Buxton Resources (ASX:BUX) has completed maiden diamond drilling at its wholly owned Madman Gold-Copper Project in Western Australia, with downhole surveying identifying a new target for follow-up work.
The program comprised two diamond holes totalling 1,367.05m and a water bore. Both holes intersected disseminated sulphides, quartz-carbonate stockwork veining, brecciation, and associated sulphide mineralisation despite being around 200m apart.
Buxton notes that the observations point to a sulphide-bearing hydrothermal system with characteristics consistent with major copper-gold deposits elsewhere in the Paterson Orogen. The system extends from just above the base of the Skates Hills Formation and rises intermittently through several hundred metres of basement core.
Managing Director Marty Moloney says the program encountered several styles of veining, alteration, and mineralisation.
“The maiden drilling program at Madman has concluded with multiple intersections of veining, alteration, and mineralisation styles consistent with the major Paterson Orogen copper-gold deposits,” Moloney says.
A downhole electromagnetic (DHEM) survey of MD002DD identified a discrete off-hole conductor around 350m north of the drill hole, giving Buxton a new target for follow-up drilling. DHEM surveying of MD003DD is scheduled for completion by the end of August, according to the company.
The magnetite-bearing basement towards the bottom of both holes also presents what the company considers a geological explanation for the 200 nanotesla, 1km² magnetic anomaly originally targeted by the program.
The drilling highlighted further structural complexity, with the Skates Hills Formation conglomerate more than four times thicker in MD003DD than in MD002DD across only 200m. Buxton interprets the difference as evidence that faults controlling the thickening were active around the time of mineralisation.
Gold-only assays from the lower section of MD002DD are expected by mid-August, while full multi-element results from both holes are due by the end of September.
Heritage notices have also been submitted for expanded drilling areas and planned ground electromagnetic and gravity surveys. The company says follow-up drilling of the newly identified conductor remains subject to rig availability and further heritage clearances.
Buxton Resources is an Australian explorer advancing the Madman Project, located 375km northeast of Wiluna near the Marloo Fault. It holds mining tenements across Australia and the US.
Write to France Pinzon at Mining.com.au
Images: Buxton Resources
