Mining

Sultan Resources signs drilling contractor for Tucklan, work to start mid-November

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By Robin Bromby - 
Sultan Resources ASX SLZ gold copper rockchip porphyry Big Hill Ringaroo Tucklan

Sultan Resources has returned high-grade gold and copper results from soil and rock chip samples in its ongoing Lachlan Fold Belt exploration program.

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Junior explorer Sultan Resources (ASX: SLZ) has now secured a rig to drill what it describes as its “outstanding” Tucklan epithermal gold target located on the Lachlan Fold Belt, which runs from central NSW to eastern Victoria.

The company is planning 12 reverse circulation holes with possible diamond tails.

The rig will be in action by mid-November subject to government approvals being received and after cereal cropping work in the area has been completed.

Exploration activity approval forms have been submitted to the NSW resources regulator and the company is awaiting approval.

In June the company reported it had defined a large, undrilled 1.5km by 0.3km gold anomaly at its then recently acquired Tucklan project located on the prolific Lachlan belt.

Within that defined anomaly was a higher grade 700m by 300m core containing up to 0.61 grams per tonne in soil.

The overall anomaly was coincident with historic hard rock gold workings and remains “wide open” to the southeast.

First pass rock chip samples include assays at 1.11g/t, 0.48g/t, 0.25g/t and 0.27g/t. Sultan said at the time that these support the strong prospectivity of Tucklan.

Tucklan a high priority target

In June, Sultan closed the acquisition of 330 square kilometres of what it believes is highly prospective tenure in NSW which includes Tucklan.

Earlier this week, Sultan reported “exceptional” induced polarisation (IP) results at Tucklan which has elevated the prospect to a high priority, drill-ready target..

The seven-line dipole-dipole IP survey was completed by Fender Geophysics last month over a previously identified gold and copper soil anomalism and outcropping epithermal-style gold mineralised rock at Tucklan, located about 15km south of Dunedoo in central NSW.

An additional reconnaissance east-west line was completed over a prominent circular magnetic high known as the Glen Athol prospect.

No historical drilling at NSW projects

At the Tucklan epithermal prospect, an “exceptional chargeability and resistivity response” was returned which is coincident with the previous anomalous gold-copper in soil results and outcropping mineralisation.

At Glen Athol, a coincident 1.4km wide IP chargeability high anomaly and resistivity high is consistent with the geophysical signature of East Lachlan type gold-copper porphyry deposits, including the concealed high-grade Cadia-Ridgeway gold-copper porphyry deposit owned and mined by Newcrest Mining (ASX: NCM).

Enthusiasm for the Lachlan belt has been surging since the discovery last year by Alkane Resources (ASX: ALK) of the Boda deposit hitting mineralisation over 689m at 0.49g/t gold and 0.19% copper.

Sultan said its has three targets, Big Hill, Ringaroo and Tucklan, all displaying similar geological, geochemical and geophysical characteristics to the mineralization at the Boda prospect.

There are no records of historic drilling at any of the three targets.