Metals Australia Ltd (ASX: MLS) has announced a highly encouraging result from the latest assay reported from the 17 hole diamond drilling program at its Lac Rainy Graphite Project in Quebec, Canada.
The company has now reported the assay results for hole DDH LR19-04, located at the South Eastern part of the Carheil Graphitic Trend within the high-grade Lac Carheil Prospect.
MLS reported that LR19-04 intersected two major zones of high-grade mineralisation; 30.0m at an average grade of 13.87% Cg at depth from 16.5m to 46.5m, and 40.1m at an average grade of 16.28% Cg at a depth from 79.9m to 120.0m.
The company said that the hole ended in graphite mineralisation and remains open at depth.
Assays are currently pending for further 4 holes.
Lac Rainy project
Metals Australia’s 100%-owned Lac Rainy Graphite Project is located in one of the premier graphite geological regions of Quebec. It sits approximately 22 km south-west of the historic mining town of Fermont and 260 km north-northeast of the city of Sept-Îles.
The project covers an area of more than 4,600 hectares representing 88 mineral claims and is contiguous with Focus Graphite’s Property to the southwest, which hosts the Lac Knife Graphite Deposit.
Near surface drilling at Lac Rainy
The company had recently completed a 17 hole diamond drilling program at Lac Rainy, of which assays have been reported for 13 drill holes till date. The assays are pending for four more holes.
The company reported that every hole drilled has intersected graphite mineralisation varying from mid-grade to very high-grade. Many holes ended in graphite mineralisation and remain open at depth.
MLS said that this shows that the graphite mineralisation at Lac Rainy could potentially be substantially increased in size by deeper drilling.
Exceptional results for hole LR19-04
The company has now reported the assay results for drill hole LR19-04 at the Lac Carheil prospect of Lac Rainy.
MLS said that high-grade graphite mineralisation was intersected in drill hole LR19-04 across two major zones of mineralisation with the first being over an interval of 30.0m with an average grade of 13.87% Cg and the second being over an interval of 40.1m with an average grade of 16.28% Cg.
The company reported that the hole ended in mineralisation, suggesting that mineralisation remains open at depth.
Mapping and sampling
The company reported that the graphite mineralised strike length that has been mapped and sampled so far exceeds 3,200 meters in length. A further mapping and sampling program was also recently completed to increase the graphite mineralised strike length beyond 3,200 meters.
Drill testing only for 1600m
The company announced that, to date, only ~1,600 meters of this strike length has been drill tested by the current drilling program.
MLS said that many holes ending in graphite mineralisation indicate that the graphite extends deeper than originally understood.
The company expressed confidence that this supports their belief that the size and scale of the potential Lac Rainy resource will be substantial.
What’s next?
The Company said that once assays for all holes are received, it plans to commence metallurgical test work and will also commence the compilation of a JORC Compliant resource estimate.
This includes detailed geochemistry and geology mapping to determine trends of known mineralised zones and to delineate other Cg anomalies, as well as drilling.
