Middle Island Resources has commenced its first round of drilling of the year with three deep diamond holes to test three iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) targets at its Barkly “superproject” in the Northern Territory.
The program consists of three holes with depths between 600 and 650 metres and is the first test of the Wilma, Pebbles and Dino IOCG deposits within the Company’s Georgina Project.
The Georgina property is part of the Middle Island Barkly Superproject, which covers an extensive, discrete exploration area totalling approximately 6,918 km², straddling the intersection of the Stuart and Barkly Highways at Tennant Creek in Australia’s Top End.
IOCG ore deposits are important, potentially valuable and often contain large concentrations of copper, gold and uranium ores hosted in iron oxide-dominated mineral assemblages that share a common genetic origin.
Following the initial evaluation of the entire project last year, Middle Island identified 55 initial targets. Following detailed ground gravity surveys of eight priority targets, six of these were further infilled to 100m x 100m instrument spacing before being elevated to prospecting status.
The company says its new targets are “well-defined density anomalies” that it interprets as being consistent with the density, size and geometry of known examples. All targets are “blind” in the sense that they do not outcrop and are buried beneath a younger surface layer and/or other post-mineralization rocks.
The commencement of drilling in the Georgina project area is an exciting development for the Barkly Copper-Gold Super Project. MDI is moving into the next phase of systematically testing the extensive drill target suite to unlock the potential of this significantly underexplored region.
Initial drill targets include three IOCG targets at Wilma, Pebbles and Dino in the Georgina area. Following this work, three sedimentary copper-zinc-lead-silver (SedH) targets will be tested at the Redrock and Tumbleweed deposits on the Barkly project east of Georgina.
Both the IOCG and SedH type priority objectives are accompanied by several lower priority options spread across all tenement housing groups that make up the Barkly superproject.
At the Barkly Project – east of Georgina – detailed work has focused on testing the SedH target concepts. Two of the targets exhibit linear dense horizons enclosing well-defined density anomalies – or “shoots” – which the Company says are consistent with the SedH exploration concept due to their structural stratigraphic nature and location near basin margin growth faults.
Middle Island was awarded the maximum amount of $300,000 in two co-funding grants under Round 17 of the Northern Territory Government’s Geophysics and Drilling Collaborations program – to test both the IOCG and SedH concepts. The program is funded under the Resourcing the Territory initiative and managed by the Northern Territory Geological Survey.
The Company announces that its next round of drilling will test the Bedrock SedH deposit at the Barkly Project, which has received the second co-financing commitment.
The market will now be watching Middle Island closely as drilling progresses on management’s interpreted targets, as testing a concept can be quite exciting.
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