Mining

Zenith Minerals identifies new drill targets at Develin Creek copper-zinc project

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By Imelda Cotton - 
Zenith Minerals ASX ZNC drill targets Develin Creek copper zinc massive sulphide project Queensland

Develin Creek has an inferred resource of 2.57Mt at 1.76% copper, 2.01% zinc, 0.24g/t gold and 9.6g/t silver (2.62% copper equivalent).

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Diversified explorer Zenith Minerals (ASX: ZNC) has defined four new drill targets following recent geophysical surveys at the Develin Creek copper-zinc massive sulphide project in Queensland.

The high-quality targets were identified by induced polarisation (IP) work carried out at the Snook and Wilsons prospects.

Two targets at Snook (S1 and S2) are located 30km south of the existing resource area, beneath and adjacent to recent drilling which intersected massive copper-zinc sulphides.

The other two (W1 and W2) are beneath shallow soil cover and along strike of surface gossans at Wilsons.

A total of eight copper-zinc targets are now ready for drilling, including four additional targets close to the existing Sulphide City deposit at Develin Creek which were defined by a re-interpretation of geology, geochemistry and airborne electromagnetic survey (EM) data.

Assays are anticipated shortly from a two-hole diamond drilling at Sulphide City designed to assess potential copper-zinc grade “under-call” associated with historic open hole percussion drilling.

Diamond core will also provide sample material for metallurgical testwork, expected to commence next month.

The Develin Creek project contains a VMS (volcanogenic massive sulfide) copper-zinc deposit with an inferred mineral resource of 2.57 million tonnes at 1.76% copper, 2.01% zinc, 0.24 grams per tonne gold and 9.6g/t silver (2.62% copper equivalent).

Drill testing at Snook

Initial drill testing of seven shallow reverse circulation holes at the Snook target intersected massive and semi-massive sulphides close to surface, at a depth of 20m.

This zone returned 3m at 1.57% copper, 1.07% zinc, 0.37% lead, 43g/t silver and 0.2g/t gold, including 2m of massive sulphide grading 1.95% copper, 1.34% zinc, 0.48% lead, 55g/t silver and 0.3g/t gold within a broader interval of disseminated and stockwork sulphides assaying 12m at 0.81% copper, 0.56% zinc, 0.19% lead, 22g/t silver and 0.1g/t gold.

Additional drill holes all intersected anomalous levels of copper, zinc and lead as well as precious metals and trace elements including 1m at 0.63g/t gold, 21g/t silver, 0.08% copper, 0.34% lead and 0.01% zinc from 3m below surface.

A further two short diamond holes were subsequently completed to obtain core of the massive sulphides and confirm the shallow dip of the sedimentary host sequence at Snook.

One of the holes returned 0.3m at 1.5% copper, 1.8% zinc, 0.5% lead, 0.2g/t silver and 65.2g/t gold associated with a narrow band of massive sulphide, while the other intersected dolerite in the massive sulphide target zone.

Zenith said the IP survey results show a small coincident chargeability high associated with the Snook massive sulphide zone; a deeper, much stronger IP target lying beneath the current drilling; and another strong target to the east.

Wilsons targets

Like Snook, the Wilsons drill targets are consistent with a zone of sub-surface disseminated sulphides which typically form as a halo or “feeder zones” beneath volcanic-hosted massive copper-zinc sulphide deposits.

A program of up to three drill holes is planned to test the Wilsons IP targets.