Astute Metals NL is pleased to advise that Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling has now commenced at its Needles Gold-Silver Project in Nevada, USA. A series of six high-priority vein-style gold-silver targets will be tested as part of the eight-hole campaign.
Image Credit: Astute Metals NL
The Company has engaged experienced international drill contractor, Major Drilling Group International Inc. (“Major”), to undertake the drilling program.
Despite having significant sampling and drilling, the Needles Gold Project remains largely underexplored, with most holes only drilled to shallow depths and a number of high-grade previously undrilled prospects identified that will be tested as part of the current campaign.
Drilling is expected to be completed within two weeks, after which the rig will mobilized to the Red Mountain Lithium Project to complete further drilling in the lead up to a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate planned for the end of the calendar year.
Astute Chairman, Tony Leibowitz, said:
“The start of drilling at Needles marks the beginning of a very active phase of activity for the Company, coinciding with our imminent name change. The current drill program will test six initial high-priority prospects identified from a recent exploration review. This work has uncovered what we believe to be highly prospective discovery opportunities in gold in a richly endowed historical mining area at a very favorable time for the gold sector.
“Each of the targets has demonstrated either high-grade historical gold-silver assays or compelling anomalism for pathfinder elements, with the potential to deliver new discoveries for Astute in one of the world’s premier gold and silver mining districts.
“Once the drilling at Needles wraps up, the rig will immediately move on to the Red Mountain Lithium Project, where a major program is planned to lay the foundations for our maiden Mineral Resource Estimate by the end of the year.”
Background
The Needles Project comprises 216 unpatented lode mining claims covering an area of 18 km2 and lies 92 km east of the mining town of Tonopah in Nye County, Nevada, USA. The project was acquired due to its geological similarities with bulk-tonnage gold operations in Nevada such as the 20 Moz+ Round Mountain mine.
Previously known as the Arrowhead district, the project includes numerous historical gold-silver workings dating from the early 1900’s to 1920’s, with some of notable scale. While historical records are sparse, the Arrowhead Mine is recorded as an incline shaft to 350 ft (106.7 m) with drifting on four levels, and the Arrowhead Extension Mine was a 150 ft (45.7 m) two-compartment shaft with two working levels. These operations mined bonanza-style epithermal vein gold and silver mineralization.
The current project area has seen a number of previous explorers including Newcrest (2002-04), Taranis Resources (2002-07), Excalibur Resources (2007-09) and Greenock Resources, amongst others. The Needles Project is hosts a large, under-explored epithermal system fertile for gold and silver, with rock chip results of up to 33 g/t Au and 1,115 g/t Ag3 . Existing drilling is mostly shallow, and alteration mineralogy and pathfinder geochemistry suggests that the most prospective exploration space is yet to be tested.