Western Australian gold explorer Odyssey Gold (ASX:ODY) reports a recently completed Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling program has yielded further ‘outstanding’ thick gold intersections at the Tuckanarra Joint Venture (JV) Project in Western Australia.
The company says the 2022 RC drilling campaign, consisting 21 holes for 2,232m across the Highway Zone, has identified a mineralised shoot with ‘significant’ scale potential, and has defined a 10m to 20m true width structure with a 300m long mineralised shoot open along strike.
Results from this drilling program includes CBRC0139 with 33m @ 3.4g/t Au from 73m including 9m @ 6.4g/t Au from 74; and CBRC0149 with 23m @ 1g/t Au from 41m including 6m @ 2.2g/t Au from 42m.
Odyssey Gold Managing Director Matt Briggs says the results of the recent RC program are exceptional.
“Drilling continues to deliver consistent thick shallow oxide mineralisation, with grade improving over 5g/t Au at depth highlighting the potential for underground mining”
“Drilling continues to deliver consistent thick shallow oxide mineralisation, with grade improving over 5g/t Au at depth highlighting the potential for underground mining and a significantly larger scale project.
Additionally, a hole drilled 80m in the hanging wall has intersected high-grade oxide mineralisation, opening up the potential of a parallel structure to the south of the Highway Zone which is very encouraging as we progress towards follow-up drilling in early 2023.
These results provide us with a tremendous foundation and put us in a good position to rapidly define the mineralisation to the east and down-plunge in the new year.”
Odyssey reports mineralisation at the Highway Zone is associated with ‘significant’ quartz veining in ultramafic rock or iron rich sediments extending into oxide and an overprinting supergene gold enrichment.
The results of the remaining 5 RC holes of the 21-hole program have been returned and the results collated demonstrate consistent thick oxide mineralisation for over 300m of strike. This oxide mineralisation is open to the east, with the most eastern line of drilling in the recent program including 21m @ 3.3g/t Au from 65m.
The first results from this drilling included 43m @ 8.3g/t Au, 21m @ 3.3g/t Au and 20m @ 2.1g/t Au.
The company says drillholes CBRC0139 and CBRC0149 both extend below the base of oxidation into fresh rock, with ‘high-grade’ mineralisation also intersected where targeted in fresh rock.
Odyssey states mineralised intervals of over 5g/t Au are consistently intersected near the footwall of the Highway Zone structure, intersecting over 20 intervals of more than 5g/t Au in fresh rock.
The company also reports a single RC hole was drilled to intersect the strike extension of the Cable-Bollard Trend or mineralisation parallel to the Highway Zone.
Hole CBCR0150 was drilled 80m to the south of the Highway Zone and intersected 13m @ 3.5g/t Au from 45m including 6m @ 6.3g/t Au from 52m.
The company says the hole confirms mineralisation associated with quartz veining in ultramafic rocks and additional drilling is required to confirm whether the structure is parallel to the Highway Zone or the extension of the Cable-Bollard Trend.
Recognition of additional structures increases the scale of mineralisation in the area according to Odyssey and additional drilling is planned to follow-up the structure intersected in CBRC0150 in the new year.
Odyssey reports 3 phases of drilling are planned at the Highway Zone with phase one being the recently completed 21-hole program. The second phase of drilling will test parallel structures and extend the Highway Zone along strike, particularly to the northeast towards the ‘encouraging’ Rotary Air Blast (RAB) and soil samples.
Phase three drilling will grow the more than 5g/t Au mineralisation down-dip to demonstrate the scale of underground mining potential. The company notes underground mines in the area extend to over 1km depth. The deepest intersection at the Highway Zone intersected the structure around 180m below the surface, remaining open down-dip.
Odyssey Gold is a Western Australian gold explorer focused on its ‘high-grade’ gold projects in the Murchison Goldfields. These projects consist of the Tuckanarra and Stakewell Gold Projects that cover over 30km of strike in the Meekatharra-Cue Belt.
Images: Odyssey Gold Ltd & iStock
