Black Canyon (ASX:BCA) has returned some of the “thickest and highest-grade” manganese intersections from its most recent drilling program at the Wandanya Project on the eastern boundary of the Oakover Basin, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The program spanned 2,300m of drilling across 101 holes, with lines spaced between 100m and 350m apart and holes centred at 40m.
Assays include 7m @ 40.1% manganese from surface including 4m @ 46.9% from 3m and 6m @ 37.9% manganese from 6m including 3m @ 46.3% manganese from 9m.
Managing Director Brendan Cummins says the stratabound manganese mineralisation continues to impress the company.
“The company has made rapid progress on drilling and understanding the significance of the manganese discovery, which continues to be predictable in terms of grade and thickness over at least two kilometres of strike and hundreds of metres across strike,” Cummins says.
“Our mapping shows the manganese system is at least three kilometres long, which we have targeted as part of our phase three drill program with visual confirmation of further manganese and iron mineralisation to the north.”
With phase three drilling now ongoing, the company intends to return assays in mid-October after an expected completion at the end of this month.
Black Canyon has also returned ‘high-grade’ intersections of iron mineralisation, extending mineralisation between 170m and 320m to the east.
Results include 13m @ 59.3% iron from 1m including 7m @ 62% iron from 7m and 12m @ 59.3% iron from 4m including 7m @ 63.9% iron from 7m.
Iron mineralisation runs along the western boundary for more than 800m worth of strike that contains two cross strike drill lines spaced 350m apart.
“We recognise the longer-term value lies with manganese which is typically two to three times the value of iron but with these potentially direct ship ore (DSO) shallow and low strip ratio iron ore grades encountered at or close to surface and located up dip from the manganese mineralisation, there is an option to examine a low capex DSO startup leading to the manganese development,” Cummins adds.
Black Canyon is an explorer and developer focused on manganese projects across the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Black Canyon
