Drill rig set up at the Picker Prospect.
Silver Mines Ltd has kicked off diamond drilling at the Elsienora Project, adjacent to the company’s Tuena Gold Project, 80 kilometres south of the city of Orange in New South Wales.
Elsienora was acquired as an exploration licence application in 2023 and now forms part of the broader Tuena Gold Project portfolio.
It was previously owned by Alkane Resources Ltd, Balamara Resources and various other companies from the 1970s.
McPhillamys-style mineralisation
Silver Mines initially hopes to target the Picker, Barite and Elsienora prospects, which are all expected to host McPhillamys-style gold mineralisation, with an initial program of around 1,700-metres of diamond drilling for gold and silver.
Historical drill results at the Picker and Elsienora prospects have been promising, including:
- 18 metres @ 0.44g/t gold, 5.4g/t silver and 0.18% barium from 27 metres;
- 8 metres @ 0.55g/t gold, 23.2g/t silver and 0.24% barium from 26 metres; and
- 21 metres @ 0.89g/t gold from 207 metres.
Silver Mines CEO Jo Battershill said: “We are very excited to be commencing a diamond drilling program at this highly prospective gold project.
“Historical results from previous explorers have firmed up the prospectivity and conceptualised correctly the potential for McPhillamys Style gold mineralisation.
“In our view, however, the historical drilling didn’t fully test the concept and our initial diamond drilling program should fill in some of those knowledge gaps.
Vastly underexplored
“The extensive, and highly prospective Godolphin-Copperhannia Fault corridor remains vastly underexplored, and Silver Mines holds a commanding exploration package across this structure.
“We look forward to updating the market as the program progresses.”
Past exploration has included diamond and reverse circulation (RC) drilling, geophysical surveys and various surface geochemical surveys. The project has been considered highly prospective for both orogenic gold and volcanogenic massive sulphide mineralisation styles.
Earlier owner Alkane considered the project prospective for a third mineralisation style being sulphide-rich disseminated gold-silver-barium (epigenetic VMS style) which is analogous to the McPhillamys Gold Deposit near Blayney.
A review of historical data by the company shows that the project has significant underexplored potential for gold and silver mineralisation, for example: the Picker Prospect representing a McPhillamys style target worthy of drill testing.
Read More: Silver Mines Ltd sets the drills turning at Tuena Gold Project near Orange in