Proposed Drilling Program at the Enmore Gold Project
Perth, Mar 11, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Okapi Resources Limited (
ASX:OKR) (26O:FRA) (OKPRF:OTCMKTS) is pleased to announce the following proposed drilling program at its 100% owned Enmore Gold Project in northern New South Wales.
The objective of the drilling program is to follow up on the drilling completed in 2021 at the Sunnyside Prospect (see announcement dated 16 September 2021), which demonstrated potential extensions of the mineralised zone along strike and at depth. The planned diamond drilling will also add significantly to the structural and lithological information on the project and aid interpretation of the controls of mineralisation moving forward for future drill programs.
Okapi Resources Managing Director Andrew Ferrier comments:
"While the company remains focused on advancing and developing its key uranium assets in North America, the Enmore Gold Project in NSW remains an important project for the team and we are excited by the upcoming drilling program, which is expected to commence in late March.
The proposed 1,800m diamond drilling program is focused on the Sunnyside prospect, which generated significant gold intercepts in the last drilling program completed by Okapi in 2021. The objectives of the additional drilling are to focus on testing the high-grade mineralisation along strike and down dip at Sunnyside East and also to drill at depth beneath the existing near surface oxide mineralisation at the main Sunnyside prospect."
Enmore Gold Project
The Enmore Gold Project is located in the New England Fold Belt, approximately 30km south of the regional centre of Armidale in northern New South Wales. The operating Hillgrove Gold Mine (ASX:RVR) is located approximately 20km north of Enmore and has produced over 730,000oz of gold.
Gold was first discovered in the Enmore area in 1876 and intermittently mined till 1940, with mining continuing today at the nearby Hillgrove Mine. Most previous exploration has targeted very shallow mineralisation, with approximately 233 holes completed prior to Okapi's involvement. Of these, 153 holes are less than 50m in depth and only 41 holes are greater than 100m in depth.
There is significant exploration potential at Enmore, with 36 identified mineral occurrences - the majority of which are untested by deep drilling, modern geophysics or other targeting methods applied across the project.
The mineralisation at Enmore generally comprises structurally controlled orogenic style gold (and antimony) mineralisation.
Okapi completed ten (10) Reverse Circulation (RC) drillholes for 1,257m during 2021 across three prospects at Sunnyside East, Sunnyside West and Bora. Assay results returned significant results from all 10 of the holes.
Proposed Drilling Program
In January 2022, Okapi engaged Geos Mining in Sydney, NSW, to design and supervise the upcoming drilling program at the Enmore Gold Project. The proposed drilling program has been formulated in close collaboration with Geos Mining, who have completed a detailed review of all the existing data, considerable data compilation and a site visit to the project in February 2022.
The proposed drill program includes a total of 11 diamond drillholes (1,800m) to test the Sherwood (2 holes) and Sunnyside (9 holes) Prospects. The proposed diamond drilling locations are shown in Figure 2* and Figure 3*. Down hole surveys and core orientation measurements will be taken and all core will be geologically logged, photographed and marked up for sampling. Sampling intervals will be based on lithology, alteration and mineralisation style with maximum intervals of one metre.
A drilling contract has been executed with a reputable drilling company that has the necessary equipment to carry out a safe and efficient drilling program. A track mounted drilling rig and above ground recirculation tanks will ensure that an environmentally sound operation will be carried out to landowner and governmental requirements.
Proposed Drilling at Sunnyside
Significant, shallow mineralisation has been intersected at the Sunnyside Prospect, where gold mineralisation is present over some 400m between splays of the district-scale Sunnyside Fault. Mineralisation remains open at depth, with drillhole OSSRC06 being terminated at 174m depth, with the final 3m interval assaying 3m @ 8.86 g/t gold, including 1m @ 15.15 g/t gold from 172m.
The proposed drill program includes nine drill holes at the Sunnyside Prospect. The initial focus of the drill program will be to test the mineralised zone outlined by OSSRC04 and OSSRC06 which were completed in the 2021 program. Okapi plans to drill five drillholes in Sunnyside East (POKDD003-PODK007) as shown in the Figure 4*.
The focus of the drilling will be from the northwest, as shown in Figure 5*. The 2021 Okapi drilling suggested that the mineralisation is plunging to the east along the Sunnyside Fault and Fault Splay. Mineralisation intersected in OSSR06 reinforced this interpretation and the proposed drilling program will test this mineralisation along strike and down dip.
The second objective of the drilling at Sunnyside will be to test the mineralisation at depth through proposed drillholes POKDD008-POKDD011. The widest area of the Sunnyside deposit, as defined by the 0.3 g/t Au grade contour (Figure 4*), is largely devoid of drillholes that have tested the area beneath the near surface oxide mineralisation, as clearly demonstrated in the Sunnyside long section shown on Figure 6*. The proposed drilling program will test the mineralisation to a depth of 100m below surface.
Proposed Drilling at Sherwood Prospect
The Sherwood Prospect on the Bora Fault remains the most interesting of the regional targets at the Enmore Project. Historical diamond drillholes (DDH1-DDH4) were completed by Silver Valley Minerals in 1973 to test beneath the old workings. Only DDH1 was assayed and intersected visible gold at the brecciated and sheared quartzite/ granite contact. An assay of 56.6g/t gold from 60.8- 61.4m was returned from within a zone of low grade gold mineralisation (Table 1*).
POKDD001 is planned to intersect the sediment/granite contact where historical DDH1 intersected high grade gold mineralisation. POKDD002 is a step-back to test the same contact ~40m below POKDD001 (Figure 7*).
*To view tables and figures, please visit:
https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/23B37LSM
About Okapi Resources Limited
Okapi Resources Limited (ASX:OKR) recently acquired a portfolio of advanced, high grade uranium assets located in the United States of America and in the Athabasca Basin, Canada.
Assets include a strategic position in one of the most prolific uranium districts in the USA - the Tallahassee Creek Uranium District in Colorado. The Tallahassee Uranium Project contains a JORC 2012 Mineral Resource estimate of 27.6 million pounds of U3O8 at a grade of 490ppm U3O8 with significant exploration upside. The greater Tallahassee Creek Uranium District hosts more than 100 million pounds of U3O8 with considerable opportunity to expand the existing resource base by acquiring additional complementary assets in the district.
The portfolio of assets also includes an option to acquire 100% of the high-grade Rattler Uranium Project in Utah, which includes the historical Rattlesnake open pit mine. The Rattler Uranium Project is located 85km from the White Mesa Uranium Mill, the only operating conventional uranium mill in the USA hence provides a near term, low-capital development opportunity.
In January 2022, Okapi acquired a portfolio of high-grade exploration assets in the world's premier uranium district, the Athabasca Basin. The Athabasca Basin is home to the world's largest and highest-grade uranium mines.
Okapi's clear strategy is to become a new leader in North American carbon-free nuclear energy by assembling a portfolio of high-quality uranium assets through accretive acquisitions and exploration.
| ||
|
