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Doug Bright
Zenith Minerals has taken a big step towards proving up the true scale of its Red Mountain gold project in Queensland.
Deep diamond drilling has now plumbed the depths of gold mineralisation beyond 700 metres vertical depth, reinforcing the continuity of a broad breccia-hosted intrusion-related gold system (IRGS) at depth.
The company’s two most recent diamond tails are the deepest holes drilled at Red Mountain so far and have extended the mineralised corridor by a further 350m below previous drilling.
Among its standout results, one hole, which ended at 731m downhole depth, returned a best intercept of 333m grading 0.27 grams per tonne gold from 388m downhole. The intersection also encountered narrow high-grade veins such as 2m at 6.55g/t gold and 2.2m at 4.16g/t gold.
‘ZRMCD073 and ZRMCD067 have confirmed the impressive scale and continuity of the Red Mountain IRG system.’
Zenith Minerals managing director Andrew Smith
A second diamond hole, plunged even deeper to 758m, was drilled as a re-entry tail off the bottom of a previous reverse-circulation (RC) hole from 210m.
That hole delivered 167m assaying 0.29g/t gold from 176m, including 4m grading 1.36g/t gold and 1.1m at 3.85g/t gold. The intersection finished with a separate 113.73-metre flourish going 0.31g/t gold from 476m, featuring 1.48m at 5.01g/t gold.
The long intercepts appear to add weight to Zenith’s view that Red Mountain is shaping up as a large intrusion-related gold system, with the mineralised breccia corridor still open along strike and at depth to the northwest, west and southeast.
Zenith Minerals managing director Andrew Smith said: “ZRMCD073 and ZRMCD067 have confirmed the impressive scale and continuity of the Red Mountain IRG system, now defined to over 700 m vertically. Combined with our newly built 3D geochemical model, these results significantly improve our understanding of the rhyolite feeder and sills geometry and are directly guiding us toward the higher-grade core of the system.”
The fresh deep diamond results also added down-dip extension data to the reverse circulation (RC) drill assays reported in December.
The previously reported RC sections from the freshly re-entered hole included a 7-metre section running 0.99g/t gold from 177m within a broader 34-metre stretch assaying 0.39g/t gold from 176m to end of hole.
That intercept turned out to be the strongest breccia-hosted gold run to date above the rhyolite zone, now backed up by deeper drilling that pushes the system well beyond previous limits.
By taking the new deep holes beyond 700m vertical depth, the drill bit has significantly extended the vertical extent of the system, while sharpening Zenith’s understanding of the intrusive rhyolite feeder and sill geometry.
The earlier RC program also highlighted how gold grades appeared to strengthen westward in parts of the breccia and rhyolite contact zone, helping to direct the focus of the follow-up diamond drilling strategy.
Notably, Zenith also recently bolstered its targeting confidence through new 3D geochemical modelling, which highlighted metal zonation across the system.
The company says that modelling lit up zinc, cadmium and lead dominating the western side of the system, shifting to a copper, bismuth and tellurium signature along the southeastern margin closer to the intrusion.
Whilst drilling has been limited, Zenith believes the best shot at finding high-grade gold lies in that marginal area, offering a new target for the next round of drilling.
Zenith is now planning an additional 3000m RC drilling program to test lateral extensions of the breccia system, the newly defined geochemical target corridor and two priority induced polarisation (IP) anomalies, coinciding with low magnetic and resistivity signatures.
If the next round of drilling can home in on the higher-grade core of the system, Red Mountain could quickly shift from a compelling geological story to a genuine growth asset for Zenith.
For now, the company has clearly shown the system has serious legs – remaining open at depth and along strike – and it is lining up the next shots to see just how good the best parts can get.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
