White Cliff Minerals Ltd.: Assays Confirm High Grade Gold Mineralisation at East Burtville Prospect
Perth - White Cliff Minerals Ltd. (ASX:WCN) ("White Cliff" or the "Company") is pleased to report that one metre assays have confirmed significant gold mineralisation in air-core drilling at the East Burtville Gold Prospect which forms part of the Merolia Gold Project, near Laverton Western Australia.Key Points:
- One metre assay results confirm high grade gold mineralisation
o 5 metres at 7.2 g/t gold including 1 metre at 14.2 g/t gold
o 4 metres a 5.5 g/t gold including 1 metre at 20.8 g/t gold
- Mineralisation associated with extensive quartz veining that extends north and south of drill intersections
- Mineralisation starts at surface and is open at depth and along strike
The Company recently completed a 733 metre drilling program targeting significant gold mineralisation identified in historical exploration and mine workings.
The current drilling identified high grade gold mineralisation in four metre composite interval samples including:
- 8 metres at 6.7 g/t gold from surface
- 4 metres at 5.1 g/t gold from surface
- 4 metres at 3.4 g/t gold from 40m within quartz veining
- 8 metres at 0.68 g/t gold from 72m within quartz veining
Follow up sampling of the one metre interval samples confirmed the above mineralisation. Results include:
- 5 metres at 7.2 g/t gold including 1 metre at 14.2 g/t gold from surface
- 4 metres at 5.5 g/t gold including 1 metre at 20.8 g/t gold
- 1 metre at 3.9 g/t gold
- 3 metres at 2.1 g/t gold
The gold mineralisation is associated with a north-south trending quartz vein occurring within metamorphosed basalts. The quartz vein is exposed at surface and has been intersected in drilling over a strike length of 100 metres and is open along strike and at depth. Intersections from historic drilling also intersected high grade gold mineralisation associated with quartz veining including:
- 5 metres at 27.8 g/t gold including 1 metre at 135 g/t gold
- 2 metres at 6.7 g/t gold and;
- 3 metres at 5.3 g/t gold.
Managing Director Todd Hibberd commented that "The East Burtville prospect has great potential to host a high grade gold deposit that is amenable to open pit mining. The quartz vein has been identified over 100 metres of strike and 80 metres depth with some very attractive grades. The Laverton region has several mills that are within haulage distance so a small open pit-toll treatment operation is a distinct possibility. The Company is currently planning further drilling."
East Burtville Drilling Identifies High Grade Quartz Vein
The recent RC drilling targeted a quartz vein identified by historical exploration and mine workings. The quartz vein is sub-vertical and trends north south and is 1-5 metres wide occurring within mafic schist (metamorphosed basalt). Prior to drilling the orientation of the quartz vein was unknown so drilling tested several possible orientations. Of the 17 holes completed, the quartz vein or shear zone was intersected in 5 holes (BEAC 1-5) confirming the north-south orientation.
Historical drilling (MLJC-36 and MLJC-31) intersected the vein/shear zone along strike north and south of the main drilling. Both contained quartz and alteration but no gold mineralisation. The Company notes that the nature of gold deposition in quartz veins can be very discrete with the gold occurring in plunging shoots or as isolated nuggets with no gold in the adjacent quartz. The Company is very encouraged by the presence of the quartz veining and believes further drilling is warranted.
East Burtville Background
The Company acquired the East Burtville Prospect in 2011 as part of the Merolia Gold and Nickel project. The prospect occurs in the north-westerly trending Merolia greenstone belt which is interpreted to form part of the Laverton greenstone belt. The geology is typically basalts, ultramafic and felsic volcanic rocks that have been metamorphosed to green schist facies.
Mineralisation occurs as quartz veining in metamorphosed basalts which trends north-south and is sub-vertical. The vein has been identified over 100 metres via drilling and is untested along strike and at depth.
A vertical mine shaft and associated mine workings (circa ~1992) were constructed based on some high grade gold intersections in historical drilling. No production records are available for the small scale mining operation but extensive re-sampling of the ore stock piles and waste dumps have produced some spectacular grades up to 38 g/t in channel samples. The remaining ore stockpiles contain economic levels of gold mineralisation (see ASX release Dated 20th October 2016).
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About White Cliff Minerals Ltd:
White Cliff Minerals Ltd. (ASX:WCN) is a Western Australian based exploration company with the following main projects:
Kyrgyz Aucu Gold Project (90%): The Project contains extensive porphyry related gold and copper mineralisation starting at the surface and extending over several kilometres. Drilling during 2014 has defined a major gold discovery with an initial inferred resource of 1.15Mt at 4.2 g/t containing 156,000 ounces of gold. Additional drilling in 2015 identified extensions of known high grade gold mineralisation with intersections as high as 8 metres at 55 g/t gold. In addition drilling has also defined a significant copper deposit at surface consisting of 10Mt at 0.41% copper containing 40,000 tonnes of copper. Extensive mineralisation occurs around both deposits demonstrating significant potential to increase the existing resources.
The project is located in the Kyrgyz Republic, 350km west-southwest of the capital city of Bishkek and covers 83 square kilometres. The Chanach project is located in the western part of the Tien Shan Belt, a highly mineralised zone that extends for over 2,500 km, from western Uzbekistan, through Tajikistan, Kyrgyz Republic and southern Kazakhstan into western China.
Merolia Gold and Nickel Project (100%): The project consists of 771 square kilometres of the Merolia Greenstone belt and contains extensive ultramafic sequences including the Diorite Hill layered ultramafic complex, the Rotorua ultramafic complex, the Coglia ultramafic complex and a 51 kilometre long zone of extrusive ultramafic lava’s. The intrusive complexes are prospective for nickel-copper sulphide accumulations possibly with platinum group elements, and the extrusive ultramafic rocks are prospective for nickel sulphide and nickel-cobalt accumulations.
The project also contains extensive basalt sequences that are prospective for gold mineralisation including the Ironstone prospect where historical drilling has
Contact:
White Cliff Minerals Ltd.
Todd Hibberd Managing Director
T: +61-8-9321-2233
www.wcminerals.com.au