Iltani Resources Confirms Silver-Indium Potential of Orient Project with New Drilling Results
Iltani Resources (ASX: ILT) has hit record high silver equivalent grades in the latest drilling at its Orient silver-indium project in North Queensland.
The company’s initial infill drilling results at Orient East included 1 metre at 2,141.9 grams per tonne silver equivalent from 72.4m down-hole, the highest it has intersected at the site.
Iltani has already defined a JORC mineral resource estimate (MRE) of 21.6 million tonnes at 100.5g/t silver equivalent for Orient West, and is now looking to convert Orient East’s potential 18Mt at as much as 130g/t silver equivalent resource to the same classification.
Largest Known Deposit
“Holes ORD004 and ORD005 have delivered outstanding results from our Orient East program, and […] results continue to validate our belief that Orient is Australia’s largest and highest-grade known silver-indium deposit,” manging director Donald Garner said.
The diamond drill holes delivered multiple high-grade wide intersections of mineralisation above 1,000g/t at depths Iltani regards as amenable to open-pit mining.
“The diamond core is orientated, giving us valuable structural information which we will use to better model the mineralisation, [and] allows us to accurately measure the specific gravities of the mineralisation and the host rocks,” Mr Garner added.
Depth and Strike Extensions
The program is targeting depth and strike extensions at Orient East across an area of 450m by 350m, with several holes also testing a further 300m strike extent to the west.
Iltani is looking for the drill coverage on a nominal 80m section spacing with vein intersections at 40m to 50m along each section that would be suitable for the JORC-compliant MRE.
The completed holes have confirmed continuity of the broad mineralised veins and high-grade zones both down dip and along strike, with mineralisation remaining open at depth.
Indium is a a rare metal primarily with applications in electronics such as LCD screens and semiconductors, as well as in aircraft engine bearings and certain alloys.