IRIS Metals kicks off maiden drilling campaign at Kookynie gold project
IRIS Metals’ Kookynie tenure comprises more than 50 historic workings with recorded gold production and grades as high as 63.8g/t.
Newly-listed junior explorer IRIS Metals (ASX: IR1) has kicked off a maiden drilling campaign across the Lily, Rise and Shine and Treasure-Whale prospects at its flagship Kookynie gold project, near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.
The first phase of the campaign will comprise approximately 5,000m of reverse circulation drilling, with an initial focus on testing the prospects in light of their history of hosting high-grade gold mineralisation.
The walk-up targets are shallow and based on extensive desktop reviews of historical data, site reconnaissance and information from local prospectors.
Maiden drilling is expected to take four weeks to complete, with IRIS dispatching assays to the laboratory on a regular basis to ensure timely reporting.
A good start
IRIS chairman Simon Lill said the maiden drilling program would be a good start for the company following its ASX debut last week.
“We have promised investors that we plan to explore, so we are pleased to be immediately underway,” he said.
“Initial drilling will test Lily, Rise and Shine and Treasure-Whale, which historically are known to host high-grade mineralisation, but have not been subject to systematic drill testing since the 1990s.”
Historic workings
Drilling at the Lily prospect aims to test around historic workings and at depth along 400m of a prominent north-east trending, south-dipping feature in the Niagara Gabbro Complex.
At Rise and Shine, IRIS aims to locate and test the continuity at depth of apparent low angle, southerly-dipping, east to northeast-striking quartz veins and stockworks.
The prominent, shallow, south-dipping, north-east trending structures of the Treasure-Whale prospects will also be drilled and tested for depth extension.
Goldfields location
The Kookynie project is located 60km southeast of Leonora and approximately 180km north of Kalgoorlie, in the state’s goldfields region.
It consists of various sub projects starting with the prospects being drill tested in the maiden program, and including the Gladstone Extension, O’Shea and Thowell Well targets.
The Kookynie gold mining camp produced in excess of 600,000 ounces of high-grade gold during the 1890s.
Utilising state-of-the-art technology and modern exploration techniques, IRIS will be exploring for what may have left behind due to the difficulty of prospecting through the thin layer of transported alluvial cover across much of the project area.
This approach has already been proven by a joint venture partnership between Metalicity (ASX: MCT) and Nex Metals Exploration (ASX: NME).
Genesis Minerals (ASX: GMD) and Carnavale Resources (ASX: CAV) have also demonstrated recent success in the area through modern technology and methodical geological work.
IRIS’ 35.5 square kilometre tenure at Kookynie comprises more than 50 historic workings with recorded gold production and grades as high as 63.8 grams per tonne.