DiscovEx Resources Limited (ASX: DCX) has announced a highly positive update on the follow-up work at the Hornet Prospect within its Edjudina project in WA.
The company reported that the single metre re-split samples from DCX maiden target definition drilling at Hornet confirms the potential for a major new gold discovery.
High-grade intercepts include 2m @ 3.0 g/t Au from 50-52m (Includes 1m @ 5.3 g/t Au) within hole HOAC012; 7m @ 1.4 g/t Au from 40-47m (Includes 3m @ 2.8g/t Au) within hole HOAC032; and 1m @ 3.4 g/t Au from 54-55m within hole HOAC026.
DCX reported that visible gold was panned from end of hole intersections in HOAC012 and HOA0C32. The company said that end of hole intersections was confirmed as weathered bedrock – biotite altered gneiss and granitoid.
DiscovEx reported that the follow-up AC drilling will commence ASAP subject to rig availability. The company noted that a similar exploration history to the >7Moz Tropicana Deposit is now emerging.
Edjudina project
The Edjudina Project is located in the Eastern Goldfields portion of the Yilgarn Craton within the Kurnalpi Terrane of the eastern portion of the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt.
The project is situated within the southern portion of the Laverton District. Previous exploration programs had identified several gold-in-soil anomalies, particularly at two prospect locations, Hornet and Phantom.
The extended project, following the recently announced DCX 80/20 joint venture with Crest Investments Group Ltd includes four granted exploration tenements (E31/1134, E31/1150, E39/1765, and E39/1882), for a total of 590km2 of drastically underexplored, and highly prospective rocks.
Re-split sampling
DiscovEx had recently conducted single metre re-split sampling at Hornet prospect, following DCX’s maiden target definition AC drilling programme.
The company announced that the results have now been returned from the single metre re-split sampling of intervals greater than 100ppb Au from the recent aircore drilling programme at the Hornet Prospect.
Significant intersections returned
DCX reported that the best of the returned intersections were 2m @ 3.0g/t Au from 50-52m within hole HOAC012 which included 1m @ 5.3g/t Au from 51-52m; and 7m @ 1.4g/t Au from 40-47m within hole HOAC032 which included 3m @ 2.8g/t Au from 42-45m. The company said that both these mineralised intervals are at the end of the drillhole.
Other intersections include 4m @ 1.1g/t Au including 1m @ 3.4g/t Au within hole HOAC026.
High-grade gold
The company said that the single metre re-split sampling has confirmed the high-grade gold mineralisation present in several end of hole intersections is within weathered, primary bedrock.
The company said that these results, along with geological observations made at the time of re-sampling, confirm that the bottom of hole intersections, like those in HOAC012 and HOAC032, are from primary bedrock. DCX said that the field observations indicate these are biotite altered gneiss and granitoids.
DiscovEx reported that a gold panning exercise conducted in the field on an approximate 2kg sub-sample from the intervals from HOAC012 and HOAC032, produced several dozen small gold pieces.
DCX said that panning of these intervals has also produced fine grained visible gold providing further confidence that the mineralisation is in-situ and potentially amenable to conventional processing, which is yet to be confirmed with cyanide leach assay testing.
Similarities with Tropicana deposit
A prime example of a discovery history that began with a historic, low tenor soil anomaly in a new region, followed by systematic, step by step exploration is the Tropicana Deposit. This was discovered in the early 2000’s through a joint venture between Independence Group and Anglogold Ashanti.
DCX said that the initial AC/RAB drilling at Tropicana displayed many of the same attributes, at a similar scale and tenor to those that DCX is uncovering at Hornet. The original WMC soil sampling was conducted in a similar regolith to that at Hornet and displayed similar tenor to the original Hornet soil anomaly.
DiscovEx said that on comparing the exploration history of Tropicana and Hornet, both the soil and drilling results demonstrate the potential at Hornet.
Updates and next steps
Additional AC drilling: DCX said that an additional aircore drilling programme has now been planned to test for extensions, both north and south of the significant mineralisation already defined at Hornet.
The company said that the drilling is anticipated to commence in the coming weeks once ground preparations are complete and a drill rig becomes available. Deeper RC drill testing is anticipated following the upcoming aircore programme.
Application for DD hole: The company said that an application has also been submitted, for a diamond drill-hole, as part of the EIS co-funded exploration drilling scheme run by the Western Australian Dept. of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety.
This funding, should it be awarded, would assist DCX in testing deeper into the Hornet Prospect and attain valuable geological information that will assist future exploration.
Soil program results: The company said that the results from a recently completed soil programme designed to test if extensions to the north and south of Hornet are detectable in fine fraction soils are awaited. It is hoped that this sampling will provide DCX with a simple and cheap method of future target generation
Other exploration activities: The company said that additional exploration activities are planned to take place in 2020, inclusive of soil sampling, AC drilling, and RC drilling.
Management comments
DCX Managing Director, Bradley Drabsch said: “It’s such an exciting time to be involved in a greenfields project in a largely overlooked area of the Laverton District. I was recently on site soil sampling and was panning gold from our drill-holes, the feeling of seeing gold in the pan is like nothing else, it’s fantastic!”