Dreadnought Resources Limited (ASX: DRE) announced that high-grade results were reported from the first 8 RC holes drilled for 732m at Metzke’s Find within its Illaara Gold-VMS-Iron Ore Project in WA.
The company said that a total of 17 RC holes (1,767m) were drilled at Metzke’s Find in the recent program. DRE reported that the first 8 RC holes (732m) all intersected the mineralised lode and included the best intercept to date.
Significant results include 4m @ 19.9 g/t Au from 45m including 2m @ 39.2 g/t Au from 45m; 4m @ 10.5 g/t Au from 108m including 3m @ 13.8 g/t Au from 108m; and 4m @ 10.5 g/t Au from 19m including 2m @ 20.7 g/t Au from 19m.
Dreadnought said that the second batch of 9 holes has been delivered to the lab with results expected mid-October 2020. The company said that RC drilling was undertaken at Longmore’s Find (13 holes, 1,161m) and Black Oak (7 holes, 711m).
DRE said that assays are expected in mid-October 2020. Dreadnought said that an infill soils program at Metzke’s South has also been completed.
Illaara project
Illaara is located 160km northwest of Kalgoorlie in the Yilgarn Craton and covers 75kms of strike along the Illaara Greenstone Belt. Illaara is prospective for typical Archean mesothermal lode gold deposits and Cu-Zn VMS mineralisation.
The Illaara Greenstone Belt has now been consolidated through an acquisition from Newmont and subsequently the purchase of Metzke’s Find and an option to acquire 100% of E30/485 and E29/965. Newmont defined several camp-scale targets which were undrilled due to a change in corporate focus. Historically, gold was discovered and worked at Metzke’s Find and Lawrence’s Find in the early 1900s.
Illaara contains several drill ready gold targets. In addition, the Eastern and Western VMS Horizons is expected to produce exciting drill targets with the application of modern exploration technology.
Metzke’s Find
Metzke’s Find consists of historic workings that extend over 700m in strike and sit within a 12km long orogenic gold corridor. No work had taken place along the corridor to the north and south. In March 2020, results of a 12-hole RC drilling program around the historic workings confirmed bedrock gold mineralisation at Metzke’s Find.
Drilling at Metzke’s Find
Dreadnought had recently commenced a drill program covering ~440m strike of the Metzke’s lode. This drill program was following up on previously returned high-grade gold intercepts including MZRC015: 2m @ 12.8 g/t Au from 51m including 1m @ 24.8 g/t Au from 51m; MZRC016: 8m @ 8.1 g/t Au from 84m including 3m @ 21.0 g/t Au from 85m; and MZRC017: 13m @ 4.2 g/t Au from 48m including 7m @ 7.5 g/t Au from 51m.
17 RC holes
The company said that seventeen RC holes (MZRC019-035) for a total of 1,767m for an average depth of 104m have been drilled as part of this program.
Three objectives
The company said that this drilling was undertaken to achieve three objectives; fill the gap between previous shallow high-grade intercepts in the centre of the Metzke’s lode (MZRC019-021); confirm historic shallow intercepts and test for a 10-15m brittle offset of the mineralised lode to the east at a depth of ~20-30m (MZRC022-025); and extend the Metzke’s lode at depth and to the south (MZRC026-035).
Encouraging results from Metzke’s Find
The company announced that it has received high-grade results from Metzke’s Find. DRE said that the drill holes MZRC019 and MZRC021 intersected the mineralised structure consisting of biotite altered shear zone with minor quartz veining and sulphide alteration. Both holes intersected sugary quartz-sulphide veins within the mineralised structure.
Meanwhile, drill hole MZRC020 returned lower tenor gold within the mineralised structure potentially indicating pinching and swelling of the quartz lode.
Drill hole MZRC022 was drilled immediately along strike of MZ-19 and confirmed the mineralised lode at a shallow depth below the trend of historic workings, while MZRC023 was a redrill and extension of MZRC001.
MZRC026 was the first hole drilled to chase the extensions of the lode to depth and along strike to the south, and was drilled beneath MZRC015 and MZRC016.
High-grade gold
DRE said that encouraging results were reported from the eight reverse circulation (RC) drill holes completed at Metzke’s Find.
Significant results included MZRC019: 4m @ 19.9 g/t Au from 45m including 2m @ 39.2 g/t Au from 45m; MZRC021: 4m @ 10.5 g/t Au from 108m including 3m @ 13.8 g/t Au from 108m; MZRC022: 4m @ 10.5 g/t Au from 19m including 2m @ 20.7 g/t Au from 19m; MZRC015: 2m @ 12.8 g/t Au from 51m including 1m @ 24.8 g/t Au from 51m; MZRC016: 8m @ 8.1 g/t Au from 84m including 3m @ 21.0 g/t Au from 85m; and MZRC026: 4m @ 2.2 g/t Au from 119m including 2m @ 4.3 g/t Au from 119m
Pending assays
The company reported that the remaining 9 holes (MZRC027-035) at Metzke’s Find are currently at the lab for analysis with results expected in October 2020.
DRE said that these holes will be important for understanding the potential extent of the high grade mineralisation and further interpretation of the mineralised system will be released following these results.
Ongoing exploration at Metzke’s corridor
The company reported that the first ever RC drilling at Longmore’s Find (13 holes, 1,161m) and Black Oak (7 holes, 711m) has also been completed. DRE said that the infill soil sampling to the south of Metzke’s Find has also been completed.
This is first pass fence lines at Longmore’s Find and Black Oak designed to cover gold-in-soil anomalies and to identify mineralised lodes. The company said that the assay results from this program are expected in October 2020.
DRE reported that a close spaced soils program was also undertaken to the south of Metzke’s Find where previous soils programs identified a ~1.2km long extension of the Metzke’s Find structure and an anomalous splay structure trending to the north-west. The company said that the results of this program will be used to plan future RC drilling.
Upcoming milestones
The company announced the following newsflow for the next three months.
October: Release of details of planned RC drilling at Fuso, Paul’s Find, and Chianti-Rufina; Further Results from RC drilling at Metzke’s Find; Results from RC drilling at Longmore’s Find and Black Oak; and Quarterly report for the quarter ended 30 September 2020
October/November: Commencement of diamond drilling at Texas Ni-Cu-PGE; and Commencement of RC drilling at Fuso, Paul’s Find, and Chianti-Rufina.
November: Results from diamond drilling at Texas Ni-Cu-PGE; Commencement of RC drilling at Metzke’s South at Illaara; and Annual General Meeting.
November/December: Results from RC drilling at Fuso, Paul’s Find, and Chianti-Rufina.
December: Results from Metzke’s South RC drilling program.
Management comments
Dreadnought Managing Director Dean Tuck said: “Metzke’s Find continues to deliver high-grade intercepts with MZRC019 returning an ~80 gram metre intercept (Au grade x thickness), the best to date.
We have now confirmed high-grade intercepts from ~20m to ~120m in depth and along 280m of strike. There are a further 9 holes at the lab which will add further intercepts at depth and to the south. This is an exciting step forward for Metzke’s Find and Illaara in general.
We are looking forward to the results from these 9 holes as well as our first holes at Longmore’s Find and Black Oak.”