Bluebird includes 17.8m @ 11.5 g/t Gold and 16.1m @ 10.5% Copper
Report Spectacular Drill Hit of 30.5m @ 6.2% Copper and 6.8 g/t Gold at Bluebird
Perth, Feb 9, 2023 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Tennant Minerals Limited (
ASX:TMS) (UH7A:FRA) is excited to announce a spectacular, true-width intersection of high-grade copper and gold from BBDD0018, the first diamond drillhole of the recently completed Stage 2 drilling program at the Bluebird discovery (see intersection on longitudinal projection, Figure 1* below).
Spectacular Drill Hit of 30.5m @ 6.2% Copper and 6.8 g/t Gold at Bluebird includes 17.8m @ 11.5 g/t Gold and 16.1m @ 10.5% Copper (Massive Sulphides)
- Thick, true-width, intersections of high-grade copper and gold highlight the potential to expand the Bluebird discovery, which remains open in all directions
- Diamond drillhole BBDD0018 has produced a spectacular, true-width, intersection of highgrade copper and gold at the Bluebird discovery, 40km east of Tennant Creek in the NT:
o 30.5m @ 6.2% Cu and 6.8 g/t Au from 153.6m (downhole),
including 17.8m @ 5.2% Cu and 11.5 g/t Au from 153.6m, and,
including 16.1m @ 10.5% Cu and 0.44 g/t Au from 164.9m.
- This spectacular gold and copper-sulphide intersection occurs at a similar depth to previous, exceptional, copper-gold intersections at Bluebird, including:
- BBDD0012: 63m @ 2.1% Cu, 4.6 g/t Au from 153m incl. 40m @ 3.0% Cu, 7.3 g/t Au
- BBDD0007: 50m @ 2.7% Cu, 0.52 g/t Au from 158m incl. 24m @ 5.0% Cu, 1.0 g/t Au
- BBDD0013: 40m @ 2.6% Cu, 1.3 g/t Au from 131m incl. 24.5m @ 3.9% Cu, 0.45 g/t Au
- BBDD-2: 20m @ 0.61% Cu, 8.17 g/t Au, from 157mincl. 4m @ 0.66% Cu, 37.9 g/t Au
- These intersections occur within a thick and shallow-plunging dilational zone which is open along strike to the east and especially to the west, where it becomes shallower.
- New drilling is planned to test shallow extensions of this exceptionally thick and high-grade copper-gold zone, as well as at depth where results are pending from a further five drillholes, including intersections of thick and intense copper mineralisation (descriptions - Appendix 1*).
- Drilling will also test other priority targets within the 2.5km Bluebird-Perseverance Corridor.
Tennant Minerals Chairman Matthew Driscoll commented:
"This latest drill-hit from Bluebird is truly spectacular and includes a thick and high-grade gold zone of over 11 grams per tonne, as well as a massive copper-sulphide zone grading over 10 percent copper.
"Drilling is already planned to extend this remarkable new discovery, which lies under shallow cover to the east of the Tennant Creek Mineral Field and continues to grow - in all directions."
"The results are another key step in our strategy to identify multiple, multi-million tonne, high-grade copper-gold deposits within the Barkly Tenements, where we aim to establish a stand-alone copper-gold project."
The spectacular BBDD0018 diamond drilling intersection of:
o 30.5m @ 6.2% Cu and 6.8 g/t Au from 153.6m (downhole), includes a high-grade gold zone of 17.8m @ 11.5 g/t Au, 5.2% Cu from 153.6m which extends from the faulted hanging wall side of the brecciated ironstone. The gold zone overlaps with the high-grade copper zone of 16.1m @ 10.5% Cu from 164.9m, which includes massive copper-sulphides (chalcopyrite and chalcocite - see descriptions, Appendix 1*) (see Image 1*). The copper zone extends to the footwall side of this thick, true-width intersection (see Table 1* for all significant intersections and Table 2 for drilling details).
This new intersection extends the shallow easterly plunging dilational zone to the west, where it becomes shallower and remains open. This zone also includes the extraordinary results from BBDD0012 of 63.0m @ 2.1% Cu and 4.6 g/t Au from 153.0m and BBDD0009, which intersected 50m @ 2.7% Cu and 0.52 g/t Au from 158m, which occur at a similar depth below surface (see Figure 1*).
Other key intersections within this zone include BBDD0013, which intersected 40m @ 2.6% Cu and 1.34g/t Au from 131m, and the previous exceptionally high-grade gold intersection in BBDD-2 of 20m @ 0.61% Cu and 8.17 g/t Au , from 157m (Figure 1*).
The extension of this very-high grade copper-gold zone to the west and to a shallower depth opens up potential for new drilling to deliver more spectacular intersections in this direction (Figure 1*).
Further results are pending from drillholes which tested western extensions of Bluebird, as well as at depth (see Figure 1 for pierce-point locations and Appendix 1* for descriptions of mineralisation), including:
- BBDD0021, which intersected a 30m zone of hematite alteration, brecciation and sulphides from 161m downhole, including 18m of intense copper mineralisation (chalcocite, native copper).
- BBDD0022, which intersected a 20m zone of hematite alteration/mineralisation from 244m downhole with a 10m zone of intense brecciation and copper mineralisation (predominantly chalcocite), and,
- BBDD0025, which intersected a 25m zone of hematite alteration and brecciation from 199m downhole, including 15m of intense copper mineralisation with visible sulphides (predominantly chalcocite).
ABOUT THE BARKLY PROJECT AND THE BLUEBIRD COPPER-GOLD DISCOVERY
The high-grade Bluebird copper-gold discovery is located within the Company's 100% owned Barkly Project, at the eastern edge of the richly-endowed Tennant Creek Mineral Field (TCMF), which produced over 5Moz of gold and over 500kt of copper from 1934 to 2005 (see Figure 2* below).
The latest diamond drilling intersections in the Stage 2 drilling program (see longitudinal projection of Bluebird discovery, Figure 1*) have extended the thick high-grade dilational zone of mineralisation at Bluebird 120m to the west of the Stage 1 high-grade copper-gold intersections previously announced by the Company (total now 240m strike-length and open in all directions) which included:
o 63.0m @ 2.1% Cu and 4.6g/t Au from 153m (down hole) in BBDD0012 (448,360mE)
- including 40.0m @ 3.0% Cu and 7.3g/t Au from 155.0m,
- including 27.55m @ 3.6% Cu and 10.0g/t Au from 160.45m.
o 50.0m @ 2.7% Cu and 0.52 g/t Au from 158m (down hole) in BBDD0009 (448,380mE)
- including 24.0m @ 5.01% Cu and 1.01 g/t Au from 159m,
- including 4.3m @ 14.7% Cu and 3.10 g/t Au from 176.6m.
The Stage 1 drilling program, which targeted depth extensions of the Bluebird deposit, produced results including 17.8m @ 3.7% Cu, 0.34g/t Au from 277m (incl. 9.5m @ 6.0% Cu) in BBDD0015, which indicates proximity to a second dilational (thickened) zone at depth (see representative cross section, Figure 3*).
The results of an induced polarisation (IP) program carried out at Bluebird revealed a distinct low-resistivity (high conductivity) and coincident chargeability response, corresponding with the Bluebird mineralisation on the central section 448,360mE (see Figure 3*), thus confirming that Bluebird can be detected using IP.
This section includes the BBDD0012 intersection of 63m @ 2.1% Cu, 4.6g/t Au and the IP low-resistivity zone indicates continuity below 400m depth.
Interpretation of the key drilling intersections, utilising structural data from logging of drill core, indicates that the thick and high-grade copper and gold intersections in BBDD0012 (Figure 3*) and BBDD0013 , as well as the massive copper sulphide mineralisation in BBDD0018 (30.5m @ 6.2% Cu, 6.8 g/t Au - this release) are associated with structures crossing the axis of a shallow-plunging anticline, generating a thick dilational mineralised zone (see representative cross section, Figure 3*, below).
The Stage 2 drilling program at Bluebird built on the successful Stage 1 diamond drilling program. A total of 8 holes for more than 2,339.8m were drilled in Stage 2 (see Table 2*), which successfully extended the Bluebird discovery along strike and at depth, where it remains completely open.
Drilling also tested priority targets for extensions/repeats of the high-grade copper-gold zone along strike to the west within the 2.5km Bluebird-Perseverance Corridor (see Figure 4 below*).
Three priority, coincident magnetic, gravity and IP low-resistivity targets were selected for initial drilltesting, including Perseverance North, Perseverance and Bluebird West8 (Figure 4*). A multi-purpose (DDH1) rig was utilised to complete eight reverse-circulation (RC) holes with six diamond tails completed into these target zones, for a total of 1981.1m (see Table 3* for drilling details, results pending).
The initial drill testing intersected mineralised and brecciated fault structures in all three target areas . These are interpreted to lie above iron-stone hosted copper-gold targets previously identified by inversion modelling of gravity and magnetics, as well as associated with IP low resistivity geophysical anomalies.
Following receipt of all results from the recent, very successful, Stage 2 drilling program, a third stage of drilling will be carried out. This drilling will focus on two key target areas:
i) Bluebird Copper-Gold Discovery:
Deeper drilling to extend and define the Bluebird high-grade copper-gold discovery to the east and west, as well as testing the depth extent to greater than 400m depth, in order to define the multimillion tonne, high-grade copper-gold resource potential of the deposit.
ii) Priority Targets in 2.5km Bluebird-Perseverance Corridor:
Testing of additional targets generated by the extension and infill IP program and deeper drilling on key sections drilled during the recent program, targeting further high-grade copper-gold discoveries.
These programs are in line with the Company's strategy to identify multiple, multi-million tonne, high-grade copper-gold deposits within the Barkly Project, and become a stand-alone copper-gold producer.
*To view tables and figures, please visit:
https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/82XPE512
About Tennant Minerals Limited
Tennant Minerals Limited (ASX:TMS) is an exploration and development company with copper-gold projects in the Tennant Creek area of the Northern Territory. Tennant Mineral's primary focus is the Barkly and Babbler Copper-Gold Projects, located approximately 45km east of the major copper-gold mineral field of Tennant Creek.
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