Western Australian-focused gold explorer Torque Metals Limited (ASX: TOR) has secured two Reverse Circulation (RC) rigs and has re-commenced drilling at the company’s wholly-owned Paris Project located on the richly gold endowed Boulder-Lefroy Fault Zone, south east of Kalgoorlie.
Drilling will follow-up the first phase drilling which resulted in the gold discoveries at the Observation and Strauss prospects and adjacent to existing pits at Paris and HHH.
A total of approximately 5,000 metres of RC drilling is envisaged for the follow-up programme and will take part in two phases. The current follow-up RC drilling programme will further test these new discoveries for high-grade gold and will consist of 20 to 30 holes for a total of approx. 2,500 metres.
Executive Chairman, Ian Finch, said a second RC rig has been sourced to commence in early 2022 and will follow-up on deeper resource potential at all three prospects. It is planned to drill 10 to 12 deeper holes for approximately 2,500 metres.
I am extremely pleased to have secured two RC rigs and to kick off this follow-up drilling program at these highly prospective gold discoveries at Observation, Strauss and Paris,” Mr Finch said.
“With the second RC rig contracted to begin early next year to follow-up on deeper intersections at the existing Paris mine, it is going to be an exciting start to 2022 for investors.”
Discoveries
As part of Torque’s First Phase drill programme, a total of 22 holes for 1,688 metres were drilled at the Observation prospect which lies 900 metres north of the HHH pit, under shallow cover, and has similar geology as the existing HHH and Paris deposits.
Results received from this drilling included an intersection of 9m at 11.52 g/t Au from 63m from 21ORC009.
Strauss
A total of 24 RC holes for 1,722 metres were drilled at Strauss with initial, 3 metre composite, assay results including intersections of 12m at 1.21 g/t Au from 57m in hole 21SRC005.3
The results identified a new gold mineralised zone covering a current minimum strike length of ~150 metres which remains open to the north and south, and at depth with a shallow dip to the east.
Paris and HHH pits
A total of 4 holes for 619 metres were drilled adjacent to the Paris pit and 3 holes for 308 metres adjacent to the HHH pit to test for extensions to the known mineralisation.
The results confirmed very strong, broad zones of high-grade gold both up and down dip at Paris and HHH, demonstrating considerable potential for growth in gold resources below and adjacent to the existing pits.
Assay highlights from drilling adjacent to Paris open pit included an intersection of 6m @ 34.6 g/t Au from 141m, within a larger zone of 24m @ 10.7 g/t Au in hole 21PRC025.
Assay highlights from drilling adjacent to HHH open pit included an intersection of 3m @ 3.89 g/t Au from 87m in hole 21HRC003.
Geochemical Survey
An auger based geochemical soil sampling programme was conducted to the south of the Paris Pit over most of Torque tenements M15/496 and M15/497 with a view to extending the Paris Gold Corridor southwards. The survey also encompassed an “outlier” drill result at Paris South of 13m @ 3.3g/t Au from DHD425.
Results from the geochemical study are anticipated before the end of the calendar year with findings to further support the Company’s drill targeting activities in the Boulder-Lefroy Fault Zone.