Tempest Minerals Ltd (ASX:TEM) has increased its landholding at the Messenger Project in Western Australia with a new extension that covers the historic high-grade Messengers Patch gold production area.
The new ground captures an area of historical high-grade gold production and nearby historic drilling of up to 451 g/t gold.
Tempest plans to begin a 2,500-metre drilling program in the coming weeks focusing on an extension of known lode-hosted gold mineralisation followed by the new Wally volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) target.
New extension
The new extension is a mining lease comprising 72 hectares along strike from previous drilling and new exploration leases.
Tempest has entered into an agreement with the holder of M5900495 to earn up to 50% of the tenement through the expenditure of $50,000, including drilling, over the next 12 months.
Project background
Messenger Project is part of the company’s extensive landholding within the Yalgoo greenstone belt 450 kilometres north of Perth.
The project is 8 kilometres north of the prolific Golden Grove Copper-Zinc-Gold Mine and adjacent to the historic Messengers Patch.
It is in a well-known historic mining area that had numerous high-grade mines and a state battery in the early 1900s.
The area is undergoing an explosion in exploration including multiple discoveries and major intersections announced by Emu NL (ASX:EMU) at their Gnows Nest and Monte Christo prospects including 3 metres at 42 g/t including 1-metre at 89.5 g/t from 78 metres.
Geophysical modelling
Despite its strategic location adjacent to numerous mining centres, the Messenger Project is underexplored with little or no modern exploration conducted outside of prospecting activities.
Previous drilling by others encountered extremely high grades including 2 metres at 228.92 g/t gold from 10 metres including 1-metre at 451 g/t, however, additional drilling in the area appears to have been incorrectly positioned to test the mineralisation.
Updated magnetic data and geological context have revealed the geometry of the underlying mineralisation, particularly VMS mineralisation in some instances.
The project also boasts a large ‘bullseye’ known as the Wally Target.
Next steps
The company plans to start the 2,500-metre drilling program at Messenger Project in the coming weeks focusing on the Dally high-grade gold zone and the Wally base metal VMS target.
It is also planning an extension of the drilling program onto new project ground.
Geochemical results of strategic soil samples are pending and all data from geochemical testing and drilling will be used to further refine future exploration models.
