Stavely Minerals Limited (ASX: SVY) has announced significant new assay results from ongoing diamond drilling at its namesake 100%-owned Stavely Copper-Gold Project in Victoria.
The company reported that exceptionally high-grade copper-gold-silver mineralisation (32m at 5.88% Cu, 1g/t Au, 58g/t Ag) was intersected in diamond hole SMD064, targeting along-strike extensions to the north-west of the discovery hole SMD050 of Thursday’s Gossan prospect.
Hits include 8m at 5.12% Cu, 1.48g/t Au and 34.3g/t Ag from 121m down-hole, including 1m at 26.8% Cu, 8.48g/t Au and 201g/t Ag.
SVY said that diamond drill hole SMD070, located ~200m south-east of SMD050, also returned a significant high-grade shallow intercept within a broader zone of 75m at 0.60% Cu, 0.19g/t Au and 5g/t Ag from 20m down-hole.
Highlights include 19m at 1.48% Cu, 0.40g/t Au and 15g/t Ag from 65m down-hole, including 3.70m at 6.02% Cu, 1.18g/t Au and 66.4g/t Ag, including 1m at 9.23% Cu, 2.67g/t Au and 125g/t Ag.
The company reported that ~60m interval of massive to semi-massive sulphides including variable abundances of copper sulphides was intersected in recently completed diamond hole SMD074 (drilled some 40m behind SMD070).
Stavely said that drill hole SMD073, located to the far north-west, intercepted well-developed zinc mineralisation on the Cayley Lode well below the Low-Angle Structure, supporting the Butte Montana/Magma model for sulphide mineralisation zonation and extending mineralisation to over 1 kilometre in strike extent.
The company announced that three diamond drill rigs and one sonic rig are on-site at the Stavely Project in western Victoria. Two diamond rigs and the sonic rig are progressing a resource drill-out on the newly-named Cayley Lode while a third diamond rig is testing regional targets.
Stavely project
The Stavely Project is located in western Victoria on the Stavely tablelands approximately 250 km to the west of Melbourne.
The Project comprises exploration licence 4556, over which a retention licence (RL2017) has been applied for, and the Black Range Joint Venture exploration licence 5425.
The project has an existing large Inferred Mineral Resource of 28 million tonne at 0.4% copper (gold and silver not estimated) at Thursday’s Gossan prospect. The company’s shallow copper-gold discovery on the Ultramafic Contact Fault has been named the Cayley Lode.
Drilling at Stavely
The company reported that an intensive resource drill-out is currently underway on this ~1km long discovery zone, named the Cayley Lode, with in-fill and step-out drilling based on a roughly 40m x 40m drilling grid.
The company said that the intention of the current programme is to delineate high-grade, near-surface copper-gold-silver mineralisation over a significant strike extent in the Cayley Lode that would complement the existing large Inferred Mineral Resource at Thursday’s Gossan.
High-grade results
The company has now reported the results from diamond drill hole SMD064, SMD070, SMD073, SMD074, SMD063, and SMD067.
Hole SMD064
The DD hole SMD064, located ~20m to the north-west of discovery drill hole SMD050, returned a high-grade intercept of 8m at 5.12% copper, 1.48g/t gold and 34.3g/t silver from 121m down-hole, including 1m at 26.8% copper, 8.48g/t gold and 201g/t silver.
SVY said that further drilling is planned in this sector of the Cayley Lode.
Hole SMD070
The company reported that diamond drill hole SMD070, located ~200m south-east of the discovery hole SMD050, also returned a significant shallow intercept within a broader zone of 75m at 0.60% copper, 0.19g/t gold and 5g/t silver from 20m drill depth.
Highlights include 19m at 1.48% copper, 0.40g/t gold and 15g/t silver from 65m down-hole, including 1m at 9.23% copper, 2.67g/t gold and 125g/t silver.
Hole SMD074
The company said that the recently completed drill hole SMD074 (drilled some 40m behind SMD070) has intercepted an approximately 60m interval of massive to semi-massive sulphide including variable abundances of copper sulphides.
SVY said that samples will be submitted for analysis once processing and logging of the drill core are complete.
Hole SMD063
The company reported that the diamond drill hole SMD063, located just south-east of SMD050, intersected a narrow zone of mineralisation in the Cayley Lode of 1m at 1.10% copper, 0.16g/t gold and 5.5g/t silver.
Hole SMD067
The company said that the drill hole SMD067, located in the mid-north western portion of the Cayley Lode intercepted shallow chalcocite-enriched mineralisation including 18 m at 0.43% copper, 0.35g/t gold and 12.8g/t silver from 16m down-hole, including2m at 1.21% copper, 0.27g/t gold and 26.5g/t silver located in the Cayley Lode from 25m down-hole.
SMD067 also intercepted a carbonate base-metal mineralised interval of 2m at 1.32% copper, 0.95% lead, 1.06% zinc and 7.5g/t silver located internal to the ultramafic footwall from 107m down-hole.
Hole SMD073
SVY reported that the drill hole SMD073, located in the far north-west portion of the Cayley Lode, has intercepted an interval of moderate to strong sphalerite (zinc sulphide) mineralisation within pyritic massive sulphide in the Cayley Lode from 359.2m to 365.0m
Key attributes of mineralisation in Cayley Lode
The company said that there are three key attributes of the mineralisation in the Cayley Lode.
1. The sulphide mineral zonation of the Magma / Butte-style mineralisation is being exhibited by the Cayley Lode with the more northern intercepts displaying a transition to a more distal zinc-rich mineralisation signature.
2. The sphalerite (zinc sulphide) intercept in SMD073 was in the Cayley Lode from 359.2m while the low-angle structure (LAS) was observed at 213.2m. Importantly, this means that the Cayley Lode remains mineralised below the LAS.
3. At least below the LAS, and likely above the LAS as well, Cayley Lode mineralisation extends from the known southern extents with mineralisation in drill hole SMD062 through to SMD073 – a distance in-excess of one kilometre.
The company noted that the Cayley Lode remains open along strike to the south-east of SMD062 and down-dip.
Updates and further work
SVY reported that resource drilling is continuing with four rigs operating on a roughly 40m by 40m drill pattern.
Stavely said that once the near-surface potential is confirmed and some similar regional targets are tested, drilling will shift towards confirming the depth potential of the high-grade copper-gold-silver mineralisation on a number of mineralised structures including the Cayley Lode, the North-South Structure (NSS) and the Copper Lode Splay (CLS).
The company announced that a 7-hole diamond drilling campaign has been completed at the Mathinna Gold Mine in Tasmania. Assay results are pending and will be reported once all assays have been received.
Management comments
Stavely Minerals’ Executive Chairman, Chris Cairns, said: “Ongoing drilling along the newly-named Cayley Lode continues to deliver strong copper-gold-silver mineralisation over significant widths, including a number of narrower high-grade intervals at shallow depths in SMD064 and SMD070, located respectively to the north-west and south-east along strike from the discovery hole.
As we’ve noted previously, widths and grades will vary as the Cayley Lode pinches and swells, but the consistency of the mineralisation is notable – particularly as we have now intersected mineralisation in drill hole SMD073, approximately 1km to the north-west from our southern-most mineralised intercept.
The presence of more zinc-rich mineralisation in this hole is consistent with our Butte / Magma-style mineralisation model, which predicts that we will encounter zinc-rich mineralisation out in the distal / cooler portions of the mineral system.
SMD073 is a very significant drill hole as it demonstrates that the system is behaving as it should, that mineralisation does indeed continue below the Low-Angle Structure, and that the strike extent of the mineralised system is now in-excess of one kilometre and open to the south-east and down-dip.
Meanwhile, drill hole SMD074, some 200m south-east of the discovery hole, appears to have intercepted the broadest interval of massive to semi-massive sulphides on the Cayley Lode to date. While the mineralisation will continue to exhibit significant variation in both width and grade, we are confident that it will yield many more impressive thick intercepts such as this as drilling progresses on the Cayley Lode and other known mineralised structures in the Copper-Lode Splay and the North-South Structure.
There is plenty of drilling ahead of us to define the extents of this very significant lode-hosted copper-gold-silver system, with our immediate focus now on an intensive resource drill-out with four rigs operating within the main mineralised zone.
We have renamed the mineralisation on the Ultramafic Contact Fault as the ‘Cayley Lode’ in recognition of the attributes that Geological Survey of Victoria Senior Geologist Ross Cayley personifies – a passion for geology, dogged persistence, and technical excellence.
It was Ross and his colleagues, including David Taylor, who played leading roles in a collaborative effort between the Geological Survey of Victoria and Geoscience Australia that produced some ground-breaking interpretive work on the Stavely Arc and the evolution of eastern Australia.”