Junior explorer Hammer Metals (ASX:HMX) has uncovered shallow gold during drilling of the North Orelia Target 1 at its Yandal Project in Western Australia.
The 21-hole, 2,634m campaign has returned peak intercepts of 14m @ 2.1 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 40m, including 2m @ 9.18g/t from 45m; and 15m @ 1.44g/t from 82m, including 1m at 14.15g/t from 83m.
The focus of the latest round of drilling was on infill drilling along the Orelia Target 1 gold trend to pave the way for the definition of a maiden resource, due for release by the end of the current quarter.
Drilling was also aimed at investigating the potential for lithium-bearing pegmatites at Orelia and the Tapenade Lithium Prospect.
The North Orelia Trend extends for 1.3km and was first drilled by Hammer in November 2019.
Managing Director Dan Thomas says the results from the gold exploration program highlight the continuity of the Orelia Target 1 mineralised zones at depth and along strike.
“These results will be encompassed in our upcoming JORC mineral resource which will round out this shallow gold zone discovered by Hammer adjacent to Northern Star’s existing gold mining operation at Orelia.”
Hammer, which has a market cap of $39 million, is undertaking split sampling of zones of gold mineralisation ahead of completion of an initial resource at Target 1 in the coming months.
The company is also continuing to expand its gold work programs in the Yandal region, with an aircore drilling program currently being planned for high-ranking gold targets at the Sword, Harrier and Gummow prospects.
Drilling is slated to begin in Q2 this year.
“The Harrier site has delivered highly anomalous gold-in-soil results while Sword, located along strike from the Julius deposit, has been identified by its strongly anomalous multi-element geochemistry,” Thomas says.
Meanwhile, recent drilling also intersected multiple pegmatites with lithium anomalism of up to 647 parts per million lithium between 128m and 129m at Orelia Target 1.
Results so far suggest the prospective zones of higher grade lithium may be situated further east, under shallow cover, according to Hammer.
The company will undertake a detailed review of the lithium geochemistry prior to possibly completing a detailed soil sampling program focusing on the source of lithium anomalism.
Thomas says Hammer will continue to refine the geological and geochemical models to define further lithium prospects.
Hammer Metals has a portfolio of copper, critical minerals and gold projects in the Yandal region of Western Australia, which has produced around 24 million ounces of gold, and the Mount Isa region in Queensland, which is a major global base metals province.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Hammer Metals
