Auteco Minerals (ASX: AUT) has announced the discovery of a significant new vein system at its Pickle Crow Gold Project in Canada, which returned hits of up to 30g/t Au over a 400m strike length and at depths exceeding 800m below surface.
The company notes that the Tyson vein system, which remains open in all directions, consists of at least three persistent quartz-carbonate-scheelite-gold veins that dip moderately towards the north-west.
Standout intersections include:
- Hole AUDD0173: 2.8m @ 17.9 g/t Au from 578.3m and 5m @ 4.1 g/t Au from 566.5m
- Hole AUDD0152: 1.0m @ 30.1 g/t Au from 546m
- Hole AUDD0166 W1: 1.1m @ 10.4 g/t Au from 665.05m
Importantly, the Tyson veins are outside of the recently reported inferred resource of 1.7Moz @ 8.1g/t Au, demonstrating the potential for continued resource growth with focused and systematic exploration.
“The discovery of another significant vein system demonstrates yet again the exceptional quality and the immense potential which still remains at Pickle Crow”
Addressing the news, Auteco Executive Chairman Ray Shorrocks said: “The discovery of another significant vein system demonstrates yet again the exceptional quality and the immense potential which still remains at Pickle Crow. This discovery also provides more evidence of how under-explored Pickle Crow is and in particular, the lack of modern exploration conducted there. We will continue drilling at Tyson to extend the known mineralisation and also infill drill it with the aim of bringing it into the Resource. With a fifth rig arriving within the next month, we are on track to deliver the current 50,000m drill program on budget and on schedule.”
The Tyson vein zone was discovered during extensional drilling east of the main core-mine shear corridor. This latest round of drilling was conducted to follow-up on ‘highly promising’ results from limited exploratory holes drilled earlier in the year, which included results of 0.5m @ 88.7 g/t Au from 455m.
Map of Pickle Crow, displaying the newly-discovered Tyson veinsThe company says that the initial exploration phase drill pattern tested a portion of the Tyson veins on a 160m by 160m pattern, with every hole drilled at a 160m spacing encountering ‘significant’ mineralisation.
Drill testing of additional lodes is ongoing in addition to step out and infill drilling of existing lodes to further enhance the resource. Regional exploration is expected to commence in late October, with ~15,000m allocated to test targets on 500km² of regional tenure. A resource update is expected to be completed by 31 December 2021, and scheduled for release in February 2022.
Images: Auteco Minerals Ltd
