Stavely Minerals Limited (ASX: SVY) had unearthed another monster copper-gold hit which includes 87m at 1.74% copper, 0.57g/t gold, and 20g/t silver at the Thursday’s Gossan prospect within its namesake project in Victoria.
The company announced that broad interval of strong copper-gold mineralisation was intercepted in diamond drill hole SMD087, located approximately 100m south of the discovery drill hole SMD050 in the northern part of the Cayley Lode.
Significant intercepts include 87m at 1.74% Cu, 0.57g/t Au and 20g/t Ag from 140m down-hole, including 24m at 4.19% Cu, 1.27g/t Au and 53g/t Ag from 163m, including 0.8m at 24.1% Cu, 1.16g/t Au and 249g/t Ag; and 9m at 4.09% Cu, 1.83g/t Au and 39g/t Ag from 218m, including 1m at 1.30% Cu, 10.05g/t Au and 48g/t Ag.
SVY said that another diamond drill hole SMD085 has intersected the Cayley Lode below the Low-Angle Structure (LAS) and returned 23m at 1.07% Cu, 0.11g/t Au from 339m, including 4m at 4.44% Cu, 0.26g/t Au and 7.9g/t Ag from 357m, including 1m at 9.44% Cu, 0.22g/t Au and 6.4g/t Ag.
The company said that the intercept in SMD085 confirms that the defined strike extent of the Cayley Lode has increased to 1.5km with the mineralisation remaining open along strike in both directions and down-dip.
SVY reported that the diamond drill hole SMD078 also intersected the Cayley Lode on a structure internal to the serpentinite with an outstanding high-grade intercept of 3.8m at 4.97% Cu, 3.08g/t Au and 81g/t Ag from 227.2m down-hole, while sonic drill hole SMS010, located 20m in-front of the discovery hole SMD050, intersected the Cayley Lode from near-surface with 59m at 0.44% Cu, 0.20g/t Au and 2.2g/t Ag from 20m, including 3m at 1.33% Cu, 0.84g/t Au and 6.5g/t Ag from 38m.
The company announced that the resource drill-out at the Cayley Lode is progressing well and is now over 50% complete, paving the way for a maiden JORC Mineral Resource targeted for second half of 2020.
Stavely project
The Stavely Project is located in western Victoria on the Stavely tablelands approximately 250 km to the west of Melbourne.
The project has an existing large Inferred Mineral Resource of 28 million tonnes 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 Cayley Lode, located at the Thursday’s Gossan prospect.
Resource drilling programme at Thursday’s Gossan
The company had commenced a resource drilling programme at Thursday’s Gossan prospect within the Stavely project 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.
SVY reported that an intensive resource drill-out is underway on the south-eastern end of the 1.5km long discovery zone, with in-fill and step-out drilling continuing based on a roughly 40m x 40m drilling grid. The company reported that the drill-out is already over 50% complete and progressing well.
High-grade assays
SVY announced that new assay results have been received from the ongoing resource drilling programme at the shallow high-grade copper-gold discovery at the Thursday’s Gossan prospect.
This includes results from the diamond drill hole SMD087, diamond drill hole SMD085, diamond drill hole SMD078, and sonic drill hole SMS010.
DD hole SMD087
The diamond drill hole SMD087 is located approximately 100m south of the discovery drill hole SMD050 in the northern part of the Cayley Lode.
Significant intercepts from dd hole SMD087 includes 87m at 1.74% Cu, 0.57g/t Au and 20g/t Ag from 140m down-hole, including 24m at 4.19% Cu, 1.27g/t Au and 53g/t Ag from 163m, including 2m at 11.75% Cu, 1.45g/t Au and 66g/t Ag from 170m, and including 1.5m at 13.28% Cu, 2.58g/t Au and 209g/t Ag from 181.7m, and including 0.8m at 24.1% Cu, 1.16g/t Au and 249g/t Ag; and 9m at 4.09% Cu, 1.83g/t Au and 39g/t Ag from 218m down-hole, including 1m at 1.30% Cu, 10.05g/t Au and 48g/t Ag.
The company said that the base of the 24m interval hosted a narrower interval of strong polymetallic mineralisation, including 2m at 9.95% Cu, 0.71g/t Au, 107g/t Ag, 3.87% Zn, 1.18% Pb, 0.89% Ni, 0.90% Cr and 0.05% Co.
SVY reported that due to the large overall copper-gold-silver interval and significant gold grades in the high-grade sub-intervals, SMD087 is considered to be on a par with the discovery hole intercept in SMD050 (32m at 5.88% Cu, 1g/t Au and 58g/t Ag).
DD hole SMD085
The company said that the diamond drill hole has intersected the Cayley Lode below the Low-Angle Structure (LAS) and returned 23m at 1.07% Cu, 0.11g/t Au from 339m down-hole, including 4m at 4.44% Cu, 0.26g/t Au and 7.9g/t Ag from 357m, including 1m at 9.44% Cu, 0.22g/t Au and 6.4g/t Ag.
SVY noted that the intercept in SMD085 increases the defined strike extent of the Cayley Lode to 1.5km with the mineralisation remaining open both along strike and down-dip.
DD hole SMD078
SVY announced that the diamond drill hole SMD078 intersected the Cayley Lode on the ultramafic contact returning an exceptional high-grade intercept of 3.8m at 4.97% Cu, 3.08g/t Au and 81g/t Ag from 227.2m down-hole.
The company said that the DD hole SMD078’s high-grade intercept appears to be a footwall lode located entirely within the serpentinite. SVY noted that the interval in SMS010 is possibly affected by supergene depletion of the Cayley Lode and dispersion of copper into the near-surface chalcocite-enriched blanket.
Sonic drill hole SMS010
SVY reported that the sonic drill hole SMS010 located 20m in-front of the discovery hole SMD050, intersected the Cayley Lode from near-surface with 59m at 0.44% Cu, 0.20g/t Au and 2.2g/t Ag from 20m down-hole, including 3m at 1.33% Cu, 0.84g/t Au and 6.5g/t Ag from 38m.
Latest updates and next steps
SVY said that a resource drill-out is currently in progress at the Cayley Lode, and drilling will be conducted to test the lateral and depth extents of the Cayley Lode.
The company announced that the resource drilling is continuing with four rigs operating on a roughly 40m by 40m drill pattern. The company said that an interim Mineral Resource estimate for the shallow portions of the Cayley Lode will be completed in the second half of 2020.
SVY said that once the near-surface potential is confirmed and some similar regional targets are tested, diamond 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 said that other structures that have the potential to host well-developed copper-gold mineralisation may be inferred from a recently completed seismic survey, the interpretation of which is currently in-progress.
Management comments
Stavely Minerals’ Executive Chairman, Chris Cairns, said: “We continue to be surprised by the incredible consistency and continuity of mineralisation in the Cayley Lode, with the results reported today including significant intervals of strong copper-gold mineralisation in the northern portion of the deposit.
Due to the large overall interval of strong copper, gold and silver mineralisation in SMD087 and the significant gold grades in the high-grade sub-intervals, we consider this intercept to be on a par with the assays from the discovery drill hole SMD050.
The good width and grades of copper-gold-silver mineralisation returned in SMD085 is also a really exciting development for the Project. This confirms that the strike extent of the Cayley Lode discovery has increased to 1.5km, with the deposit remaining open along strike in both directions and down-dip. This really highlights the significant lateral and vertical extents of these copper-lode style systems and suggests that there is considerable further upside to be unlocked as we continue to drill.
Additionally, the intercepts in SMD073 and SMD085 at the respective extremities of the currently defined Cayley Lode are both decisively below the Low-Angle Structure. In light of this, we believe it is reasonable to expect that the mineralised Cayley Lode will persist to at least similar depths to the mineralisation intercepted on the North-South Structure at drill depths of greater than 900m in drill holes SMD044 and SMD045.
“It is worth noting that where high-grade copper-gold-silver mineralisation has been intercepted in the Cayley Lode and the North-South Structure respectively, those structurally-hosted intercepts are located approximately 600 metres apart laterally across strike. The implication is that both structures appear to be tapping into a mineralising fluid source at depth and given their distance apart, that source – potentially a fertile porphyry at depth – could represent a sizeable exploration target in its own right in the medium-term. Interpretation of the recently acquired seismic sections will assist this deep targeting.
It is fair to say that we continue to be amazed by the scale of this mineral system and we may have to contemplate an acceleration of our drilling programme to define the full extent of the Cayley Lode and other mineralised structures including the Copper Lode Splay and the North-South Structure. Preliminary interpretations of data from two recently acquired seismic lines suggest there may be additional sub-vertical structures that could also host high-grade copper-gold-silver mineralisation that have not yet been drill tested.
The drilling continues to reveal local variations in the widths of the mineralisation, as we expected from the outset, but generally speaking the deposit is behaving exactly as we had hoped – with the resource drill-out now well advanced and generating some excellent data that will feed into our maiden JORC Mineral Resource estimate later this year.”