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Australian Gold and Copper unearths exceptional mineral wealth at Achilles project

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By Colin Hay - 
Australian Gold Copper ASX AGC Achilles exploration results
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Australian Gold and Copper (ASX: AGC) has come out of a trading halt to announce significant exploration results from a new drilling programme at the Achilles project in New South Wales.

The silver results from the short programme are so strong that samples have been sent to Canada for specialist testing.

The follow-up reverse circulation (RC) drilling programme of nine holes returned spectacular grades of up to 45 grams per tonne gold, more than 3,000 g/t silver and 38.8% lead plus zinc.

Expedited testing

Following its discovery at Achilles in late April, the company elected to expedite laboratory analyses from the first holes drilled in this latest programme.

The highlight of the follow-up campaign is one hole that returned intercepts for silver triggering over-grade levels that are greater than the local laboratory can analyse.

It is this sample being sent to Canada for gravimetric analysis.

With Achilles’ potential highlighted in the early assays, AGC has taken the decision to fast-track testing of another six holes, with results expected in the coming weeks.

The company’s exploration team is now working on designing and permitting for the next phase of exploration for Achilles that is likely to include continued RC drilling along strike and deeper diamond drilling to test the currently defined high-grade mineralisation, along with further drilling at three additional targets at Achilles.

Mineralised zone extended

AGC managing director Glen Diemar said the drill programme covered over half a kilometre of strike and has extended mineralisation beyond the recently reported discovery holes at Achilles.

“We are extremely happy with how Achilles is taking shape,” he said.

“With drilling now spread across more than half a kilometre of strike, we are excited to see how big this can get.”

“I look forward to the results of the next six holes and can already see that Achilles has a prominent future within the Cobar Basin.”

Initial breakthrough

In late April, AGC announced the discovery of significant mineralisation at Hilltop and Achilles in the southern Cobar Basin in NSW.

That led to the immediate follow-up programme.

The results at both Achilles and Hilltop represented greenfield discoveries and are the first significant mineralisation drilled within the Ural Volcanics in the southern Cobar Basin, validating AGC’s wider South Cobar exploration strategy.