Sultan Resources Limited (ASX: SLZ) reported that zones of veining, alteration, and sulphide mineralisation up to 136m thick were intersected from the first phase of its maiden drill program completed at its Tucklan Gold project in the east Lachlan fold belt, NSW.
The company said that veining and sulphides coincident with strong I.P. chargeability high confirm the presence of a sulphide bearing hydrothermal system. SLZ said that the assay results are expected by the end of March due to laboratory backlog.
Sultan reported that the results from soil geochemistry to the east of the drilling have been received and are being interpreted.
Drill testing of IP anomalies
The company had commenced drill-testing of Induced Polarisation (IP) anomalies beneath strong gold and copper surface geochemistry at the Tucklan project in December 2020.
The initial phase of the maiden drill programme at Tucklan comprised 6 RC percussion holes, including two with diamond drilling tails, for a total of 1,544.3m. The company said that three holes reached their target depth of ~350m, while three holes failed to reach planned depth due to excessive ground water.
Broad zones of veining and sulphide mineralisation
The company announced that logging of the drill chips and core revealed broad zones of hydrothermally altered volcaniclastics and coherent volcanic facies that contain multiple generations of veining and sulphide mineralisation in some holes.
SLZ reported that hole TRC0001 tested a strong IP chargeability ‘bullseye’ target, intersected a 136m down hole zone (172m to 308m) of moderate to intense, multi-generational vein sets, and associated disseminated, stringer, and vein-hosted sulphide mineralisation within volcaniclastic sediments.
Sultan said that sulphide mineralisation was visually estimated to be at least 1.5% throughout the interval and dominated by pyrite and pyrrhotite though significant sphalerite (Zn-sulphide), galena (Pb-sulphide), and chalcopyrite (Cu-sulphide) noted in some veins.
The company said that numerous vein sets were identified. This included Quartz Sulphide Veins: Quartz + Pyrrhotite veinlets, Quartz + Pyrite veins with chlorite halos, and Pyrite/pyrrhotite veinlets; Quartz-Carbonate-Sulphide veins – Quartz + Carbonate + Pyrrhotite/pyrite; and Quartz-Carbonate-Base Metals Veins – Quartz + Carbonate veins with Sphalerite + Galena + Pyrrhotite + Pyrite ± Chalcopyrite.
Similarities with McPhillamy’s Gold Deposit
The company noted that the style of veining, sulphides, and alteration is not interpreted to be typical of an epithermal gold system and could represent a similar style of mineralisation to the McPhillamy’s Gold Deposit located in a similar geological setting ~130km to the south.
The McPhillamy’s Gold Project is a bulk tonnage gold deposit containing a total resource of 70Mt @ 1.0g/t for 2.29Moz. McPhillamys is interpreted as an orogenic gold deposit hosted in a shear zone within Silurian dacitic volcaniclastics.
Latest updates and further work
SLZ said that once assay results are received, the Company will decide if the drill program will continue with the addition of diamond tails to the holes affected by water and the completion of a further holes including possible air-core drilling.
The company said that the results from recently received soil geochemistry are being interpreted and drill targeting is also being considered. SLZ said that IP surveying and soil geochemistry to close off the open-ended anomalous zone are ongoing.
Sultan said that the focus on future work will be to ultimately generate targets for drilling. The company said that the work to enable this will include further soil sampling programs coupled with IP geophysics to locate bodies of disseminated sulphides beneath the surface. If sufficient encouragement is gained from this work, then deeper RC or diamond drilling is anticipated.
* Image source: Sultan Resources Limited