Venus Metals kicks-off drilling at Pincher Well zinc-copper prospect
At the Link prospect which was modelled as a lower-grade material, drilling unearthed 17m at 5.14g/t gold from 151m, including 11m at 7g/t from 156m.
Venus Metals Corporation (ASX: VMC) has kicked off a 2,500m reverse circulation drilling campaign at its Pincher Well zinc‐copper prospect within the Youanmi base metals project in Western Australia.
Exploration will target a historical strong induced polarisation (IP) anomaly located south of high‐grade mineralisation reported in 2017, which featured an assay of 10m at 7.31% zinc from 52m, including 6m at 9.5% zinc from 55m.
The anomaly sits in the southern part of the Pincher Dome volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) system, which was not adequately tested by Venus’ past vertical drilling efforts.
It covers more than 5km of strike and hosts a number of known zinc-copper prospects including a substantial body of zinc mineralisation at North Dome.
EM conductors
Drilling will also test two historic electromagnetic (EM) conductors with coincident gravity anomalies, which have remained untested at depth and are considered prospective for zinc-copper VMS mineralisation.
A third historic conductor believed to have been inadequately tested along strike by previous drilling, will also be explored as part of the current campaign.
The Pincher area was covered by an airborne electromagnetic survey in 2018 (as part of exploration over the greater Youanmi area) which highlighted a late channel anomaly coincident with the mineralised envelope at Pincher Well.
The EM response was interpreted to be due to sulphide‐rich sediments with potentially higher concentrations of chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite.
Past campaign
Venus’ 2017 reconnaissance campaign at Pincher Well intersected high-grade zinc mineralisation at shallow depth with highlights of 10m grading 7.31% zinc from 52m, including 6m at 9.5% from 55m; and 7m grading 4.2% zinc from 87m, including 10m at 5.1% from 68m.
Drilling confirmed the presence of significant thick, shallow, ‘up-dip/plunge’ extensions to the south of North Dome with the mineralisation remaining open along strike and at depth.
Located 600km north-northeast of Perth, the Pincher Well trend forms part of the Youanmi gold-base metal project and sits 15km southwest of the Youanmi gold mine and processing plant.