iTech Minerals strikes high-grade gold with assays at Reynolds Range
Expedited gold assays from iTech Minerals’ (ASX: ITM) Reynolds Range project in the Northern Territory have returned up to 182 grams per tonne, with copper, silver, base metals and lithium results expected in coming weeks.
“iTech Minerals fast-tracked gold assays from the Reynolds Range project to get an early indication of the gold potential of the prospects visited in the recent rock chip sampling program,” Managing Director Mike Schwarz said.
“The results show great potential for both high-grade, low-sulphide gold-style vein systems at the Sabre and Falchion prospects […] and gold associated with copper mineralisation at both the Scimitar and Reward prospects.”
Licences acquired
iTech announced in late February that it had signed two binding tenement sale and purchase agreements with Prodigy Gold (ASX: PRX) to acquire 100% of its interest in three tenements in the Reynolds Range area.
The tenements will be held by iTech Minerals’ wholly owned subsidiary iTech Energy.
Located north-north-west of Alice Springs, the Reynolds Range project covers a total of 375 square kilometres of the Aileron Province.
While previous exploration at the site focused on copper, gold and silver, iTech is also looking for rare earth elements and lithium mineralisation in the area.
Sampling success
The company’s initial reconnaissance sampling field trip aimed to assess the validity of existing gold and copper-gold prospects identified by previous explorers.
Preliminary results have confirmed that there is significant potential for gold mineralisation within the Reynolds Range tenements in both gold-only low-sulphide vein-style systems and polymetallic styles of mineralisation that have appreciable amounts of copper and silver associated with gold.
Sixteen samples were taken from the low-sulphide gold vein systems, with four meeting or exceeding 1.0 grams per tonne gold, including an outstanding assay of 182g/t gold at Sabre.
Eleven samples were taken for gold with copper, silver and other base metals, with four meeting or exceeding 1.0g/t gold, including an assay of 3.4g/t gold associated with copper mineralisation at Scimitar.
Accelerated exploration
The initial success at Reynolds Range has provided iTech Minerals with the confidence to advance exploration for copper and gold at the project.
The company is particularly encouraged by the 182g/t gold rock chip at Sabre, which indicates the area has potential for very high-grade gold in the low-sulphide quartz vein style of mineralisation.
This style of mineralisation appears to be widespread, with significant results at Sabre, Sabre Southwest and Falchion—covering an area of 1.8km by 1.1km.
The company has also been buoyed by the gold with copper encountered at Scimitar and Reward.
iTech is currently developing drill targets at Scimitar where there is a significant untested electromagnetic anomaly believed to be associated with the nearby outcropping mineralisation.
The remaining copper-silver-base metal and lithium assay results are expected in the coming weeks and will help the company prioritise the copper-gold and gold targets for drill testing.