Eagle Mountain Mining Limited has announced assay results from the ongoing drilling program at the company’s 80 per cent owned Oracle Ridge Mine Project in Arizona, USA, have returned the highest grades ever recorded at the project.
Assay results from hole WT-21-04 and WT-21-06 have been announced by Eagle Mountain, with results for holes WT-21-05, WT-20-07 and recently completed WT-21-08 still pending.
WT-21-04
WT-21-04 was drilled at the northern end of the mine area. The hole targeted the extension to unassayed mineralisation in historical hole C-011 (Figure 3).
A high-grade zone of 14 metres at 2.1 per cent copper (Cu), 22.62 grams per tonne (g/t) of silver (Ag) and 0.05 g/t of gold (Au) was intersected near the Leatherwood-sediments contact, extending the historical mineralisation 60 metres to the north.
The gold values encountered in this area are low and may suggest different mineralising events across the skarn. This geochemical variation will be considered as part of ongoing vectoring towards the potential source of the mineralisation.
WT-21-05
This was a follow-up drill hole to WT-21-04 and was designed to intersect the mineralisation to the north but encountered a structurally complex zone likely related to the nearby Geesaman fault. Assays for WT-21-05 are pending. Further drilling is planned in the area after additional drill pads are established in the coming months.
WT-21-06
WT-21-06 was drilled in the southern part of the mine area, testing for north-eastern extensions to strong mineralisation encountered in WT-20-10 (13.3 metres at 2.43 per cent Cu, 52.6 g/t Ag and 0.94 g/t Au including 1.5 metres at 11.55 per cent Cu, 273 g/t Ag and 5.41 g/t Au, as per the announcement on 22 December 2020).
These intersections are part of a new lode extending mineralisation over 200 metres in an easterly direction (Figure 4).
WT-21-06 successfully intersected 12.7 metres at 3.96 per cent Cu, 49.11g/t Ag and 1.38 g/t Au at the Leatherwood-sediments contact, approximately 30 metres to the north-east of WT-20-10 (Figure 4).
A narrow zone of massive chalcopyrite within this interval returned 0.4 metres at 34.4 per cent Cu, 367 g/t Ag and 26.2 g/t Au, the highest-grade assay ever recorded at Oracle Ridge (Figure 1).
Massive sulphides had not been previously encountered by Eagle Mountain at Oracle Ridge. This is an exciting discovery and the technical team and its consultants are assessing the relevance of this interval and its implications for the prospectivity of this area.
Drilling progress
WT-21-07 and WT-21-08 have recently been completed and are being logged with samples taken for assay. The rig is currently drilling hole WT-21-09, targeting northern extensions to mineralisation in the southern mine area (e.g. WT-20-10; WT-20-05, 15.1 metres at 1.72 per cent Cu, 16.87 g/t Ag and 0.38 g/t Au, see announcement 20 November 2020).
According to Eagle Mountain, the current goal is to drill a fence of holes approximately 40 metres to the north of WT-20-10 and WT-20-05. While drilling continues, earthmoving contractors are working on improving access to the southernmost part of the mine area.
Historical pads will be refurbished and access tracks improved to ensure safer and more efficient drilling operations. The newly accessible locations will allow drilling of mineralised areas that have not been tested since the 1970s as well as providing better drilling angles to test the southern extension of mineralisation near WT-20-10 and WT-20-05.
Eagle Mountain Mining’s CEO, Tim Mason, said: “WT-21-06 followed up the discovery of a high-grade breccia zone in hole WT-20-10 and delivered one of the best intersections recorded at Oracle Ridge, including the highest-grade copper, gold and silver assays ever recorded.”
“We are thrilled by the outstanding grades but also extremely pleased by the thickness of the mineralised zone at the Leatherwood contact. Drilling is ongoing in the vicinity of WT21-06 to assess further extensions to this new zone. I sincerely thank our dedicated geology team, including Fabio Vergara and Brian Paull, for their work which has led to this exciting discovery,” Mr Mason said.
“The intersection in holes WT-21-06 and WT-21-04 confirms the potential of the Leatherwood contact to deliver substantial additional resources at Oracle Ridge. While drilling continues, we are expediting earthworks to obtain access to new drill pads, particularly in the southern area where strongly mineralised holes drilled in the 1970s have never been followed up.”