Miramar Resources Limited (ASX:M2R) has kicked-off aircore drilling has commenced at the company’s large 100%-owned Whaleshark Cu-Au Project, approximately 40km east of Onslow, in the Ashburton region of Western Australia.
The Whaleshark Project is characterised by a large, folded banded iron formation (BIF) complex, intruded by a granite, under approximately 100m of Carnarvon Basin sediments.
The local geology is interpreted to be Ashburton Formation, part of the Capricorn Orogen, a belt of Proterozoic-aged rocks between the Archean Pilbara and Yilgarn Cratons.
Previous workers intersected gold mineralisation in the BIF and outlined a low-level surface gold anomaly in an interpreted “pressure shadow” target at the southwest end of the granite.
In 2021, Miramar completed two phases of mobile metal ion (MMI) soil sampling over the Project and outlined two large Cu-U-REE-Mo-W anomalies on the eastern edge of the granite intrusion.
The current aircore drilling programme will test for geochemical anomalism beneath the MMI anomalies and the pressure shadow target at the unconformity between the Proterozoic basement rocks and the overlying Cretaceous sediments.
The drilling programme will use a track-mounted aircore rig to minimise environmental disturbance and is expected to take approximately four weeks to complete.
Miramar’s Executive Chairman, Mr Allan Kelly, said the results of the aircore drilling will be used to guide deeper drilling.
“At Whaleshark, we have very large surface geochemical anomalies above a Proterozoic granitoid intrusion at relatively shallow depths when compared with other IOCG prospects,” Mr Kelly said.
“The large Ernest Henry IOCG deposit in northern Queensland has a well-developed geochemical anomaly at the unconformity between the cover sediments and the basement rocks,” he added.
“If we can outline a similar anomaly with this aircore drilling, and reduce the size of the targets, it will greatly assist in refining potential basement targets for deeper RC and/or diamond drilling,” he said.
For further information please visit: https://www.miramarresources.com.au/
