AN exploration company has confirmed its new discovery near Cloncurry is a “geological analogue” to one of the North West’s most significant mines. Minotaur will focus on the Cloncurry area as its priority exploration focus nationally after new results at its Artemis project officially revealed the significant, high-grade copper-gold-zinc discovery. In its latest drill results, the Adelaide-based project owner and operator said that all three diamond drill holes intersected massive sulphides from 80 to 200 metres below surface, with deeper extensions predicted.
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“The trio of drill holes reinforces Minotaur’s view that Artemis is a geological analogue to the producing Eloise copper-gold mine less than 20 kilometres away,” Mr Woskett said.
Artemis starts as an upper, high-grade zinc-lead-silver zone and just above the copper-gold-zinc-silver rich discovery zone. The upper drill intersection assayed 5 per cent zinc over 21 metres (downhole measurement) plus 1.85 per cent lead and 69 grams per tonne silver.
The first hole, EL14D09, yielded 9 metres at 5.2 per cent copper, 7.9 g/t gold, 10.2 per cent zinc and 181 g/t silver, as part of a larger 34-metre downhole interval of massive sulphides encountered at 140 metres below ground level.
“The third and deepest hole at 180 metre depth reported high assay grades of 1.6 per cent copper, 2.1 g/t gold and 4.7 per cent zinc, over the 24 metre downhole intersection of massive sulphide mineralisation,” Mr Woskett said.
‘‘Eloise is a deposit of over 10 million tonnes of ore grading about 3.2 per cent copper and 0.7 grams per tonne of gold. The Eloise ore body commenced 200 metres below surface and is now being mined at 1300 metres down.”
Eloise has produced about seven million tonnes in the past 15 years, employs about 100 people and has an estimated mine life until about 2017.
Infrastructure at Eloise Mine could be used to support a greenfield mine development at Artmeis.
Eloise was discovered in 1987 and has a small, deep ore body and produces about 60,000 tonnes of copper a year.
Artemis is one of several regional copper-gold targets identified by Minotaur from recent comprehensive airborne and ground geophysical surveys.
“Discovery success at Artemis validates the company’s exploration methodology and encourages Minotaur to roll out its integrated geophysics-geology exploration technique more broadly across our 4000 square kilometre tenement package in the Cloncurry region,” Mr Woskett said.
“A ground-based magnetic survey is under way on tenements north of Cloncurry, in joint venture with Japan Oil Gas Metals Corporation.’’