Antipa Minerals Ltd (ASX:AZY) is off to a great start to its Phase 1 2024 drilling program at the 100%-owned Minyari Dome Gold-Copper Project in the Paterson Province of WA with the first assays returning thick zones of high-grade, near-surface gold with copper to boot.
The initial 39 reverse circulation (RC) holes of a 71-hole 2024 Phase 1 resource delineation drilling program for 10,620 metres have been completed with assays from the first six holes at GEO-01 providing potentially open pittable gold.
Strong results
Results include 66 metres at 1.4 g/t gold and 0.04% copper from 118 metres down hole in 24MYC0441, including 6 metres at 1.9 g/t gold and 0.11% copper from 118 metres and 17 metres at 4.4 g/t from 157 metres, also including 4 metres at 15.5 g/t from 168 metres.
Other results:
- 26 metres at 1.3 g/t gold from 37 metres down hole, including 6 metres at 2.4 g/t from 37 metres and 4 metres at 2.4 g/t from 59 metres;
- 20 metres at 2.4 g/t gold from 114 m down hole, including 11 metres at 3.4 g/t from 122 metres, also including 3 metres at 4.8 g/t from 124 metres; and
- 39 metres at 1.0 g/t gold from 71 metres down hole, including 5 metres at 2.0 g/t from 71 metres and 2 metres at 2.8 g/t from 94 metres.
With mineralisation at GEO-01 remaining open in all directions, this prospect presents Antipa with a significant potential maiden resource opportunity.
“Fantastic initial results”
Antipa’s managing director Roger Mason said: “Our Phase 1 CY2024 drill program is off to a great start, with fantastic initial results returned from the first six holes of resource delineation drilling at GEO-01.
"Grades of up to one metre at 28.9 g/t gold have been returned, with multiple intersections of near-surface high-grade mineralisation. Importantly, these results show an increase in the thickness of the main zone of mineralisation.
"With GEO-01 open in most directions, it continues to shape up as a substantial shallow, maiden resource opportunity. We look forward to receiving the next batch of GEO-01 results in the coming weeks.”
About the program
The 2024 Phase 1 exploration drilling program was designed to enable a maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) at the GEO-01 discovery and to target new gold-copper discoveries within multiple high-priority target areas including three Pacman geophysical targets - PM1, PM2 and PM3.
As well as the 71 RC holes, this program also includes three diamond core drill holes for 3,150 metres.
GEO-01 is about 1.3 kilometres south of the 1.5-million-ounce Minyari gold-copper deposit and occupies a prospective footprint covering 700 by 370 metres.
Initial 2024 Phase 1 drill results validate the significant near-surface, high-grade gold mineralisation returned at GEO-01 during 2023 drilling with the next batch of results expected around the end of this month.
Zone expanded
The main zone of observed GEO-01 gold mineralisation has expanded to cover an area of up to 250 metres along strike and up to 150 metres across strike, with strong indications of ongoing growth potential.
Additionally, the initial Phase 1 drill results show an increase in the thickness of the main zone of mineralisation, underscoring the potential for significant high-grade gold zones within this area.
Ongoing drilling
The GEO-01 area will receive around 8,000 metres of the Phase 1 Minyari Dome Project RC drilling.
Of this, 20 RC holes for 3,410 metres are planned to test the main zone of observed mineralisation, including infill/definition drilling plus extensional drilling 350 metres along strike and 150 metres across strike of this zone of mineralisation.
In addition, a further 29 RC drill holes for 4,350 metres will follow up multiple zones of mineralisation within the broader 700 by 370 metres GEO-01 area, identified by the broad-spaced aircore and 2023 RC drilling, which remains open in a number of directions.
The remainder of this program will test several additional target areas, including Rizzo, T12, GP01, WACA East and a Minyari mineral resource extension target.
Three Pacman targets, around 30 kilometres east of the Minyari deposit along trend from the 7-million-ounce gold and 275,000 tonnes copper Havieron deposit, are also set to be drill tested with three diamond core drill holes for a total of around 3,150 metres.
The Pacman drilling program is supported by two Western Australia EIS co-funding grants totalling A$440,000.