TORONTO, March 27, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Xanadu Mines Ltd (ASX: XAM, TSX: XAM) (Xanadu or the Company) is pleased to advise an initial 5,000m diamond drilling programme to test five main target areas at the highly prospective 100% owned Red Mountain copper and gold Project in the South Gobi region of Mongolia is now underway, with drilling expected to be completed by mid-May, and all assays available by end-June.
Highlights
- Exploration drilling focused on discovery of shallow high-grade gold and copper-gold deposit, akin to the shallower parts of the Northparkes copper gold porphyry deposits in NSW, Australia .
- Systematic diamond drilling program designed to test five high-priority targets, following up on more recent trenching and previous drilling; compelling results from the latter are highlighted, below:
- First results from the drilling program are anticipated late April.
Xanadu’s Executive Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Colin Moorhead, said,
“Drilling has commenced at our 100% owned Red Mountain copper and gold project with an initial 5,000m diamond hole programme targeting five of our highest priority targets. Red Mountain offers a rare opportunity to access a large, under-explored mineral district. We are conducting a systematic exploration program, including diamond drilling, that we expect will provide a new perspective on the mineral potential of the Red Mountain district. Xanadu is entering an exciting period of new opportunities for discovery and growth.”
Exploration Program Design
Five thousand meters of drilling has been designed to test five shallow high-grade gold and copper-gold targets across the Red Mountain Lease (Figures 1 and 2). Drilling is targeting:
- Shallow gold at Target 33,
- High-grade copper sulphide lodes at Target 10, and
- Shallow porphyry targets at Nowie, Stockwork and Bavuu (Figure 3).
Figure 1: Map of Mongolia, showing location of the Red Mountain Mining Lease.
Figure 2: The Red Mountain Mining Lease with designed drill holes and target locations.
Figure 3: Exploration drilling has commenced at Red Mountain.
Target 33 – Shallow Epithermal Gold Mineralisation
Target 33 is a 1,000-metre-long and 100-wide-zone of alteration and anomalous gold mineralisation associated with an east west trending intrusion. Trenching and limited reverse circulation drilling in 2017 encountered significant widths of gold mineralisation (Figure 4).
Previous results1 include:
OURC043 | 40m @ 1.06g/t Au from 26m |
Including | 22m @ 1.82g/t Au from 40m |
Including | 10m @ 3.7g/t Au from 50m |
OURC055 | 30m @ 0.68g/t Au from surface |
Including | 4m @ 2.82g/t Au from surface |
Including | 8m @ 0.39g/t Au from 4m |
And | 16m @ 1.13g/t Au from 42m |
Including | 8m @ 1.7g/t Au from 42m |
Current Drilling Program: Five shallow diamond drill holes have been planned to test a 300m strike across the center of the gold anomalism at Target 33. Follow-up drilling will be planned once interpretation of the initial results has been completed.
Figure 4: Target 33 showing previous drilling and trenching2 and planned drilling 2024.
Target 10 – High-Grade Cu and Porphyry Cu-Au Target
Target 10 was first identified in 2017 as a copper and gold in soil anomaly with a molybdenum halo and coincident bullseye magnetic feature. Two diamond drill holes were drilled into the magnetic feature, returning3:
OUDDH089 | 6.2m @ 4.24% Cu and 1.9g/t Au, from 128m |
Including | 0.9m @ 22.1%Cu and 8.27g/t Au, from 129m |
And | 79.5m @ 0.26% Cu and 0.21g/t Au, from 198.5m |
OUDDH090 | 138m @ 0.27% Cu and 0.25g/t Au, from 200m |
Current Drilling Program: Three shallow drill holes and one deeper drill hole are planned to follow up on these results. Shallow holes are targeting around the high-grade copper intercept in OUDDH089 and are designed to determine the orientation of this zone, with the aim of delivering further expansion. A single deeper hole is planned to scissor the broad porphyry intercept in OUDDH090, testing the theory that this is associated with a south dipping structure, clearly visible in the magnetics (Figure 5)
Figure 5: Target 10 showing previous drilling and planned drilling 20244.
Bavuu Porphyry – Porphyry Cu-Au Target
Bavuu Porphyry was first identified in 2016 as a large-scale copper and gold soil anomaly. Trenching completed in 2016 returned very broad porphyry intercepts of copper and gold mineralisation5;
OUCS030A | 188m @ 0.24% Cu and 0.18g/t Au |
Including | 52 m @ 0.36% Cu and 0.22g/t Au |
OUCS030B | 220m @ 0.15% Cu and 0.16g/t Au |
Two shallow reverse circulation drill holes were drilled under OUCS030A with the deeper hole returning; | |
OURC032 | 168m @ 0.22% Cu and 0.25g/t Au from surface |
Including | 32m @ 0.31% Cu and 0.4g/t Au from 132m |
Current Drilling Program: Two diamond drill holes have been designed to test behind this intercept and along strike to the west (Figure 6).
Figure 6: Target 10 showing previous drilling and planned drilling 20246.
Nowie Porphyry – Porphyry Cu-Au Target
No work has previously been conducted at Nowie by Xanadu. However, multiple drill hole collars and trenches from previous explorers are visible at surface. Soil sampling at Nowie has defined a 500m long copper in soil anomaly greater than 0.1% Cu and 0.25g/t Au. Geological mapping has identified strong oxide copper at surface associated with porphyry veining.
Current Drilling Program: Three diamond drill holes have been designed to test beneath the 500m strike of surface mineralisation.
Stockwork Porphyry – Porphyry Cu-Au Target
Limited work has previously been conducted at Stockwork by Xanadu. However, like the Nowie propsect, multiple drill hole collars and trenches from previous explorers are visible at surface. Soil sampling at Stockwork has defined a 650m long copper in soil anomaly greater than 0.05% Cu. Geological mapping has identified strong oxide copper at surface associated with intense porphyry veining and a reinterpretation based on this mapping has suggested an alternative orientation to drill test for the system at Stockwork.
Current Drilling Program: Three shallow diamond drill holes have been designed to test this target.
About Red Mountain
The 100% owned Red Mountain project, located within the Dornogovi Province of southern Mongolia, approximately 420 kilometres southeast of Ulaanbaatar (Figures 1 and 2).
The project covers approximately 57 square kilometres in a frontier terrane with significant mineral endowment and has a granted 30-year mining licence. Red Mountain comprises a cluster of outcropping mineralising porphyry intrusions which display features typically found in the shallower parts of porphyry systems where narrow dykes and patchy mineralisation branch out above a mineralised stock. This underexplored porphyry district includes multiple porphyry copper-gold centres, mineralised tourmaline breccia pipes copper-gold/base metal skarns and high-grade epithermal gold veins.
Existing porphyry mineralisation at Red Mountain is hosted within narrow stockwork zones that have been focused around several narrow structurally controlled monzonite porphyry dykes. Emplacement of mineralisation appears to be controlled by intersection of northeast and north-northwest trending structures. The quartz-chalcopyrite-bornite stockwork mineralisation is associated with strong reddening albite-sericite-biotite-magnetite (potassic) alteration assemblage in the host lithology. The thin nature of the mineralising dykes, their irregular intrusion geometry, and the patchy distribution of stockwork mineralisation are all features typically found in the shallower parts of porphyry systems, where narrow dykes and patchy mineralisation branch out above a mineralised stock. Similar orebody geometries are found in the shallower parts of the Northparkes porphyry copper-gold (Cu-Au) deposits in NSW, where porphyry mineralisation has also been tightly focused along a controlling structure adjacent to a felsic pluton. Like Northparkes, there is the potential for further mineralisation along the main structures at Diorite Hill and Stockwork Hill, and the likelihood that mineralisation extends (and could amalgamate) at depth.
About Xanadu Mines
Xanadu is an ASX and TSX listed Exploration company operating in Mongolia. We give investors exposure to globally significant, large-scale copper-gold discoveries and low-cost inventory growth. Xanadu maintains a portfolio of exploration projects and remains one of the few junior explorers on the ASX or TSX who jointly control a globally significant copper-gold deposit in our flagship Kharmagtai project. Xanadu is the Operator of a 50-50 JV with Zijin Mining Group in Khuiten Metals Pte Ltd, which controls 76.5% of the Kharmagtai project.
For further information on Xanadu, please visit: www.xanadumines.com or contact:
Colin Moorhead Executive Chairman & Managing Director E: colin.moorhead@xanadumines.com P: +61 2 8280 7497 | |
This Announcement was authorised for release by Xanadu’s Board of Directors.
Appendix 1: Statements and Disclaimers
Competent Person Statement
The information in this announcement that relates to exploration results is based on information compiled by Dr Andrew Stewart, who is responsible for the exploration data, comments on exploration target sizes, QA/QC and geological interpretation and information. Dr Stewart, who is an employee of Xanadu and is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Geoscientists, has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity he is undertaking to qualify as the Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves and the National Instrument 43-101. Dr Stewart consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on this information in the form and context in which it appears.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this Announcement, including information as to the future financial or operating performance of Xanadu and its projects may also include statements which are ‘forward‐looking statements’ that may include, amongst other things, statements regarding targets, estimates and assumptions in respect of mineral reserves and mineral resources and anticipated grades and recovery rates, production and prices, recovery costs and results, capital expenditures and are or may be based on assumptions and estimates related to future technical, economic, market, political, social and other conditions. These ‘forward-looking statements’ are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Xanadu, are inherently subject to significant technical, business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results reflected in such forward‐looking statements.
Xanadu disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly or release any revisions to any forward‐looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, circumstances or results or otherwise after the date of this Announcement or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, other than required by the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and the Listing Rules of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). The words ‘believe’, ‘expect’, ‘anticipate’, ‘indicate’, ‘contemplate’, ‘target’, ‘plan’, ‘intends’, ‘continue’, ‘budget’, ‘estimate’, ‘may’, ‘will’, ‘schedule’ and similar expressions identify forward‐looking statements.
All ‘forward‐looking statements’ made in this Announcement are qualified by the foregoing cautionary statements. Investors are cautioned that ‘forward‐looking statements’ are not guarantee of future performance and accordingly investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on ‘forward‐looking statements’ due to the inherent uncertainty therein.
For further information please visit the Xanadu Mines’ Website at www.xanadumines.com.
Appendix 2: Red Mountain Table 1 (JORC Code, 2012)
Set out below is Section 1 and Section 2 of Table 1 under the JORC Code, 2012 for the Red Mountain project. Data provided by Xanadu. This Table 1 updates the JORC Table 1 disclosure dated 27 September 2022.7
1.1 JORC TABLE 1 - SECTION 1 - SAMPLING TECHNIQUES AND DATA
Criteria | Commentary |
Sampling techniques |
|
Drilling techniques |
|
Drill sample recovery |
|
Logging |
|
Sub -sampling techniques and sample preparation |
|
Quality of assay data and laboratory tests |
|
Verification of sampling and assaying |
|
Location of data points |
|
Data spacing and distribution |
|
Orientation of data in relation to geological structure |
|
Sample security |
|
Audits or reviews |
|
1.2 JORC TABLE 1 - SECTION 2 - REPORTING OF EXPLORATION RESULTS
(Criteria in this section apply to all succeeding sections).
Criteria | Commentary |
Mineral tenement and land tenure status |
|
Exploration done by other parties |
|
Geology |
|
Drill hole Information |
|
Data Aggregation methods |
|
Relationship between mineralisation on widths and intercept lengths |
|
Diagrams |
|
Balanced Reporting |
|
Other substantive exploration data |
|
Further Work |
|
1.3 JORC TABLE 1 - SECTION 3 ESTIMATION AND REPORTING OF MINERAL RESOURCES
Mineral Resources are not reported so this is not applicable to this report.
1.4 JORC TABLE 1 - SECTION 4 ESTIMATION AND REPORTING OF ORE RESERVES
Ore Reserves are not reported so this is not applicable to this report.
1 ASX Announcement – Oyut Ulaan Exploration Update, 28th June 2017, ASX Announcement – XAM Quarterly Report Q2 2017 Final
2 ASX Announcement – Oyut Ulaan Exploration Update, 28th June 2017, ASX Announcement – XAM Quarterly Report Q2 2017 Final
3 ASX Announcement – Oyut Ulaan Exploration Update – High Grade Massive Sulphide Mineralisation Intersected, 19 July 2017
4 ASX Announcement – Oyut Ulaan Exploration Update – High Grade Massive Sulphide Mineralisation Intersected, 19 July 2017
5 XAM Quarterly Activities Report, Quarter Ending 31 December 2016 and XAM Quarterly Activities Report, Quarter Ending 31 March 2017
6 XAM Quarterly Activities Report, Quarter Ending 31 December 2016 and XAM Quarterly Activities Report, Quarter Ending 31 March 2017
7 ASX/TSX Announcement 27 September 2022 – Broad, shallow gold zone at Red Mountain
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ab346f65-20aa-4c77-a3a2-c675bed03215
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a00507a3-2ea1-4e35-8824-10d7224137ea
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ac18cc1e-0f5c-4ecc-b5ce-08d2b2a3846a
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/918d6130-0a43-4c4a-acbd-450f982947d6
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7a3262d9-fd1d-4ccf-8699-355a23bead0e
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6c230dd0-e983-4ca5-a0fe-e9e47ebda5a6