Everest Metals Corporation believes it is hot on the trail of another DeGrussa-style copper-gold deposit as it launches a new campaign of three deep diamond holes for 1000m of drilling at its Revere project in Western Australia’s Murchison region, 900km north of Perth.
The company says its new program will follow up highly-encouraging geological indications and geophysical targets from its recent phase-one deep diamond drilling work at the volcanic-hosted massive sulphide play.
It will also test targets identified by downhole electromagnetic (DHEM) geophysical survey results from two of its phase-one holes, in addition to other untested versatile time domain electromagnetic (VTEM) anomalies.
Everest Metals Corporation chief executive officer Simon Phillips said: “The DHEM survey results are a part of a further systematic geological approach in identifying where we need to be to follow up the significant visual mineralisation encountered in our Phase 1 diamond drill program. This systematic approach and the results continue to confirm the outstanding potential at the Revere Gold-Copper Project.”
The company’s phase-one drilling campaign was completed mid-last month and consisted of three deep diamond holes for 1038.4m.
Management says all of its holes intersected sulphide mineralisation and consisted variously of mafic breccia, volcaniclastics and shales, with chalcopyrite, sphalerite and pyrrhotite/pyrite sulphide mineralisation. Selected core intervals were cut for assay and submitted for analysis, with results from the 147 half-core splits expected next month.
Everest notes that its geological logging of its three phase-one drillholes shows that Revere’s rock types and stratigraphy are the same as the those that host the well-known Monty, Taduna and Green Dragon deposits, all of which in turn have a strong geological relationship with the renowned DeGrussa copper-gold deposit.
The Sandfire Resources-owned DeGrussa is WA’s biggest copper producer and one of the Asia-Pacific region’s leading high-grade copper mines, with an annual production of up to 300,000 tonnes of high-grade copper concentrate and more than 1 tonne of gold.
Upon completing its phase-one drilling, Everest engaged Wireline Services Group to undertake DHEM surveys in two of the holes to search at depth for conductors that might indicate massive sulphide mineralisation. The company says the survey was completed successfully and produced good quality data.
It identified multiple anomalies of interest from the first hole at the Revere Reef, including a discrete off-hole anomaly measuring about 300m x 150m and centred about 305m downhole. It is interpreted as having a conductor source only about 20m north-east of the hole, prompting management to label it a priority drill target.
No anomalies of interest were identified in the second hole survey.
The three boreholes planned for the phase-two program will include two deep diamond holes, each of about 350m in depth, to target modelled geophysical conductors in the Revere Reef that were identified from previous VTEM surveys.
The company says that the VTEM targets are discrete conductors that coincide with a discrete magnetic anomaly, indicating possible pyrrhotite mineralisation. While chalcopyrite and sphalerite (copper and zinc sulphides) are typically not strong conductors, concentrations of their associated pyrrhotite is often a strong indicator of their presence. A third phase-two diamond drillhole, likely to be vertical, has been designed to test a high-priority conductor near the first drillhole.
Management expects the drilling to take about 15 days to complete. It will then process and interpret assay results that are due next month, in addition to undertaking a new and complementary DHEM survey and planning a bulk surface sampling program.
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By Doug Bright
