Initial Drilling Delivers High Grade Zinc Results
Ballarat, June 18, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - White Rock Minerals Ltd (
ASX:WRM) ("White Rock" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the first round of assay results for massive sulphide mineralisation intersected in two of the first three diamond drill holes at its 100% owned high-grade zinc VMS project at Red Mountain in Alaska. The intervals correspond with the visible sulphide mineralisation previously reported (ASX Announcement 5th June 2018), as shown in Figures 1 & 2 (see link below).
These diamond drilling results are part of White Rock's maiden drill campaign at the Red Mountain project. The initial drilling results are from infill drilling of the two existing deposits, Dry Creek and West Tundra, with 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).
Two of the first three drill holes in the 2018 campaign return exceptional zinc, lead and silver grades:
- 3.5m @ 15.1% zinc, 6.7% lead, 518g/t silver, 2.1g/t gold and 0.2% copper for 35.2% zinc equivalent1 (WT18-28),
- 8.9m @ 6.5% zinc, 2.7% lead, 124g/t silver, 0.7g/t gold and 0.2% copper for 12.7% zinc equivalent1 (DC18-76),
- The West Tundra hole (WT18-28) is the best drill hole intersection of all the historic holes drilled into this deposit.
At West Tundra, the WT18-28 high grade mineralisation intercept from 60.6 to 64.1 metres downhole has an estimated true width of 3.4m (see Figure 3 in link below) and is the best grade-thickness intersection for any drilling at West Tundra. This hole is some 75 metres from the nearest hole (WTF82-05) and indicates the sparse drilling at West Tundra (100-250 metre spacing) is open to improvements in grade and thickness with infill drilling. The first drill hole (WT18-27) drilled down a steep angled fault and did not intersect any significant base metal sulphide mineralisation.
At Dry Creek, the DC18-76 intercept is in line with surrounding drill intersections. The high-grade mineralisation from 63.9 to 72.7 metres downhole has an estimated true width of 7.9m (see Figure 4 in link below). This hole is some 20 metres from the nearest holes (DC97-33 and DC98-39).
MD & CEO Matt Gill said "These first drill assay results for the Dry Creek and West Tundra deposits validate our belief that these two deposits form part of a genuine high-grade zinc rich polymetallic VMS mineralisation system. Our exploration program focus is to expand the maiden Resource and to identify and test new targets to make the additional discoveries. Initial drilling and surface mapping and sampling have allowed us to characterise the mineralisation at Red Mountain, providing the knowledge with which to identify, prioritise and test these new targets. This is a great start to our 2018 exploration program and we are confident of adding to our maiden Resource in a meaningful way over the next few months."
Diamond drilling has now moved on to testing areas with the potential to extend the known Resources and a selection of new targets prioritised by surface mapping, geochemical sampling and geophysics.
Field crews commenced their field assessment (mapping and soil and rock chip sampling) on the highest priority targets at the beginning of June with the intention of undertaking mapping and surface sampling prior to selecting targets for drill testing throughout the 2018 campaign.
The geophysics crew has now also commenced field surveys with initial orientation work across the known mineralisation at Dry Creek in progress. Electrical surveys are expected to commence on new targets this week.
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 230 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/G4KK27VC
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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