Argent Minerals Limited has received regulatory approval to commence a diamond drilling programme in the Loch Lilly – Kars Belt in Western New South Wales.
The Loch Lilly – Kars Belt, located approximately 80 kilometres south of Broken Hill, is analogous to the Mount Read Volcanics of Western Tasmania, which hosts world class VHMS, copper-gold porphyry and nickel sulphide mineralisation.
Argent will earn its first 51% interest in the Loch Lilly Joint Venture by completing the drilling programme to test two compelling geophysical targets – Eaglehawk and Netley. The drilling program will comprise two diamond drill holes for a total of 1,000 metres, with one 500-metre hole to test each target.
The direct per-metre drilling costs of the programme will be 75% co-funded by the NSW Government up to $150,000. The highly sought after Government funding was awarded to the project based on merit, as assessed by an independent expert advisory panel.
All access agreements are in place and the required drilling activity notifications have been submitted to the various authorities as required by the regulations.
Drill site preparations are scheduled to commence next week and the drilling contractor is scheduled to mobilise to site and commence drilling during the second week of July 2017. The drilling phase of the programme is anticipated to be completed within a period of approximately three weeks, subject to operational conditions and weather.
This will be followed by Argent’s standard process of detailed core logging and selection of samples for submission to the laboratory. In order to further streamline its site operations, the Company is renting a secure yard with core processing facilities in Broken Hill.
Further details of the Eaglehawk and Netley targets and the drilling programme will be provided in a forthcoming ASX release.