Brought to you by Bulls N’ Bears
Doug Bright
Litchfield Minerals has put a bow on the latest drilling campaign at its Oonagalabi project near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, chalking up 11 reverse circulation (RC) holes for 1791 metres and three diamond holes for 1214m across the company’s key targets.
The completed drilling program extended beyond the main Oonagalabi prospect to test extensions at the intriguing Bomb-Diggity target. The drill bit was also pointed at a suite of priority electromagnetic conductors, magnetic anomalies and induced polarisation (IP) targets elsewhere on the tenement.
All samples have been submitted for analysis, with results expected in May.
Litchfield has achieved a remarkable and steady build-up of work throughout the field season. Although it battled wet weather in mid-March, resulting in access difficulties, the company says it still managed to keep its rigs operating and lay out new drill pads.
‘We see Silver Valley as a compelling near-term opportunity within our portfolio.’
Litchfield Minerals managing director Matthew Pustahya
It is worth pausing to appreciate the harsh and unpredictable conditions field crews can face, where progress can quickly be derailed by forces well beyond anyone’s control. In this case, the company first battled a burst of wild weather, only to be hit a month later by the broader impacts of severe tropical cyclone Narelle, the latest cyclone to trouble WA.
Narelle crossed the WA coast near Coral Bay as a Category 3 system on the morning of Saturday, March 27, bringing wind gusts of up to 250km/h, damaging homes and causing power outages across the North West Cape and Gascoyne region. Extreme damage was also reported around Exmouth and Coral Bay, with heavy rainfall spanning the Gascoyne and Pilbara regions.
The upshot of this barrage from the weather gods is that Litchfield’s crew has been continually in the bush since early January, yet has managed to deliver the entire drilling program under demanding conditions.
The company has also beefed up its geological complement with the appointment of senior exploration geologist Matt McGloin.
Litchfield kicked off a fresh phase of RC drilling in early April to probe its priority geophysical conductors and chargeability anomalies at the VT1 and VT2 targets, along with other step-out drilling from the Main Zone.
While the market now awaits the laboratory’s verdict on the Oonagalabi drilling samples, the company has also delivered an eye-catching shot of prospective metal from its Silver Valley project, 300km north of Oonagalabi.
Reconnaissance rock chip samples collected in March from quartz-vein related mineralisation on the Silver Valley lease have returned standout numbers.
These included 378 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 0.91g/t gold, 5.04 per cent copper and 44.9 per cent lead from one sample, while a second rock chip delivered 128g/t silver and 16.1 per cent lead.
Litchfield Minerals managing director Matthew Pustahya said: “These results are exactly what we were hoping to see from our first pass reconnaissance at Silver Valley. Results of this tenor, including 378 g/t silver and 44.9% lead, confirm that parts of the system are genuinely high-grade, and reinforce our view that there is the potential for a large, mineralised vein system.”
The company believes the high-grade surface hits at Silver Valley could be related to a broader vein system, noting extensive local quartz development and visible sulphides, all set within a historical background of high-grade production.
The results and their overall setting support Litchfield’s view that the well-preserved mineralised system could extend at depth and also beneath shallow surface cover.
Litchfield plans to fold its upcoming Oonagalabi assays into its geological and geophysical datasets to hone regional targeting and lock in a new, highest-confidence drilling plan on discrete targets.
At Silver Valley, the company plans to conduct further fieldwork in May to map out vein trends and geometry, using IP geophysics to sniff out sub-surface base metal sulphides and related silver mineralisation.
The company also plans to shortly roll out details of its involvement in the BHP Xplor Program Accelerator program, for which it received US$500,000 (A$700,000) in non-dilutive, equity-free funding. The reveal is expected to include the specific workstreams being progressed and the strategic rationale underpinning them.
With its BHP Xplor program in mind, serious drilling metreage in the bank, more Oonagalabi results due next month, and tantalising Silver Valley numbers on the table crying out for further evaluation, Litchfield looks pretty well-set to keep the news flow rolling.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
