Black Canyon (ASX:BCA) at the end of this year will be looking to delineate mineral resources at the Wandanya hydrothermal manganese and iron discovery, which has iron enrichment mapped along a 5km corridor.
Speaking yesterday at the RIU Sydney Resources Round-up being held from 6-8 May, Managing Director Brendan Cummins says Black Canyon has an “exciting greenfields discovery” where it has been successful in delineating in hydrothermal style mineralisation, just 80km south of the Woodie Woodie North Manganese Project.
Cummins says while Black Canyon has exclusively been looking for manganese, “the set of steak knives is the iron ore”.
Wandanya is situated within the north-east Pilbara in an area dominated by the iron ore “big boys in town” such as FMG (ASX:FMG), Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), and Hancock Prospecting.
Speaking at RIU, Cummins says with phase one drilling now complete, phase two will be focused on increasing Black Canyon’s footprint, while phase three will be looking to continue extensional drilling to the north and south.
Cummins says the initial drill program confirmed the proof-of-concept with the discovery of consistent, well-mineralised and continuous horizons of “high-grade” manganese. The next phase of drilling will continue to test this ‘high-grade’ horizon and look to extend the mineralisation down dip to the east.
“At the end of this year we’re looking to delineate mineral resources,” he adds.
“We will be doing further drilling on the iron ore as part of the program in June.”
Black Canyon plans on drilling 150 holes for 3,000m to test along strike and down dip of the Wandanya iron and manganese targets.
The Wandanya hydrothermal manganese and iron discovery represents a new exploration model on the eastern margin of the Oakover Basin, where Cummins says the company has only drill tested 240m of strike of the 3km long manganese target.
As previously reported by Mining.com.au, Black Canyon was awarded a $122,500 co-funded drilling grant for an upcoming phase two reverse circulation drilling program at Wandanya.
Further reverse circulation drilling is planned to test the full 3km strike potential of the outcropping targets and cross strike width between 600m and 900m.
Black Canyon has consolidated a landholding of 1,700km2 in the underexplored Balfour Manganese Field and across the Oakover Basin in Western Australia.
The company presented yesterday (6 May) at the RIU Sydney Resources Round-up being held from 6-8 May. Mining.com.au is an official media partner at this year’s event.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: Black Canyon
