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Argent Minerals delivers major breakthrough at Kempfield

Published: 12:00 10 Oct 2016 AEDT

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Argent Minerals has delivered exploration results for the 2016 diamond drilling program from the company’s flagship project at Kempfield, New South Wales.

Highlights:

- Major breakthrough – VHMS host horizons identified at the Kempfield deposit, leading to efficient drill targeting of high grade precious and base metals.

- Significant potential mineralised extensions identified.

- High grade gold trend geometry identified and confirmed as a later stage orogenic overprint related to the Trunkey-Kings Plain gold system.

- High grade VHMS precious and base metal discovery potential enhanced by identification of key elements characterising Kempfield:

  • Primary feeder zone defined by analysis that vectors to an untested area with a coincident high magnetic signature to the south of the known deposit;
  • Secondary feeder zones located in Kempfield North and Quarries Zone; and
  • Potential mineralised extensions of the newly identified VHMS host horizons into substantial untested areas to the northwest and southeast of the known deposit.

- Massive sulphide intersections in proximity to known intrusive confirm Kempfield North as a high-ranking target area.

- Proven continuity of mineralisation along strike and at depth in Kempfield North.

- Design of follow-up drill testing program underway.


VHMS host horizons

Vital to the exploration of volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) systems is the identification of the specific host rock horizons or geological features that control mineralisation, and their arrangement.

The litho-stratigraphy has now been defined at the Kempfield deposit and four key host horizons have been identified.

Horizons A, B, C and D have been identified within stratigraphy that dips approximately 700-800 to the west and youngs to the east.

The identification of the lithology and host horizons represents a major breakthrough for the project, leading to highly efficient drill targeting of high grade precious and base metals at Kempfield.

The picture above is a simplified geological plan view illustrating the dominant lithology and identified VHMS host horizons projected to surface, together with outlines of the three mineralisation zones of the known deposit and the 11 recently drilled holes.


High-grade gold trend

The diamond drill core assessment has confirmed two main types of gold occurrences at Kempfield:

- VHMS related gold – generally in the range of 0.5-1.5 g/t golf, widespread, and associated with the original VHMS silver and base metal mineralisation event; and

- Orogenic gold overprint related to the Trunkey-Kings Plain gold system – that occurred as a later stage event. Gold occurrences of highly variable grades to as high as 1.0 metre at 1,065 g/t gold from 97 metres have been identified as being related to the Trunkey-Kings Plain orogenic gold system.

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