Mining

Zenith Minerals and Rumble Resources reveal new record drill result at Earaheedy zinc project

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By Danica Cullinane - 
Rumble Resources Zenith Minerals ASX RTR ZNC diamond drill rig Earaheedy Project zinc lead

A 30,000m diamond and RC drill program has commenced at Rumble and Zenith’s Chinook prospect.

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Western Australian exploration partners Zenith Minerals (ASX: ZNC) and Rumble Resources (ASX: RTR) have returned the best drill intersection at their jointly-owned Earaheedy zinc project to date, adding to the strong results reported last month.

The companies today announced the intersection of a wide, shallow zone of high-quality zinc-lead sulphide mineralisation within the recently discovered and newly named Kalitan feeder zone at the Chinook zinc-lead-silver-copper prospect.

The best drill intercept was 51 metres at 4.76% zinc+lead and 5.81 grams per tonne of silver from a depth of 82m, including 20m at 8.78% zinc+lead and 11.65g/t silver from 98m. Contained within the 20m intersection was an even higher grade 8m at 14.61% zinc+lead and 17.7g/t silver from 104m and 8m at 5.53% zinc+lead and 5.08g/t silver from 124m.

The Kalitan high-grade feeder fault mineralisation lies below the recently discovered flat-lying, extensive (4.1km long by 1.9km wide) Chinook zinc-lead mineralisation.

Mineralisation is currently defined over a 2.3km strike with assays awaited for four other holes, which are interpreted to intersect the Kalitan zone.

Commenting on the latest drill results, Zenith chief executive officer Mick Clifford said this latest drill result has achieved a new record for the project.

“It sets up an exciting year of ongoing work to unlock the potential of this particular target, one of four exciting zinc-lead discoveries made in 2021 within the joint venture project area,” he said.

Rumble said in its own announcement that the shallow broad zones of high-grade zinc-lead, along with the discovery of significant copper and silver deeper in the Kalitan feeder zone, “emphasise the high potential for deeper large-scale copper-zinc-lead-silver feeder related mineralisation”.

“Due to increasing technical knowledge as a result of drilling completed to date, and ongoing geological and geophysics interpretation, the potential to intersect multiple inferred high-grade feeders at Chinook, Tonka, Magazine, Navajoh and ultimately targets associated within the 42km of prospective mineralised strike, is very high,” Rumble stated.

Next round of drilling

Infill reverse circulation drilling is scheduled to begin at the Kalitan feeder zone, which will define the dimensions of the shallow high-grade zinc-lead mineralisation in the Navajoh unconformity unit.

Diamond drilling will also begin to test the Kalitan feeder structure’s underlying formations, targeting copper-zinc-lead-silver deposits, Rumble reported.

Final 2021 drilling results expected Feb-March

Rumble operates the Earaheedy joint venture project with a 75% stake while Zenith holds a 25% free carried interest.

The two main prospects within the project, Chinook and Magazine, lie 12km apart and are now joined by mineralisation at Tonka, Navajoh and in a feeder fault below the Chinook mineralisation.

The 2021 drilling program was expanded to more than 50,000m to further drill and scope the new Tonka discovery zone.

Assay results have returned for more than half of the drilling with the final set of results expected by February-March 2022.