Tennant Minerals (ASX:TMS) reports it has intersected some ‘outstanding high-grade’ sulphide copper and gold from a further 3 diamond drillholes recently completed at the Bluebird copper-gold discovery.
The Northern Territory-focused copper-gold explorer reports that these intersections have extended the Bluebird discovery by a further 100m to over 250m below surface.
The company’s share price had risen 13.749% as of 11am AWST.
Diamond drillhole BBDD0013 tested extensions of the mineralisation to the west of the previous ‘spectacular’ copper and gold intersection in BBDD0012 (63m @ 2.1% Cu, 4.6g/t Au including 27.55m @ 3.6% Cu, 10g/t Au), producing intersections of ‘high-grade’ copper and gold that include spectacular assays associated with massive sulphides (chalcocite – Cu2S) of up to 54.5% Cu.
Bluebird is located within the Company’s 100% owned Barkly Project in the Northern Territory at the eastern edge of the Tennant Creek (copper-gold) Mineral Field, which produced over 5Moz of gold and over 500kt of copper from 1934 to 2005.
Addressing the results, Tennant Minerals Chairman Matthew Driscoll commented: “The latest thick and high-grade copper and gold intersections from our Bluebird diamond drilling program are a real breakthrough, as they have confirmed the continuity of the high-grade sulphide mineralisation at depth and the massive chalcocite grades of up to 54.5% copper, coupled with gold grades of up to 39 grams per tonne, are truly spectacular.
“The latest thick and high-grade copper and gold intersections from our Bluebird diamond drilling program are a real breakthrough”
The recognition that the majority of the high-grade copper mineralisation is in sulphides has given impetus to our down hole EM program, to detect extensions to this high-grade copper-gold discovery.
We have also commenced an IP geophysical survey over Bluebird to fingerprint the copper sulphide mineralisation, which will help us prioritise the up to 12 geophysical targets within the Bluebird-Perseverance Target Zone for drill-testing.
This will give us even more confidence that Bluebird is just one of several high-grade copper and gold deposits awaiting discovery within the company’s broader Barkly Project.”
Diamond drillhole BBDD0015 is a 100m step-out at depth (down-plunge) from BBDD0012 that produced the following thick and high-grade copper sulphide with gold intersections:
- 17.8m @ 3.7 % Cu and 0.34 g/t Au from 277m (down hole)
- including 9.5m @ 6.0 % Cu and 0.48 g/t Au from 278.0m
- including 2.3m @ 12.3 % Cu and 0.36 g/t Au from 285.2m
The intersection in BBDD0015 has doubled the depth extent of the Bluebird discovery to more than 250m below surface, where it remains completely open.
Re-logging of cut and sampled core from these new intersections, as well as the previous ‘spectacular’ intersection in BBDD0012, indicates that the majority of the copper mineralisation is the sulphide mineral chalcocite (Cu2S), which has the highest proportion of copper of any sulphide mineral.
The thick copper-gold intersection in BBDD0013 is associated with a dilational thickened zone developed within an anticlinal hinge “roll-over” position.
Structural measurements indicate that BBDD0015 is close to another anticlinal dilational thickened target zone at depth, which will be drill-tested as part of the stage two follow-up program currently being planned.
Images: Tennant Minerals Ltd
