Freehill Mining anticipates maiden resource for Yerbas Buenas magnetite project
Freehill Mining’s maiden JORC resource for its Yerbas Buenas high-grade magnetite project in Chile is due shortly.
Mineral explorer Freehill Mining (ASX: FHS) has rounded out the March quarter with the completion of JORC maiden resource modelling for its flagship Yerbas Buenas magnetite project in Chile.
In its quarterly report released today, the company said a total of 24 holes for 4,300m of reverse circulation drilling had been finished in December, providing a “sound basis” for further exploration activities and validating ground magnetic survey accuracy in terms of mineralised structure depths and positioning.
Drilling was carried out on three of seven magnetic structures identified during a ground magnetic geophysics survey conducted in mid-2017.
The majority of work during the quarter was completed in and around a trial mining pit (designated YB#1) to allow the estimation of a mineral resource.
“Exploration was confined to the southern half of the Yerbas project area [and confirmed] magnetite mineralisation within several identified magnetic structures that form part of a contiguous 2.3km long elongated structure,” the report said.
Additional drilling on the YB#3 and YB#6 magnetic structures to the north and south of the pit was carried out to “ground truth” magnetite mineralisation and depth.
The high-grade YB#6 showed substantial sections of almost pure magnetite and confirmed that the structure is mineralised.
“It showed the structure appears to thicken and widen in a southward direction … the magnetite is of a high quality, low impurity suitable for pellet feed production [with] very little overburden,” the report noted.
IP surveys
Freehill said a second phase of drilling during the June quarter will continue to focus on YB#6 and include the northern YB#7 magnetic anomaly.
It will also incorporate a diamond drilling component over the northern and southern structures to test and confirm the mineralisation.
These structures were the subject of an induced polarisation survey in late 2018 which targeted a potential source of copper mineralisation over numerous artisanal copper and gold workings.
A follow-up IP survey earlier this year revealed another large structure which potentially also contains copper-sulphide mineralisation.
Given the positive drilling results, Freehill said it would progress discussions with a number of parties regarding funding for the next stages of development.