Step-out drilling at Pivotal Metals’ (ASX:PVT) copper-dominant Horden Lake Project in Québec has demonstrated the continuity between the two open pit resource areas.
Two holes were drilled into the gap between the main and northern pits of the Horden Lake deposit, with both intersecting the mineralised contact zone and representing “significant step out from the historic drilling”.
Results show multiple wide zones at shallow depths in hole HN-24-123, which provides the link between the two existing resource blocks.
Top hits from this hole are 20.5m @ 0.97% copper equivalent from 46.5m, including 4.0m @ 3.64%; and 20.1m @ 0.51% from 80.9m, including 5.1m @ 0.99%.
At the same time, drilling demonstrated the continuity of mineralisation at depth with peak results in hole HN-24-116 of 17.8m @ 0.70% copper equivalent within a wider 43.8m @ 0.44% from 132.2m, and 8.7m @ 0.87% from 101.1m and 3.0m @ 2.21%.
This hole confirms the continuity of mineralisation 55m down dip of historic hole H25301. The mineralised zone within this hole also includes 3m @ 2.74 parts per million combined platinum, palladium and gold and individual samples of 0.85% nickel and 1.10% copper.
Managing Director Ivan Fairhall says the northern area continues to grow along strike and down plunge, infilling a gap in the resource between the two discrete open pit deposits.
“This is a great example of the potential of Horden Lake to grow through simple shallow drilling, and highlights the potential gains to be realised as we update the resource later in the year,” he says.
The recently completed 7,097m, 34-hole maiden drilling program was designed to infill missing by-product multi-element assay information, target resource expansion potential, and collect a representative metallurgical sample for a complete ore characterisation and flotation testwork program.
Horden Lake, which remains open at depth across its full extent, currently hosts an indicated and inferred resource of 28 million tonnes @ 1.5% copper equivalent.
The deposit extends for more than 2.1km along strike, and has been intersected at its deepest point 537m down-dip along the footwall contact zone.
Multi-element assays have only been taken over a portion of the Horden Lake deposit, and Pivotal says abundant cobalt, silver and platinum exist but are not modelled.
Preliminary metallurgical testwork demonstrates the potential for good recoveries across the payable metals in the Horden Lake deposit. Historical test work produced copper concentrates grading 22-30% copper at recoveries ranging from 85-96%.
With step-out drilling intersecting mineralisation outside of the current resource, Pivotal plans to continue to broaden its search area along the 3.2km contact zone to substantially increase the resource.
Downhole electromagnetic results also indicate continuity down-plunge and along-strike from existing resources.
Previously released drill results show a “large, highly conductive anomaly” outside the resource area below hole HN-24-115, which intersected 26.8m @ 0.83% copper equivalent from 102m and 12.1m @ 0.88% from 147m.
Pivotal says collectively the results so far provide strong encouragement for the development of a larger resource.
The company, which has a market capitalisation of $7.74 million, is planning to undertake systematic electromagnetic geophysical surveys targeting massive sulphide accumulations along strike and parallel to the “high grade” zones.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Pivotal Metals
