Comet Resources Ltd (ASX: CRL) has announced high-grade results from the first diamond hole at its Springdale Graphite Project in southern West Australia.
The company reported that diamond drill hole HD024 intersected up to 57m @ 22.38% Total Graphitic Carbon (TGC) from 35.5m downhole. CRL said that the drilling encountered very consistent TGC values >20%.
The diamond drill core provided bulk sample for priority metallurgical testwork.
The company said that the results suggest excellent reconciliation between Diamond and RC drilling.
CRL expressed confidence that the latest drilling confirms the consistent, shallow and high-grade nature of graphite mineralisation at the Springdale Graphite Project.
Springdale project
Comet’s 100% owned Springdale graphite project is located approximately 30 kilometres east of Hopetoun in south Western Australia.
The tenements lie within the deformed southern margin of the Yilgarn Craton and constitute part of the Albany-Fraser Orogen. Comet owns 100% of the two tenement’s (E74/562 and E74/612) that make up the Springdale project.
Drilling at Springdale
Comet reported that a total of 12 pre-collared diamond drill holes were completed for 1005.7 metres between late August and mid-September at Springdale.
To provide bulk sample
The company said that these holes were designed to primarily provide bulk sample material for detailed metallurgical test work as well as provide geological, and structural information on the high-grade graphite mineralisation at the Northern and Western Resource areas.
First diamond drilling
Comet said that in the Northern zone, 5 PQ3 and 5 HQ3 holes were drilled totalling 444.1m and 432.8m respectively, the first diamond drilling in this area.
High-grade results from HD024
The company reported that outstanding assay results were returned from hole HD024 drilled at the easternmost end of the North zone.
It may be noted that the hole HD024 was designed as a PQ metallurgical angle scissor hole testing earlier-drilled vertical RC hole HR0126 where 46m @ 12.16% TGC from 38m including 17m @ 19.9 % TGC from 51m was intersected.
Significant intercepts from HD024
In hole HD024, a wide high-grade graphite interval of 57m @ 22.38% TGC from 35.5m using a 1% TGC cut-off was intersected. Other intercepts include 4m @ 10.45% TGC from 24m; and 2m @ 3.25% TGC from 31m.
The company said that the graphite grades throughout the zone were consistently high and clearly correlate with the massive graphite mineralisation observed in the core.
Diamond and RC drilling reconciliation
The company reported that the total Graphitic Carbon assays for both holes (HD024 and HR0126) at the intersection cross point are very similar.
CRL said that this confirms that there is good grade consistency between reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drill holes.
From core observations it is possible that HD024 has been drilled sub-parallel to the fold structure and is probably not reflective of expected true width of mineralisation.
Management comments
Comet Resources CEO, Philippa Leggat, said: “What wonderful results from the first diamond drill hole into the Northern Zone, especially considering how high the grade is over such a broad zone! It also reconfirmed the Company’s strategy to focus on the shallow, high-grade mineralisation at Springdale.
Diamond core from this hole is now in the metallurgical lab for characterisation and floatation testwork. From this work and over the coming weeks, we anticipate a series of important results relating to initial recoveries and flake distribution.
On from that we will continue to optimise the results across a broader range of samples.This is an exciting time for Comet, with the balance of our drilling results to come and metallurgical results to follow, investors can expect great news flow over coming weeks and months.”
