ASX-listed junior explorer, Okapi Resources has kicked off a maiden round of drilling at its Enmore gold project about 30km south-east of Armidale in the New England Fold Belt region in northern NSW. The Perth-based company says the first-pass drill program, consisting of up to 10 reverse circulation holes for at least 1,000m, will probe priority targets at its two key brownfields prospects.
Most of the RC holes will be devoted to the Sunnyside prospect, while two holes have been earmarked for the nearby Bora prospect.
Okapi says it aims to test for depth extensions of shallow gold mineralisation identified by historical drilling at the project’s two prospects.
The company’s new drilling program will also delve below mineralisation intersected in deeper past drill holes.
Despite the extensive previous drilling at Enmore there has been limited deeper work.
Okapi says high-grade gold mineralisation associated with quartz veins and breccias was encountered in some deeper historical holes.
Earlier explorers punched out more than 210 diamond, RC and percussion holes for an aggregate drilling coverage of more than 11,300m at several prospects between 1974 and 2016 across the Enmore project area.
About 140 of the historical holes were drilled at Sunnyside, with only 16 penetrating below the oxide mineralisation level.
Okapi says data from these holes did not adequately explain the distribution of shallow oxide gold.
According to management, the structural preparation, potential for dilation and abundance of supergene gold at Sunnyside represent a high-quality target for drilling that will follow up on some of the best previous intercepts.
They include 22m at an average grade of 2.66 grams per tonne gold from surface including 4m at 11.94 g/t from surface, 20m at 1.7 g/t from 18m including 4m at 4.4 g/t from 21m, and 2m at 14.6 g/t from 46m.
Other significant historical intersections from Sunnyside, which Okapi says is part of a 2.5km-long auriferous regional structure, are 8m at 3 g/t from surface and 10m at 2.8 g/t from surface including 2m at 6.2 g/t from 8m.
The company says the “under-explored” Enmore goldfield may overlie a geological structural setting broadly similar to that of Red River Resources’ Hillgrove antimony-gold mine about 50km to the north.
Okapi’s geological interpretation of the historical exploration data points to the potential for cross-cutting structures at Enmore.
Past exploration targeted the dominant east-west mineralised structures.
At Hillgrove higher-grade ore sections are recognised as being associated with the confluence of cross-cutting north-west-south-east structures and the main east-west structures.
However, at Enmore this structural relationship is yet to be investigated with drilling.
Okapi Resources Executive Director, Dave Nour said: “Within six months of acquiring Enmore we are already on the ground drilling with approvals in place. This first drill program is expected to show the potential of the project, given historical deeper drilling was wide-spaced and has not adequately accounted for the expected limited strike extent of high-grade shoots or their oblique orientation to the host lode structure.”
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By Matt Birney
