Sunshine Metals (ASX:SHN) is hoping to usher in a resource update in December this year for its Liontown prospect within its Ravenswood Consolidated Gold-Copper-Molybdenum and Rare Earths Project in North Queensland.
The $14.01 million market capitalisation company says shallow reverse circulation (RC) drilling in December is being designed to assess the extent of feeder mineralisation into the volcanic basement.
Further drilling is also planned in early 2024 to assess the potential of a Gap Zone gold-rich feeder target.
The planned work comes on the back of a new geological model for Liontown.
Sunshine’s planned drilling follows the discovery of multiple ‘high-grade’ gold zones within the first 12 RC holes at Liontown, which are interpreted to be gold and copper-rich feeder zones to the overlying 2.3 million tonne zinc-gold-copper volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) resource.
Key results include hole 23LTRC002 with 2m @ 8.99 grams per tonne (g/t) Au from 20m, 1m @ 4.54g/t Au from 42m, and 17m @ 22.14g/t Au from 67m, including 6m @ 58.74g/t Au from 68m.
Assays for an outstanding 10 holes, designed to test feeder and footwall lodes interpreted to be the copper-gold rich parts of the VMS system, are anticipated in early December 2023.
These results are expected to be incorporated into the planned resource update.
Meanwhile, Sunshine Metals notes the new geological model has identified 2 further potential feeder zones near the historic Carrington Main Shaft in the under-drilled Gap Zone.
Sunshine Metals Managing Director Damien Keys says these discoveries provide the company with new opportunities to rapidly grow gold and copper inventories at the prospect.
“The stunning intercepts at Liontown are a great reward for the solid geological work completed by the team.
The find presents a new opportunity to rapidly grow the gold and copper inventories at the Liontown resource and validates a means of hunting these feeder zones at other VMS prospects nearby including Waterloo and Orient.”
Sunshine Metals is a mineral explorer with a portfolio of ‘high-quality’ gold and copper assets in Ecuador and Australia.
The company’s Ravenswood Consolidated Project sits in the Charters Towers-Ravenswood district, which has produced over 20 million tonnes (Mt) of gold and 14Mt of VMS zinc-copper-lead-gold ore.
As of 30 September 2023, Sunshine Metals had $3.183 million cash and cash equivalents at hand, according to its latest quarterly report.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Sunshine Metals
