Venus Metals starts drilling at Henderson gold-nickel project
Venus’ phase one aircore program will test gold targets identified from a review of historical exploration data.
Gold and base metals explorer Venus Metals Corporation (ASX: VMC) has announced the start of phase one aircore (AC) drilling at its Henderson gold-nickel project in Western Australia’s eastern goldfields.
The Henderson project is situated along the southern section of the Ularring Greenstone Belt, about 50km northwest of Menzies, WA.
The project comprises five exploration licences covering about 800sq km. The current drilling is focused on tenement E30/520, which is held 90% by Venus and 10% by a prospector.
In today’s market update, Venus said the drilling will test structurally controlled gold targets that were identified last year in a review of historical exploration data and geological and geophysical interpretations.
Project located near gold mines
According to Venus, two regionally significant fault zones, the Ida Fault and Ballard Fault, transect the Henderson project area and are considered to have played important controls on gold deposition.
Significant gold mines associated with these structures in close range of the Henderson project include Ora Banda Mining’s (ASX: OBM) operating Riverina open cut gold mine about 15km to the south, as well as the historical First Hit and Bottle Creek mines.
Yalgoo sale
Last week, the company completed the sale of its 50% stake in the Yalgoo iron ore project in WA’s Mid-West to private mining investment company FI Joint Venture (FIJV).
Venus first announced the sale two years ago, with funds held in escrow finally released to Venus as conditions precedents were satisfied including Foreign Investment Review Board approval.
Following the settlement, Venus has a cash balance of about $7.3 million and maintains its shareholdings in Rox Resources (ASX: ROX) and eMetals (ASX: EMT).
Youanmi resource upgrade
Venus also recently announced an increase in the mineral resource estimate for its Youanmi gold project shared with joint venture partner Rox Resources.
The WA project’s total mineral resource now stands at almost 1.7 million ounces of contained gold, representing a 39% increase (466,000oz) on the previous estimate.