Tennant Minerals (ASX:TMS) says thick copper and gold zones intersected at the Bluebird discovery in the Northern Territory highlights its potential to expand.
In the latest reverse circulation drilling program at the discovery, which is part of the Barkly Project, ‘high-grade’ intersections to the west and down-plunge of previous drilling were recorded.
Drillhole BBRC0040 recorded a 5m high-grade gold zone grading 8.3 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 2% copper, 9.8g/t silver, and 0.27% bismuth, including 22.7g/t gold, 1.6% copper, 41.4g/t silver, and 0.51% bismuth from 233m.
Tennant Minerals, which has a market capitalisation of $16.25 million, adds a new well-mineralised copper-gold zone was also uncovered at the Bluebird East area, which is thickening with depth and shows expansion potential.
Drillhole BBRC0034 recorded 28m @ 2.1% copper-equivalent, including 2m @ 7.9% copper, 0.85g/t gold, and 7.8g/t silver.
CEO Vincent Algar says the latest results not only confirms high gold and copper grades, but also extends the mineralised zones to the east and down-plunge to the west of previous drilling.
“One of the most exciting outcomes of the program has been the identification that Bluebird is made up of up to four large, high-grade copper-gold mineralised lenses within the east-west trending ironstone-host at Bluebird — which remains completely open to the east and west,” Algar says.
“The new drilling has also identified a new hanging-wall zone of thick, strong mineralisation which continues eastwards and to depth in the intersections in drillhole BBRC0034 and BBRC0047.
“This new zone is completely untested further eastwards and at depth within the host ironstone corridor.”
Algar adds that the high-intensity of the Bluebird mineralisation has always suggested it is part of a much larger system.
“The greater than 5km strike length gravity corridor within the Barkly tenement includes multiple repeats of the Bluebird geophysical signature, and further work is underway to define and test targets for new discoveries,” he says.
Results are still pending from a series of step-out reverse circulation drillholes within the 2.5km strike length Bluebird-Perseverance trend, which forms part of a 5km gravity corridor across the entire Barkly Project.
Tennant Minerals says the results will be integrated with detailed gravity, auger geochemistry and aircore drilling programs, which are in progress to define new priority targets for Bluebird repeats within this zone.
Bluebird is considered to comprise copper-gold orebodies in the Tennant Creek Mineral Field. It is one of multiple copper-gold targets within the Barkly Project.
The Barkly Project lies on the eastern edge of the Tennant Creek Mineral Field, which has produced more than 5.5 million ounces of gold and 700,000 tonnes of copper from 1934 to 2005.
Tennant Minerals is an explorer and developer focused on discoveries in the Tennant Creek area of the Northern Territory. The company’s key assets are the Barkly and Babbler projects.
The company will be presenting at the Noosa Mining Conference being held from 13-15 November 2024 at Peppers Noosa Resort. Click to register. Mining.com.au is a media partner of this year’s event.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Tennant Minerals
