Antipa Minerals Ltd (ASX:AZY) is trading higher on receiving further broad high-grade gold and copper results along with silver and cobalt from 11 drill holes at its wholly-owned Minyari Dome Project in WA's Paterson Province.
Results that include 134 metres at 1.70 g/t gold and 0.30% copper from 212 metres continue to extend the potential size of the Minyari resource and enhance the project development opportunity.
With 37,620 metres of resource definition, resource extensional and brownfield plus greenfield discovery drilling completed at Minyari Dome results received to date have encouraged Antipa to further expand the drill program to 45,000 metres.
There are three drill rigs currently on-site and the company is awaiting assays for 28,370 metres.
Shares have been as much as 8.7% higher in early trading to A$0.05.
AZY is a mineral exploration company focused on exploring the Paterson Province which hosts several world-class mineral deposits including the Telfer gold-copper-silver mine, the Winu copper deposit and the Havieron gold discovery.
“Highlight significant zones”
Through these assay results, AZY has further confirmed that high-grade gold mineralisation is associated with sulphide matrixed breccia zones similar to the Havieron gold-copper style of mineralisation.
“Minyari drill hole results continue to demonstrate the capacity of this intrusion-related breccia system to generate strong gold-copper intersections over wide intervals and highlight significant zones of mineralisation outside the resource to the east and west which will support a revised resource estimate and project development studies for a potential standalone open pit and underground mining operation,” Antipa's managing director Roger Mason said.
“At Minyari, high-grade gold and copper, silver and cobalt mineralisation has now been intersected along 500 metres of strike, down to 600 metres below the surface and across a horizontal width of up to 275 metres, and mineralisation remains open in several directions.
“Given the success of the program to date, the 2021 drill program has been further expanded to 45,000 metres and is now expected to be completed in November.”
Assay results
The drilling campaign confirmed significant zones of high-grade gold-copper-silver-cobalt mineralisation across the current Minyari mineral resource estimate boundary and discovered new high-grade gold-copper mineralisation at Minyari East which extended the mineralisation envelope to approximately 275 metres.
Highlight results from the Minyari deposit:
The 134-metre intersection in hole 21MYC0233 included:
- 1-metre at 5.93 g/t gold, 4.42% copper, 10.75 g/t silver and 0.10% cobalt from 217 metres;
- 33 metres at 4.49 g/t gold, 0.71% copper, 1.79 g/t silver and 0.13% cobalt from 241 metres, including 6 metres at 8.40 g/t gold, 2.70% copper, 6.01 g/t silver and 0.18% cobalt from 241 metres; 1-metre at 22.00 g/t gold, 0.44% copper and 2.92 g/t silver from 252 metres; and 4 metres at 9.27 g/t gold, 0.90% copper, 2.57 g/t silver and 0.33% cobalt from 259 metres; and
- 8 metres at 2.97 g/t gold and 0.47% copper from 327 metres, including 2.0 metres at 7.98 g/t gold, 1.30% copper and 1.80 g/t silver from 327 metres.
30 metres at 2.95 g/t gold and 0.14% copper from 149 metres down hole in 21MYC0235, including:
- 8 metres at 9.95 g/t gold, 0.38% copper and 0.13% cobalt from 149 metres, including 3 metres at 22.63 g/t gold, 0.58% copper, 1.41 g/t silver and 0.20% cobalt from 154 metres.
77 metres at 1.26 g/t gold, 0.41% copper and 1.10 g/t silver from 85 metres down hole in 21MYC0221, including:
- 1-metre at 7.67 g/t gold, 2.82% copper, 8.17 g/t silver and 0.11% cobalt from 85 metres;
- 21 metres at 2.64 g/t gold, 0.91% copper and 2.22 g/t silver from 115 metres, including 2 metres at 12.35 g/t gold, 2.38% copper, 5.21 g/t silver and 0.11% cobalt from 134 metres.
44 metres at 1.49 g/t gold and 0.15% copper from 395 metres down hole in 21MYCD0220, including:
- 3 metres at 6.69 g/t gold, 0.26% copper and 1.99 g/t silver from 411 metres; and
- 3 metres at 6.82 g/t gold, 0.87% copper and 1.41 g/t silver from 434 metres.
32 metres at 1.34 g/t gold and 0.19% copper from 55 metres down hole in 21MYC0227, including:
- 11 metres at 2.87 g/t gold and 0.33 copper from 76 metres, including 1-metre at 14.65 g/t gold, 1.48% copper, 3.14 g/t silver and 0.30% cobalt from 84 metres.
Drilling intends to upgrade resource
The AZY drilling program, which began in early May 2021, was designed to test extensions of both the Minyari and WACA resources, which combined host a JORC 2012 mineral estimate of 723,000 ounces of gold at 2.0 g/t and 26,000 tonnes of copper at 0.24%.
This program discovered new zones of prospective mineralisation close by existing resources in the east of the Minyari Project and further drilling will be focused on upgrading the resource through 25-metre infill drill sections.
Infill drilling is intended to upgrade the existing inferred sections of the resource to indicated and previous indicated resources to measured resources. The drilling will also provide a basis for project development studies into the future.
Minyari open down plunge and along strike
While assay results received to date only cover 25% of the Minyari Dome resource infill, AZY has nonetheless proven that high-grade gold-copper-silver-cobalt mineralisation exists outside the current mineral resource estimate boundary.
The company has also confirmed new high-grade gold-copper mineralisation at Minyari East which extended the overall width of the Minyari mineralisation envelope out to approximately 275 metres and confirmed the mineralisation remains open down plunge, along strike and across strike in various areas to the east and west.
