The upcoming program will focus on the Emu copper-gold and Mascotte silver-gold prospects.
At Mascotte, approvals have cleared the way for eight additional diamond drill holes as part of a second phase campaign.
Legacy Minerals’ (ASX:LGM) recently concluded first phase drilling of eight holes and delivered a greenfield discovery beneath a 1.3km corridor of historical workings.
Its first diamond hole returned 40m at 1.0g/t Au from 151m, including a 9m zone grading 2.7g/t from 180m.
Assays from the other seven holes are expected in June.
Historical drilling at Mascotte also returned a notable silver intercept of 18.3m at 237g/t Ag from 3m.
The new program is designed to target structural and geochemical extensions of these mineralised zones.
“With Phase 1 drilling already completed and drilling assays pending at the Mascotte silver-gold prospect, the Phase 2 approval allows us to drill follow-up holes, immediately stepping out from and below the highest-grade historical silver intercepts,” noted CEO and managing director Christopher Byrne.
Legacy also plans to sink eight diamond holes at Emu.
The 4000m program will represent the first modern test of the Emu Porphyry Core and Emu Alteration Halo SE targets, interpreted through airborne geophysics as discrete porphyry-epithermal systems within the Mt Carrington caldera.
“Copper is the primary target of the Emu prospect, with widespread copper recognised across the target zone and mined historically,” explained Byrne.
“Our team has been integrating historical geological data with recent airborne Mobile MT geophysics with compelling results across porphyry-epithermal targets last drilled 50 years ago.
“Two distinct features, the Emu Porphyry Core and the Emu Alteration Halo SE, sit along the same caldera-margin trend that hosts the existing Mt Carrington MRE.”
The broader Mt Carrington project hosts a 1.2Moz gold equivalent resource, or about 115Moz silver equivalent.
Legacy recently completed a scoping study assessing the project’s development potential, which outlined a 19-year operation producing 373,000oz of gold and 9.91Moz silver over the mine life.
Under a base case scenario, the study envisaged cash flow of $1.247 billion, with pre-tax NPV and IRR of $542 million and 32% respectively.
All-in sustaining costs were estimated at A$1545 per ounce, with capital costs coming in at $220.5m.
The payback period clocked in at 36 months.
Legacy is now optimising the scoping study.
Management believes the size of the mineralised system at Mt Carrington provides an opportunity to increase the 1Mtpa production scenario envisaged in the study.
It sees the upcoming drilling at Mascotte and Emu as an important aspect of its dual-track strategy, centred on advancing development whilst pursuing discoveries capable of expanding the resource base.
“Legacy Minerals is continuing our gold, silver, and copper exploration and discovery-focused approach across the Mt Carrington project,” Byrne said.
“This follows the recently released scoping study, which demonstrates the compelling financials of the Mt Carrington project as a significant Australian gold and silver asset.”
“These two new drilling approvals at Mascotte and Emu, totalling 8000 meters, represent new discovery opportunities on the project as part of this dual-track strategy of discovery and development.”
Legacy expects the drill rig to mobilise later this month, with the campaign anticipated to run for about three months.
Additional resource expansion and follow-up drilling is also planned.
