drilling will be initiated.
The Stage 2 holes will be designed to extend the testing of the Bluebird discovery at depth and along strike in order to scope the extent of the high-grade copper-gold mineralisation, that has the potential grow into one of the most significant new discoveries in the Tennant Creek Mineral Field.
