Rox Resources Limited (ASX: RXL), in conjunction with its joint venture partner Venus Metals Corporation has announced a highly encouraging update from the ongoing drilling campaign at the OYG JV, part of the wider Youanmi Gold Project in WA.
The company reported that drilling at the Youanmi Gold Project has intersected exceptional gold grades.
Significant results received from shallow drilling to the south of the Youanmi Plant include 5m @ 125.68 g/t Au from 0m.
Youanmi gold project
The Youanmi gold project is located 480km to the northeast of the city of Perth, Western Australia. The Youanmi gold project (OYG JV) is a Joint Venture with Venus Metals Corporation, managed by Rox Resources.
The project straddles a 36km strike length of the Youanmi Greenstone Belt. The total JORC 2012 Compliant Resource for the Youanmi Gold Mine is now estimated as ~1.2 Million Ounces of Gold.
The principal deposits of Youanmi include Youanmi Main, Hill End, United North, Kathleen, Rebel, and Kurrajong6.
Drilling at Youanmi
The company had recently conducted a series of shallow of RC holes to the south of the Youanmi plant to test a laterite gold target.
RXL noted that the laterite zone appears to have an average grade of ~1.5g/t Au and thickness of ~2m and is continuous from historical drilling at the airstrip over an area of about 280m x 100m.
Exceptional gold grades intercepted
The company reported that the drill hole MLRC020, located on the northern-most line of the drill plan, returned extremely high gold grades with plentiful visible gold present in RC chips. RXL said that the area to the north is yet to be tested by drilling.
Highlights include 5m @ 125.68 g/t Au from 0m including 2m @ 311.46 g/t Au from 2.5m including 1m @ 591.89 g/t Au from 3m including 0.5m @ 1058.49 g/t Au from 3m.
Visible gold nuggets
The company announced that although weathered, RC drill chips from the high-grade interval suggest the host rock is strongly altered granite with abundant vein quartz. On this basis, Rox’s current interpretation is that the gold is from a primary source, rather than from supergene upgrading effects.
Visible gold presents as nuggets up to 2-3mm in size which are intergrown with translucent quartz that the Company is interpreting to be vein quartz.
Encouraging results
The company announced that while early stage, these results are considered highly encouraging.
Peru Reef
In historical mine records there is reportedly free-milling gold mineralisation present within the Youanmi granite to the east of the Main Lode Shear Zone.
One such area is a gold lode developed in the footwall to the Main Lode, towards the northern end of the Main pit is the Peru Reef, a narrow sub-vertical north-trending quartz vein with a mineralised strike length of approximately 100m.
The company said that the production figures were not recorded, however, the grade is reputed to have averaged >60g/t Au from near surface workings.
Updates and next steps
RXL reported that a series of holes have been planned to test down dip of MLRC020 and to the north-north-west along strike. The company said that the results will be released as they become available.
Given the shallow nature of the mineralisation encountered, Rox Resources said that a series of costeans will also be dug across the interpreted strike of mineralisation seen in MLRC020 to assist in geological mapping and to provide channel samples for assay.
Management comments
RXL’s Managing Director Alex Passmore said: “We are very pleased to report these high-grade results and look forward to reporting further results from drill testing down dip and to the north of this position”
