Stelar Metals (ASX:SLB) reports it has received multiple new laboratory rock-chip assays confirming a broad area of ‘high-grade’ zinc mineralisation at its 100% owned Linda Zinc Project in South Australia.
The critical minerals explorer notes new laboratory rock-chip assays have returned ‘high-grade’ zinc across the 600m x 300m expanded Main Linda Zinc Prospect.
New, additional, laboratory assay results of surface rock-chip samples taken across the expanded area confirm the presence and distribution of high-grade zinc mineralisation with 24 out of 48 new samples returning over 5% zinc assays.
Multiple surface rock-chip samples have now returned over 20% zinc across the length and breadth of the anomaly reflecting the significance of the of the zinc mineralisation distribution at Linda.
Addressing the results, Stelar Metals Chief Executive Officer Colin Skidmore says: “Stelar’s work in 2022 has taken the Linda Project from being a long forgotten historic zinc play to becoming a significant new zinc exploration project with adequate scale and grade to potentially host economic mineralisation.
“Subject to the receipt of all statutory approvals, Stelar looks forward in 2023 to drill testing Linda and to advancing this project further at a time when this critical commodity is in high demand”
Subject to the receipt of all statutory approvals, Stelar looks forward in 2023 to drill testing Linda and to advancing this project further at a time when this critical commodity is in high demand.”
Stelar has 5 projects that are 100% owned by Stelar Metals and are located in South Australia’s premier world class exploration and mining district.
Ongoing geological mapping at Linda under the guidance of Dr Rachelle Kernen, a renowned expert in diapiric systems and Flinders Range sedimentology, is resolving the structural architecture and the lithofacies distribution, which are considered key to understanding the controls and the sub-surface distribution of zinc mineralisation.
Stelar reports preliminary interpretations based on sedimentological and structural measurements indicate the Linda Area comprises a series of structurally controlled uplifted graben blocks and there is a strong association of the surface mineralisation to dolomitised karst facies.
Further detailed mapping to optimise drill program design is planned for early 2023 alongside additional surface sampling programs. The sampling will focus on areas outside of the main Linda Prospect that have been recently discovered by Stelar including at the contact with the Linda Breccia; to the west of Linda where stratigraphic contacts contain visible mineralisation; and to the south in NeoProterozoic units of Wonoka Formation carbonates.
Land access negotiation is also progressing with plans to commence drilling at Linda as soon as possible in 2023, the company says.
High-grade zinc and lead mineralisation at Linda is hosted within similar Cambrian limestone sequences as Perilya’s Beltana Zinc Mine and Third Plain Zinc Project located only 10km along strike from Linda. Stelar Metals consider that this area is prospective for economic Mississippi Valley type (MVT) and Beltana-Kipushi type zinc-lead mineralisation as well as Zambian-style copper mineralisation.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: Stelar Metals Ltd
