Caeneus Minerals to commence drilling at Roberts Hill gold project
The drilling program at Roberts Hill will comprise 150 aircore holes.
Junior explorer Caeneus Minerals (ASX: CAD) has confirmed it will commence a 20,000 metre maiden drilling program at the Roberts Hill gold project near Port Hedland in WA now that all key surveys have been completed.
The program will comprise 150 aircore drill holes of up to 120m depth each and target discrete structural and intrusive features interpreted from field reconnaissance and low level aeromagnetic surveys.
A program of work was approved following completion of a traditional owner heritage survey with members of South Hedland’s Kariyarra Aboriginal Corporation.
Ground has been cleared for over 25km of selected drill lines located in close proximity to the greater Hemi resource area owned by De Grey Mining (ASX: DEG).
An aircore rig has mobilised to site and will commence drilling following final preparatory works which include track clearing, and sump and pad construction.
Mallina Basin
Caeneus’ flagship Roberts Hill and Mt Berghaus projects are located in WA’s rich Mallina Basin which hosts the 6.8 million ounce Hemi discovery.
They cover a total area of 349 square kilometres and are situated approximately 50km to the south of Port Hedland.
The ground around Roberts Hill and Mt Berghaus is comprised of structurally and chemically-altered granitic, intermediate and ultramafic intrusive rocks considered highly-prospective for gold occurrences similar to Hemi.
The projects have not been previously drill tested and while transported soil cover is present throughout Roberts Hill, the company anticipates overburden thicknesses will vary from zero (where outcrop has recently been discovered) to 40m.
With the Mallina Basin, Berghaus and possibly new and previously-unidentified shear trends crossing Roberts Hill and Mt Berghaus, Caeneus said it is “highly encouraged” that similar intrusive-related gold anomalism will be discovered on its properties.
Share placement
Drilling at Roberts Hill and the greater Mallina Basin area will be funded by a $1.75 million share placement completed this month to sophisticated and professional investors.
The placement was based on the issue 250 million ordinary shares at $0.007 each plus listing options on a 1:1 basis exercisable at $0.015 each before end 2023.
Caeneus’ directors have committed $378,000 to the raising, subject to shareholder approval.