Venus Metals Corporation Limited (ASX: VMC) in conjunction with its JV partner Rox Resources Limited (ASX: RXL) announced that the recent RC drilling at Sovereign Prospect within its Youanmi project in WA has extended high-grade gold mineralisation down dip.
The company said that the RC drilling followed up on previous AC and RC results. Best results from RC drilling included 8m @ 5.03 g/t Au from 160m including 2m @ 15.83 g/t Au from 160m and 3m @ 2.86 g/t Au from 165m.
Venus Metals announced that RC drilling is planned west and southwest of the Sovereign discovery to test this target, and beneath previous high‐grade gold intersections in YSRC014 and YSRC010.
Youanmi gold project
The Youanmi gold project (VMC 50% and RXL 50% ‐ gold rights only) is located 480km to the northeast of the city of Perth, Western Australia.
The project straddles a 36km strike length of the Youanmi Greenstone Belt and lies north of the historical Penny West gold mine and the historical Magenta and Columbia gold prospects. The total JORC 2012 Compliant Resource for the Youanmi Gold Mine is estimated as ~1.2 Million Ounces of Gold.
The structure of the Youanmi Project is dominated by the north-trending Youanmi Fault Zone. Most of the gold mineralisation seen at the project is hosted within north-northwest splays off the north-northeast trending Youanmi Fault.
The principal deposits include Youanmi Main, Hill End, United North, Kathleen, Rebel, and Kurrajong6. Sovereign Prospect is located on E57/1019 of the Youanmi Gold Project. The Grace prospect is located in the OYG joint venture area within the Youanmi Gold Mine in Western Australia.
Drilling at Youanmi
The company had completed an initial Aircore (AC) drilling program in 2019 at Youanmi project. The AC drilling had generated geochemical anomalies (for lead and other base metals) that were interpreted to resemble the geochemical signatures of Currans North and Penny West high‐grade gold mineralization.
Subsequent AC drilling intersected gold mineralization in VRAC151; 4m @ 7.02 g/t Au from 24m, and 5m @ 2.41 g/t Au from 60m to EOH, and in VRAC161: 4m @ 0.94 g/t Au from 32m.
Follow up RC drilling
The company had completed a follow‐up RC drilling at the Youanmi Gold Project. VMC reported that the follow-up RC drilling confirmed the gold mineralization.
Best results included YSRC05 3m @ 6.61 g/t Au from 78m including 1m @ 11.61 g/t Au from 79m; YSRC09 4m @ 2.68 g/t Au from 116m including 1m @ 5.43g/t Au from 118m; YSRC10 7m @ 3.97 g/t Au from 59m including 1m @ 8.19g/t Au from 64m, 10m @ 3.64 g/t Au from 79m including 2m @ 10.64 g/t Au from 82m; and YSRC11 3m @ 1.24 g/t Au from 56m.
High-grade results from YSRC0104
Two RC holes, YSRC014, and YSRC013 were completed recently at Sovereign prospect. YSRC014 targeted the depth extensions of gold mineralization intersected in YSRC010 and intersected the main gold‐mineralized lode.
Best results included YSRC014 8m @ 5.03 g/t Au from 160m including 2m @ 15.83 g/t Au from 160m and 3m @ 2.86 g/t Au from 165m.
The JV partners said that gold grades at Sovereign are increasing with depth and are hosted in multiple lodes.
Venus Metals said that further RC drilling is planned to test the depth extent of the high‐grade mineralization at Sovereign and to expand the drilling programme along a newly interpreted trend with the mineralization potentially open to the west and southwest.
Ground‐magnetic surveys
The company had conducted a ground magnetic survey over the Sovereign prospect area in July 2020. The survey was commissioned by Venus Metals Corporation and completed by Core Geophysics Pty Ltd. A total of 34 line km were collected.
Significant gold mineralization along northeast and north-northeast trending structures were identified by the Venus/Rox JV in drilling on the Currans Find Mining Lease M57/641 a few hundred meters west of Sovereign Prospect.
Venus Metals said that an interpretation of recent ground‐magnetic surveys covering Currans Find (M57/641) and Sovereign Prospect (E57/1019) indicated prominent northeast (NE) and north‐northeast (NNE) trending structures that align with the orientation of high‐grade gold mineralization at Taylor’s Reef, Currans North, and Red White and Blue prospects.
Six targets identified
Based on the ground‐magnetic data, VMC said that six priority targets have been identified along NE trends in the eastern part of the survey area (E57/1019) and one of these priority targets is located immediately west of the Sovereign gold discovery.
What’s next?
The JV partners reported that further RC drilling is planned at the Sovereign gold prospect to explore the down-dip extensions of the respective gold mineralized lodes as well as the strike extension based on recent modelling of ground magnetic data.