17,500M Drilling Campaign Commences at the Mt Stirling
Perth, Nov 24, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Torian Resources Limited (
ASX:TNR) (Torian or the Company) is pleased to announce the launch of a 17,500m drilling campaign at the Mt Stirling Gold Project. Drilling will include a planned combined 12,500m RC to test high priority Tyrannus; Hydra; Estera; Stirling Well; Mt Stirling Viserion and Skywing gold targets. An additional ~5,000m of AV drilling will continue to vector and expand the footprint of high-ranked regional Au; As; multi-element and structural targets across the project.
Three extensional holes @ Diorite North have already been completed (DIRC032-034 for 284m) with drilling (PDH77) now targeting interpreted down-dip extensions of Estera Lode.
In addition to proving up recent discoveries, a key priority of this campaign will be to upgrade the confidence level of an increased amount of the Mt Stirling-Viserion Resource to Indicated, and to potentially add additional ounces by extending the strike and selective depth of the gold system.
Approximately 40% of the planned meters will target the shallow portion of Mt Stirling-Viserion gold deposit to be drill defined to Indicated category (~880m strike x ~125m depth) from surface 425m down to 300mRL. The Company anticipates that this is likely to increase the global Project Au grade and provide valuable data and confidence to a 2022 Q1 Optimisation Study, and expand the Resource base.
The Company is targeting for 50% of the current Inferred Resource ounces to be converted to the Indicated category.
The Company is aiming for an updated global MRE for the Mt Stirling Gold Project at the end of Q1 2022. (Subject to drilling efficiency and lab timelines). In addition to the results from this next round of drilling, the MRE will include previously announced results that were not included in the May 2021 MRE.
In an effort to expedite the drilling programme the Company has secured the services of two drilling contractors who will be drilling through this coming December and January.
The Company has also secured the services of Minecomp to conduct a pit optimisation study, as it takes another step towards assessing the economics and unlocking value from the Mt Stirling / Viserion gold system.
Torian's Executive Director Mr Peretz Schapiro said "Today is a landmark day for our company as we embark on perhaps our most ambitious phase of drilling at the Mt Stirling Gold Project. The last six months or so of continued regional exploration has de-risked this next phase of drilling and put us in the best possible position for this campaign's ultimate success, which we intend to be realised with a new global MRE increasing both the size and confidence of our resources across the project. This is in addition to us also working to prove up multiple high priority gold targets across the Mt Stirling Gold Project. As we look to move this campaign along as quickly as possible, we are pleased to announce that we have secured the services of two drill rigs at the project, which will both operate over the coming months. In addition, we are pleased to see that the turnaround time now for assays at the lab has considerably come down from the 12-16 week turnaround that we were seeing earlier in 2021.
We look forward to keeping the market updated with our progress as we work towards increasing the value of the Mt Stirling Gold Project, thereby providing increased strong fundamental backing to the project. We also welcome the WA Land's Minsters recent announcement regarding the State Government's Land Reform Proposal, which if passed will enable increases and diversified usage of the Tarmoola Station, thereby unlocking increased value.
Skywing Discovery
The re-interpretation of Mt Stirling Central Zone to flat easterly dipping lode(s) has resulted in 24 pierce points over ~450m strike defining the newly discovered "Skywing" lode(s). These pierce points have been obtained from existing drilling, which has brought into play most intercepts which were outside of the previous MS MRE of May 2021.
Skywing lode(s) vary from 1-2m true width and provide an immediate prospective shallow open-pittable interpreted extents (~800m x 220m; from surface). This will be drill tested with 40x40m drill spacing towards the Wonambi Shear with ~3,550m of RC drilling planned; with the first phase of 1800m going towards testing the mineralised model in order to commit to a 2nd phase of drilling which will complete the program.
Of significant interest at Skywing, is that Au grades increase in grade towards the east on every section. (Other than supergene enrichment close to surface on western extents of interpreted shallow easterly dipping flat lodes). This is highly unusual that the Skywing lode(s) exhibit such Au homogeneity and increasing grades towards the Wonambi Shear.
Although modest ounces, modelled Au grade increasing with depth and easterly appreciation, could multiply scale potential. Any increase in width will also have this effect.
Skywing also demonstrates potential for repeated flat lodes; alike the Stirling Well stacked lode model, in addition to prospective spaced-out occurrences that further drilling will seek to unveil.
Detailed logging will also confirm saprolitic v primary gold and provide sufficient data for interpreted modelling.
Given shallow nature of the mineralisation and planned drilling, assay results from Skywing are anticipated to fast-track the prospect's inclusion into the optimisation study.
Tyrannus Maiden RC planned drilling
The Company has planned 20 RC drill holes to test 14 interpreted target zones, with permitting approved and earthworks nearing completion.
Several structural orientations are present at Tyrannus, with linking structures likely to also have some controlling influence on gold mineralisation dispersion. Drill orientation will commence targeting sub-vertical NE dipping interpreted lodes which will also be able to identify flat-dipping orientations that may shallowly or sub-vertically dip towards the Ursus Fault.
A second phase will likely target NE striking mineralisation associated with NE shearing, with further exploration to target possible NNW striking SW-dipping interpreted mineralisation adjoining or originating from the Ursus Fault.
Tyrannus targets are structurally significant with some situated on an inflection and splay junction of the Wonambi Shear termination onto Ursus Fault, ~400m east of the Mt Stirling gold mineralisation, and are highly likely to merge onto and along strike of the Mt Stirling SE mineralised Au lode positions.
There are 14 >0.10 g/t Au target zones with 7 > 1.00 g/t Au zones to be tested during the upcoming RC drilling. Further systematic gold assays from the recent AV drilling will aid positioning of planned drilling, and likely provide further target zones.
Hydra RC planned
12 RC drill holes for ~980m, are planned to test the interpreted target strike zone, with permitting approved and earthworks already complete. Assay results from this initial drilling campaign are expected within 4 to 6 weeks.
The anticipated outcomes from the Hydra planned drilling are confirmation and extension of the historical primary gold intercepts. Once gold mineralisation is confirmed, vectoring from Hydra towards Viserion will be refined.
There is also the potential for sub-parallel mineralised structural links on either flank of the Viserion Shear Zone.
The gold target trend at Hydra has been conceptualised from limited AV and historical gold data, with further systematic assaying of AV drill data likely to expand the target zones for future drill phases.
Diorite Drilling Update
Three extensional holes at Diorite North have already been completed (DIRC032-034 for 284m) with drilling (PDH77) now targeting interpreted down-dip extensions.
Drilling is following up on the Estera Lode's high-grade gold assays from the Unexpected Mine Workings which recently returned (ASX 17th November 2021):
- 4m @ 4.86 g/t Au from 52m (DIRC030);
inc 1m @ 18.79 g/t Au from 55m;
- And 1m @ 7.41 g/t Au from 64m (DIRC031)
High-grade mineralisation is interpreted as a sub-parallel zone to a recent intercept of 2m @ 12.18 g/t Au from 20m (DIRC030; ASX 27/10/2021); inc 1m @ 14.67 g/t Au from 21m
With primary gold confirmed at Diorite North, the focus of this phase of drilling will be on extending the strike extent and down-dip continuity of mineralisation.
Torian's Diorite tenure hosts numerous historical mines and workings including the historic Diorite King mine that produced at 73 g/t Au.
The Unexpected Mine Workings along with Diorite King, Diorite Queen and Kiaora-Meteor prospects, all share structural links.
Mineralisation is associated with dolerite and quartz/carbonate veining, trace to minor sulphides (mainly pyrite) with moderate chloritic to weak biotite alteration, and fuchsitic, silicified to weakly bleached.
A further 3 RC drill holes are planned at the prospect for a combined 750m of drilling for this phase at Diorite North.
Mt Stirling Regional Update
Regional exploration from Mt Stirling Central has generated multiple arsenic anomalies from systematic surface pXRF surveys, which continue to provide a strong pipeline of regional targets.
Exploration has also delineated priority Stirling Well West structural targets with coinciding surface pXRF arsenic anomalism. The Company has identified these targets to warrant AV/RC drill testing.
*To view tables and figures, please visit:
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About Torian Resources Limited
Torian Resources Ltd (ASX:TNR) is a gold exploration and development company with an extensive and strategic land holding comprising eight projects and over 400km2 of tenure in the Goldfields Region of Western Australia.
Torian's flagship project, Zuleika, is located along the world-class Zuleika Shear. The Zuleika Shear is the fourth largest gold producing region in Australia and consistently produces some of the country's highest grade and lowest cost gold mines. Torian's Zuleika project lies north and partly along strike of several major gold deposits including Northern Star's (ASX:NST) 7.0Moz East Kundana Joint Venture and Evolutions (ASX:EVN) 1.8Moz Frogs Legs and White Foil deposits.
Torian's other projects include the strategically located Mt Stirling and Malcolm Projects in the Leonora region (near Red 5's King of the Hills Project), where it recently completed updated Mineral Resource Estimates and preliminary scoping studies, and a suite of other projects in the Kalgoorlie region including Credo Well JV Zuleika JV, Bonnie Vale, Gibraltar and Mount Monger/Wombola.
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