Australian explorer Battery Minerals (ASX:BAT) has identified visible gold through a maiden drilling program at its Stavely-Stawell Gold-Copper Project in Victoria.
The company reports the ongoing maiden drilling program will comprise 1,300m of diamond drilling across the Coxs Find, Frankfurt, and Cosmopolitan prospects to test ‘high-priority’ gold targets.
Drillholes 23BATDD001 and 23BATDD002 intersected an intrusive complex hosting zones of sheeted quartz sulphide veins and disseminated sulphides, with several features consistent with intrusion-related gold (IRG) mineralisation.
Battery Minerals says the potential significance of IRG is demonstrated by the presence of the Wonga IRG deposit, which lies 12km to the northeast at the southern end of the circa-6-million-ounce Stawell Gold Field. Other notable IRG deposits make them an attractive exploration target.
Ongoing induced polarisation (IP) geophysics over Coxs Find has defined ‘robust’, coincident chargeability and resistivity anomalies
Ongoing induced polarisation (IP) geophysics over Coxs Find has defined ‘robust’, coincident chargeability and resistivity anomalies, which has defined a ‘compelling’ drill target down-dip from ‘strong’ surface gold anomalism of up to 430 grams per tonne (g/t) gold in rock chips.
This target will be tested with the next drillhole in the program, with aircore assay results expected to be returned from late-June 2023. Results for diamond drilling and IP geophysics are expected throughout June and early July 2023.
Battery Minerals also reports that IP geophysical data continues to demonstrate the usefulness of chargeability-resistivity datasets in mapping the distribution of sulphides and alteration in the White Rabbit District.
Consulting firm Fender Geophysics is conducting the survey using a pole-dipole electrode configuration, with electrodes spaced at 50m and 100m along 100m and 200m spaced lines.
The company says about 1.5 line kilometres have been completed along an oblique, northeast-trending local grid to best crosscut the main geological fabric and to enable efficient logistics.
Battery Minerals is an ASX-listed company focused on exploring and developing ‘high-value’ mineral resources at its Stavely-Stawell Copper-Gold Project in Victoria and the Azura Copper-Nickel-Cobalt-Platinum Group Element (PGE) Project in Western Australia. The company also holds a major interest in emerging graphite producer Tirupati Graphite (LSE:TGR).
The Stavely-Stawell Project consists of a single exploration licence that covers 65km of strike in the Stawell Gold Corridor and the northern extents of the Stavely-Dryden Belt in western Victoria. The project is considered ‘highly prospective’ for gold.
Write to Harry Mulholland at mining.com.au
Images: Battery Minerals Ltd
