Lode Resources (ASX:LDR) will soon start drilling at its 100% owned Webbs Consol Silver-Base Metals Project in the ‘highly prospective’ yet under-explored New England Fold Belt.
The drill works announcement follows the completion of a $1.63 million placement this week, which adds to the $2.2 million cash at hand it held at the end of the June quarter and will be used for its phase two drilling plans.
Lode reports that the start of the phase two drilling also comes after mining giant Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG) pegged ground around Webbs Consol this month, while gold mining behemoth company Newmont (NYSE:NEM) pegged several exploration licences along 160km of the western edge of the New England Fold Belt in 2021.
The imminent program at the Webbs Consol Silver-Base Metals Project will include about 19 holes for 2,350m of drilling
The imminent program at the Webbs Consol Silver-Base Metals Project will include about 19 holes for 2,350m of drilling.
Phase two drilling will target extensions of both the Tangoa West prospect where multiple ‘high-grade’ silver, zinc and lead intercepts were reported, including 26.7m @ 399g/t silver equivalent and 50.0m @ 284g/t silver equivalent.
In addition, new drill targets with ‘high-grade’ surface mineralisation have been just discovered 300m to 850m southeast of the Castlereagh prospect. Surface chip samples have graded up to 1,135g/t Ag, 7.51% Pb, 0.58% Cu and 0.47g/t Au.
Chip/grab sampling is a spot sample technique and assay grade is not regarded as being representative of the grade of the mineralised occurrence in general nor an indication of the width of the mineralised occurrence.
Extensive gravity survey is currently underway and has been extended to cover 6km of mineral system north-south strike extent.
Webbs Consol was discovered in 1890 with intermittent mining up to the mid-1950s.
The Webbs Consol Project (EL8933) contains several small, but ‘high-grade’, silver-lead-zinc-gold deposits hosted by the Webbs Consol Leucogranite which has intruded the Late Permian Emmaville Volcanics and undifferentiated Early Permian sediments.
Several mine shafts were worked for the high-grade galena and silver content only with ‘high-grade’ zinc mineralisation discarded. Mineral concentration was via basic Chilean milling techniques and sluicing.
Some subsequent rough flotation of galena was carried out with no attempt to recover sphalerite. Ore mineralogy includes galena, sphalerite, marmatite, arsenopyrite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, minor bismuth, and gold. Chief minerals are generally disseminated but also ‘high-grade’ “bungs” where emplacement is a combination of fracture infilling and country rock replacement.
Gangue mineralogy includes quartz, chlorite and sericite with quartz occurring as veins and granular relicts. Historical sampling shows potential for ‘high-grade’ silver and zinc mineralisation at Webbs Consol.
Images: Lode Resources Ltd
