Big Hits looks at standout drill intercepts reported to the ASX this week, with Rapid Critical Metals stealing the show in NSW with a whopping 4m hit grading more than 2000g/t silver. WA explorers Benz Mining and Encounter Resources rounded out the podium with impressive strikes of their own. Let's dig in.
RAPID CRITICAL METALS LTD (ASX: RCM)
Project: Webbs silver project, New South Wales
Hit: 4m at 2089g/t silver from 24m downhole
Shallow exploration triumphs which immediately break open existing resource boundaries are the lifeblood of junior resource players and this week, Rapid Critical Metals claimed the top step on the podium after turning an ongoing reverse circulation (RC) drilling campaign into a spectacular high-grade silver revelation.
Undertaking a targeted verification program across its highly prospective terrain in northern New South Wales, the company delivered a monumental, multi-kilogram bedrock silver intercept from a remarkably shallow depth.
Punched into the northern part of the existing Webbs resource area, the headline RC hole carved through an intensely mineralised zone and returned an exceptional four metres assaying 2089 grams per tonne (g/t) silver - for 2334g/t silver equivalent - from a depth of just 24m downhole.
Highlighting the robust grade distribution and absolute metallic tenor operating within the core of this system, the single continuous interval contained an extraordinary higher-grade pocket that peaked with a blistering two-metre assay roaring up to 3950g/t silver – comprising an exceptional 4353g/t silver equivalent - from just 24 metres downhole.
The genuine bonanza nature of that discovery was reinforced by an included one-metre chunk assaying 6060g/t silver from 25m - or 6596g/t silver equivalent - the highest silver grade recorded from the company’s drilling to date.
What makes this performance globally significant is that the silver mineralisation appears remarkably dense, broad, and continuous beyond the historical limits of the deposit. By successfully demonstrating that the high-grade architecture extends well past the known resource outline at both ends, the result is expected to immediately upgrade geological confidence ahead of a potential inventory expansion.
The commercial and strategic appeal of the project is heavily underscored by its position within the famous Webbs silver district, a premier geological province historically renowned for hosting some of Australia’s highest-grade unmined silver assets.
Furthermore, the project benefits from an enviable operational straightaway; recent soil sampling has uncovered a previously unrecognised northwest-trending structure along an estimated untested strike distance of 600 metres.
That structure returns the same geochemical strength as the soils sitting directly over the main resource, pointing to an immense exploration runway for future discovery campaigns.
With assays pending for several subsequent holes and a four-rig program now being locked down across the project area, the latest breakthrough results represent only the opening shots in a bigger resource growth campaign.
The upcoming data will feed directly into updated geological modelling, paving Rapid Critical Metals’ path towards delivering an expanded, high-value mineral resource estimate for the project.
BENZ MINING LTD (ASX: BNZ)
Project: Glenburgh Gold Project, Icon mineralised system, Western Australia
Hit: 46m at 6.5g/t gold from 454m downhole
Bulk-tonnage scale combined with high-grade integrity is a rare feat in precious metal exploration; however, runner-up Benz Mining has confidently asserted its presence by revealing a massive gold broadside at its flagship Glenburgh project in Western Australia.
Benz’ reverse circulation (RC) drilling targeting extensions of thick gold mineralisation and stacked high-grade lenses has successfully defined a world-class mineralised architecture that continues to grow rapidly.
One reverse circulation (RC) hole delivered the headline performance, drilling through a tightly folded structural domain to return a standout 46-metre intercept assaying 6.5g/t gold from a depth of 454m downhole.
Reinforcing the camp's extensive, stacked nature, another hole delivered multiple broad intercepts in a single section, including 42m assaying 3g/t gold from 337m, followed by a lower lens returning 39m at 3.1g/t gold from 388m depth.
Geologically, those results – combined with 12 more long runs ranging between 12m and an astonishing 87m in length - are profoundly significant.
The company’s massive 68-hole, 25,776-metre RC drilling campaign has now formally outlined a 100m-to-200m wide mineralised system across the first kilometre of a known three-kilometre-long trend. Remarkably, mineralisation has also been defined to more than 500m vertical depth.
Individual lenses within the stacked package average a robust 30m to 50m wide and are enclosed and interconnected by a substantial mineralised halo.
With the company’s drilling fleet resources now strategically concentrated on the Icon camp, Benz’ first-pass testing across the remaining two-kilometre trend is nearing completion and the company is set to feed the new data directly into an upcoming maiden resource estimate, slated for completion in the first quarter of 2027.
Encounter Resources’ diamond drill core from 32.32 to 32.59m depth showing spectacular copper oxide mineralisation. Credit: File
ENCOUNTER RESOURCES LTD (ASX: ENR)
Project: Yeneena Copper Project, Parbo System, Western Australia
Hit: 44m at 1.7 per cent copper from 8.1m downhole
Western Australia’s Paterson Province continues to solidify its reputation as a premier tier-one mineral hotspot, and Encounter Resources has securely locked down the third place on the Big Hits podium after turning its first drilling campaign at the Tyrell prospect since 2014 into an exceptional high-grade copper revelation.
Spearing straight through the highly prospective Broadhurst Formation, the company's diamond drilling program has successfully validated a major structural corridor while unlocking outstanding near-surface grade potential.
The standout diamond drill hole punched through weathered shale and returned a massive downhole width of 44 metres at 1.7 per cent copper from a shallow depth of just 8.1m.
Highlighting a potent core within that geological system, that broad interval was anchored by a 12.7-metre bonanza zone at 4.9 per cent copper from 25.75m downhole, generating a copper grade more than double the project's current average inferred resource grade.
A new structural interpretation has significantly enhanced the commercial profile of Encounter’s 8km-long Parbo system along the McKay Fault, outlining a prominent three-kilometre-long, northeast-trending corridor that bounds the high-grade zones between the Tyrell and Maitland zones and opens a major new search space for copper sulphides down-dip.
Encounter is already progressing a comprehensive strategic review of its copper assets alongside rapid sighter metallurgical leach testing of oxide samples from the Parbo copper oxide blankets.
With further drilling being planned to aggressively test the Tyrell–Maitland corridor, the latest thick, near-surface copper intercepts will likely provide the definitive technical foundation to expand Encounter's footprint.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
