Diamond drilling to test the south-easterly plunge of the Cayley Lode hit 92.1m of sulphide mineralisation.
Highlight expedited assays from this intersection were 3m at 3.81% copper, 0.11 grams per tonne gold and 457g/t silver from 328m, including 1.1m at 2.53% copper, 0.10g/t gold and 1,225g/t silver.
Further down hole, drilling intercepted 43m at 2.6% copper, 0.42g/t gold and 10g/t from 378m, including 1m at 19.65% copper, 8.29g/t gold and 202g/t silver from 397m.
Stavely chairman and managing director Chris Cairns said the 92.1m intersection “may well be” the longest down hole mineralised zone recorded at the Cayley Lode to-date.
“The significance of that, if follow-up drilling is able to confirm the continuity of these types of widths of mineralisation along strike and up/down-dip, there is significant capacity for these intersections to contribute material additions to the upcoming mineral resource estimate,” he said.
Mr Cairns said the intercept has “positive implications” for a potential phase two underground development at the target.
“We have a lot of drilling and technical studies to do before we will be able to demonstrate any underground viability, but the foundational building block is demonstrating that the well-developed Cayley Lode copper-gold-silver mineralisation is down there, and a few more hits like this can add tonnes very quickly.”
“In short, this is a very important drill hole, which highlights the enormous long-term exploration opportunity across the broader project to delineate a vertically extensive magma/butt-style copper lode system.”
Mr Cairns noted the company’s earlier drilling has uncovered high-grade mineralisation occurs at depths of up to 1km below surface.
“Our challenge, once we post the maiden mineral resource estimate and complete a scoping study on a potential phase one open pit development at the Cayley Lode, is to systematically unlock this potential for what we believe could be a multi-decade copper operation in western Victoria.”
Until now, drilling at Stavely had focused on the Thursday’s Gossan deposit which has an inferred resource of 28Mt at 0.4% copper for 110,000t of contained copper.
