WRM Gears up for Exploration at High-Grade Zinc VMS Project
Ballarat, Feb 27, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - White Rock Minerals Ltd (
ASX:WRM) ("White Rock" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on its plans to conduct a comprehensive exploration program at its globally significant 100% owned zinc VMS project at Red Mountain in Alaska.
White Rock announced its exploration strategy for Red Mountain in December last year (refer ASX Announcement dated 18 December 2017 "WRM - Exploration Program Planned - Red Mountain Zinc Project"). This strategy is focused on: -
- A targeted diamond drilling program aimed at in-fill and expansion of the high grade maiden Resource,
- On-ground orientation EM and possibly geochemistry exploration across the two already identified deposits,
- Regional application of the best geophysics and geochemistry exploration tools determined from the on-ground orientation work, and
- A follow-up diamond drilling program on the best of the more than 30 already identified exploration targets.
Drilling Campaign
The initial drilling campaign, to commence in May, will aim to infill and extend the maiden resource which already has two identified deposits (Dry Creek and West Tundra Flats) and a Resource base of 16.7Mt at 8.9% ZnEq (see Note below) including a high-grade component of 9.1Mt @ 12.9% ZnEq (see Note below) (refer ASX announcement 26 April 2017 regarding the maiden Mineral Resource).
This drilling is aimed to follow-up on drilling last done in the 1990s, which included
68.9m @ 4% Zn, 1.8% Pb, 58g/t Ag and 0.3g/t Au (DC98-60),
36.1m @ 6.2% Zn, 2.5% Pb, 183g/t Ag and 1g/t Au (DC98-40) and
12.5m @ 12.5% Zn, 5.5% Pb, 160g/t Ag and 1.1g/t Au (DC97-04).
(refer ASX Announcement dated 15 February 2016 "White Rock Minerals proposes to acquire VMS project in Alaska".)
Mobilisation
White Rock has engaged the services of the experienced, locally-based consultancy Northern Associates Inc. ("NAI") to be the Company's representative on the ground for the upcoming exploration program.
A contract for the exploration camp facilities has already been let, and preparations are underway to ready this for overland transport to the camp site.
The camp site, located proximal to the Red Mountain exploration program's focus around the Dry Creek and West Tundra Flats deposits, is to be accessed via ice road over winter in order to haul the necessary camp, drilling and other equipment in, ready for work to commence in May. This road, some 71 miles in length (114 kms), of which half is an existing and plowed winter road, and a further 20% established trails, has already been scouted, and all access permits received. The route traverses open low undulating terrain and three river crossings, heading west from the township of Delta Junction to the foothills of the Alaskan Range at Newman Creek where there is an already existing air strip.
Personnel and supply support for the camp and exploration program, once the thaw has occurred, will be via a 20 minute helicopter flight south from Fairbanks - Alaska's second largest city.
White Rock has also sought tenders for the drilling program and six responded, with a Preferred Contractor selected.
MD & CEO Matt Gill said "The Company is very excited about the potential for its globally significant high-grade Zinc VMS Project at Red Mountain, and the news flow that should come from a successful exploration program here.
Since acquiring the Red Mountain project in early 2016, we have expanded our strategic footprint 10-fold, to 143km2, and have also released a maiden Mineral Resource that immediately placed the Red Mountain Project in the top quartile of undeveloped high-grade VMS (zinc, silver, gold) deposits globally. Importantly, the two deposits identified within the Company's extensive land holding immediately placed the Red Mountain zinc project as one of the highest grade and more significant deposits of any zinc company listed on the ASX and an important VMS asset within a global context.
Now it is time to get on the ground.
Our aim here is to further build on our geological knowledge of the mineralisation, increase confidence in the Resource base, expand the already globally significant Resources at the existing deposits and discover new deposits.
We will, in parallel with the drilling program, also be conducting on-ground geophysics and geochemistry, testing many of the 30 already identified exploration targets developed from historic shallow EM and historic surface geochemistry, and explore the system for VMS related gold potential. We plan to drill the best of these regional targets towards the end of this drilling campaign.
This is an exciting time for White Rock".
No New Information or Data
This announcement contains references to exploration results and Mineral Resource estimates, all of which have been cross-referenced to previous market announcements by the Company. The Company confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in the relevant market announcements and in the case of estimates of Mineral Resources, that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the estimates in the relevant market announcement continue to apply and have not materially changed.
About Red Mountain (as more fully set out in the ASX Announcement dated 15 February 2016)
- The Red Mountain Project is located in central Alaska, 100km south of Fairbanks, in the Bonnifield Mining District. The tenement package comprises 224 mining claims over a total area of 143km2.
- The Red Mountain Project contains polymetallic VMS mineralisation rich in zinc, silver and lead, with potential for significant gold and copper.
- Mineralisation occurs from surface and is open along strike and down-dip.
- White Rock used historical drilling to determine a maiden JORC 2012 Mineral Resource estimate for the Dry Creek and West Tundra Flats deposit (ASX Announcement 26th April 2017). The Inferred Mineral Resource contains an impressive base metal and precious metal content with 678,000t zinc, 286,000t lead, 53.5 million ounces silver and 352,000 ounces gold.
- Good preliminary metallurgical recoveries of >90% zinc, >75% lead, >80% gold, >70% silver and >70% copper.
- Previous drilling highlights (ASX Announcement 15th February 2016) include:
Dry Creek
o 4.6m @ 23.5% Zn, 531g/t Ag, 8.5% Pb, 1.5g/t Au & 1.0% Cu from 6.1m
o 5.5m @ 25.9% Zn, 346g/t Ag, 11.7% Pb, 2.5g/t Au & 0.9% Cu from 69.5m
o 7.1m @ 15.1% Zn, 334g/t Ag, 6.8% Pb, 0.9g/t Au & 0.3% Cu from39.1m
West Tundra Flats
o 1.3m @ 21.0% Zn, 796g/t Ag,9.2% Pb, 10.2g/t Au & 0.6% Cu from 58.6m
o 3.0m @ 7.3% Zn, 796g/t Ag, 4.3% Pb, 1.1g/t Au & 0.2% Cu from160.9m
o 1.7m @ 11.4% Zn, 372g/t Ag, 6.0% Pb, 1.7g/t Au & 0.2% Cu from 104.3m
- VMS deposits typically occur in clusters ("VMS camps"). Deposit sizes within camps typically follow a log normal distribution, and deposits within camps typically occur at regular spacing. The known deposits at Dry Creek and West Tundra Flats provide valuable information with which to vector and target additional new deposits within the Red Mountain camp.
- Interpretation of the geologic setting indicates conditions that enhance the prospectivity for gold-rich mineralisation within the VMS system at Red Mountain. Gold mineralisation is usually found at the top of VMS base metal deposits or adjacent in the overlying sediments. Gold bearing host rocks are commonly not enriched in base metals and consequently often missed during early exploration sampling. This provides an exciting opportunity for potential further discoveries at Red Mountain.
- White Rock sees significant discovery potential, given the lack of modern day exploration at Red Mountain. This is further enhanced by the very nature of VMS clustering in camps, and the potentially large areas over which these can occur.
Note: ZnEq = Zinc equivalent grades are estimated using long-term broker consensus estimates compiled by RFC Ambrian as at 20 March 2017 adjusted for recoveries from historical metallurgical test work and calculated with the formula: ZnEq =100 x [(Zn% x 2,206.7 x 0.9) + (Pb% x 1,922 x 0.75) + (Cu% x 6,274 x 0.70) + (Ag g/t x (19.68/31.1035) x 0.70) + (Au g/t x (1,227/31.1035) x 0.80)] / (2,206.7 x 0.9). White Rock is of the opinion that all elements included in the metal equivalent calculation have reasonable potential to be recovered and sold.
To view tables and figures, please visit:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/6792NM0N
About White Rock Minerals Ltd
White Rock Minerals Ltd (ASX:WRM) (OTCMKTS:WRMCF) is a diversified explorer and near-stage producer, headquartered in Ballarat, Victoria. The Company's flagship exploration project is Red Mountain in central Alaska. At Red Mountain, there are already two high grade zinc - silver - gold - lead VMS deposits, with an Inferred Mineral Resource of 9.1 million tonnes @ 609g/t AgEq / 13% ZnEq. The Company is also exploring its recently discovered large intrusion related gold anomaly at Last Chance, also located in the Tintina gold belt of Alaska, home to multi-million gold ounce deposits like Pogo, Fort Knox and the Donlin Project. The Company also has the Mt Carrington project, located near Drake, in Northern NSW, which is a near-production precious metals asset with a resource of 341,000 ounces of gold and 23.2 million ounces of silver on an approved mining lease, and with a Gold First PFS and JORC Reserve.
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