QMines: High-Grade Copper & Gold Results from Maiden Drilling Program Mt Chalmers Copper Project
HIGHLIGHTS
- Maiden diamond drilling program now complete at Mt Chalmers Copper Project;
- 11 holes drilled for 1,587 metres validating historical results;
- Outstanding high-grade copper, gold and silver results returned with bonanza grades of up to 13.4% Cu, 6.11g/t Au and 31g/t Ag from drillhole MCDD007;
- Significant Intersections Include: [i]
- 10.8m @ 2.08% Cu, 2.97g/t Au and 55g/t Ag from 54.2 metres
- 10.6m @ 2.06% Cu, 0.43g/t Au and 3g/t Ag from 133.8 metres
- 38.05m @ 1.55% Cu, 1.05g/t Au and 3g/t Ag from 132.6 metres
- 9.5m @ 1.91% Cu, 1.02g/t Au and 5g/t Ag within a broader intersection of 40.3m @ 0.81% Cu, 0.41g/t Au and 2g/t Ag from 48.3 metres
- 6m @ 3.55% Cu, 1.03g/t Au and 5g/t Ag from 141.8 metres to EOH
- Results from 7 holes received with results from 3 holes pending; and
- Maiden 3,000 metre RC drilling program at Mt Chalmers now commenced.
19 May 2021 - QMines Limited (ASX:QML)(FSE:81B) (QMines or Company) is pleased to provide the following results from the maiden diamond drilling program from its Mt Chalmers Copper Project, located 17km north-east of Rockhampton in Queensland (Figure 1).
Mt Chalmers has not been drilled since 1995 and the recent drill program has delivered numerous high-grade intersections with bonanza grades including 0.75m @ 13.4% Cu, 6.11g/t Au and 31g/t Ag from 132.6m downhole from drillhole MCDD007 drilled during this diamond program.
MANAGEMENT COMMENT
Commenting on the results, QMines Chairman Andrew Sparke, said:
“Some outstanding results from our maiden diamond drilling program clearly validate the Company’s view that Mt Chalmers has significant development potential. Mt Chalmers has been dormant for over 25 years with QMines being the first Company to drill a hole since 1995. Our technical team has delivered this diamond program in a very quick timeframe. The company’s maiden RC drilling program has also now commenced and we expect to continue delivering results that will lead to a resource update in the near future.”
All significant results from the Mt Chalmers diamond drilling program can be seen in Table 1 and diamond drill hole collar locations from the recently completed program can be seen in Figure 2.
Figure 1: Location of the Mt Chalmers Copper Project, granted tenure, geology and related infrastructure.
Figure 2: Diamond drill hole collar locations, Mt Chalmers copper project, drilled Feb-March 2021.
QMines has completed an eleven-hole diamond drilling program for 1,587 metres (Figure 2), which commenced in Q1 2021 at the Mt Chalmers Copper Project. DDH1 Drilling (Figure 3) completed the drilling program in six weeks with Company staff cutting core from seven of the holes whilst onsite during the program. Mineralised intersections were sent to ALS Laboratories in Brisbane for assaying. The remaining three holes of the eleven-hole program are currently being cut for despatch to the ALS assay lab, with results from these remaining holes to be announced to the market when they become available.
Figure 3: DDH1 Drilling multipurpose UDR 650 rig onsite at the Mt Chalmers Copper Project.
The maiden diamond drilling program was designed to validate historical drilling data compiled and digitised by the Company over the previous six months since acquiring the project. All diamond drill holes have been drilled within the current resource shell envelope with collar locations seen draped over the resource shell wireframe on the plan view shown in Figure 4.
Long section A-A’ (Figure 5) displays the Digital Terrain Model (DTM), resource shell wireframe, drill collar locations and significant mineralised intersections assayed by the Company.
Drill hole MCDDH004 was abandoned before reaching target depth due to the drill string intersecting a void with the rig losing water return. MCDDH004 was re-drilled twenty metres to the south as DDH005 and reached the planned target depth. Drill hole MCDDH009 ended in mineralisation at the end of hole (EOH) with the drill hole not reaching target depth due to intersecting a void and losing water return.
Sections B-B’ and C-C’ (Figure 6) illustrate DDH007 and DDH008 significant intersections from the recent diamond drilling program and relevant historical drill holes in cross sectional view.
GEOLOGY
The geology of the Mt Chalmers area is relatively well-known with the Mt Chalmers mineralisation being identified as a well-preserved, volcanic-hosted massive-sulphide (“VHMS”) mineralised system containing copper, gold, zinc, lead and silver. Mineral deposits of this type are deemed syngenetic and formed contemporaneously on, or in close proximity to, the sea floor during the deposition of the host-rock units. The mineralisation is believed to have been deposited from hydrothermal fumaroles, or direct chemical sediments or sub-seafloor massive sulphide replacement zones and layers, together with footwall disseminated and stringer zones within the host volcanic and sedimentary rocks.
The mineralisation system at Mt Chalmers displays some similarities to Australian VHMS deposits of Cambro-Ordovician and Silurian age, however closer comparison can be made with the Kuroko-style of VHMS of Tertiary age in Japan (Taube 1990).
The Mt Chalmers mineralisation is situated in the early Permian Berserker Beds, which occur in the fault-bounded Berserker Graben, a structure 120km long and up to 15km wide. The graben is juxtaposed along its eastern margin with the Tungamull Fault and in the west with the Parkhurst Fault (Figure 1). The Berserker Beds lithologies consist mainly of acid to intermediate volcanics, tuffaceous sandstone and mudstone (Kirkegaard and Murray 1970). The strata are generally flat lying, but locally folded. Most common lithotypes are rhyolitic and andesitic lavas, ignimbrites or ash flow tuffs with numerous breccia zones.
Rocks of the Berserker Beds are weakly metamorphosed and, for the most part, have not been subjected to major tectonic disturbance, except for normal faults and localised high strain zones that are interpreted to have developed during and after basin formation.
Figure 4: Mt Chalmers resource shell wireframe with sections A-A’, B-B’ and C-C’ locations and drill collars.
Figure 5: Mt Chalmers long section AA showing new diamond drill hole collars, historical twinned collars,
resource shell wireframe and significant intersections.
Figure 6: Cross sections B-B’ and C-C significant assayed intersections, drill collars and resource shell from the recent
Mt Chalmers diamond drilling program.
Recent geological work by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines places volcanic and sedimentary units of the prospective Chalmers Formation, the host unit to the Mt Chalmers copper-gold mineralisation, at the base of the Berserker Beds. The Ellrott Rhyolite and the Sleipner Member andesite were emplaced synchronously with the deposition of the Chalmers Formation.
Late Permian to early Triassic gabbroic and dioritic intrusions occur parallel to the Parkhurst Fault. Smaller dolerite sills and dykes are common throughout the region and in the Berserker Beds.
DISCUSSION
Kuroko style of mineralisation usually occurs as clusters of mineralised zones, which appears to be the case for Mt Chalmers, which may be only one of several deposits. In addition, the interpreted structural dislocation for the mine area may have caused the break-up of larger mineral bodies structurally dispersing lenses within the general Mt Chalmers area such as the Woods Shaft and Botos exploration targets which at this early stage display geochemical and lithological similarities to Mt Chalmers.
QMines will expand exploration activity within the tenement package at Mt Chalmers applying systematic exploration methods designed to locate further undiscovered VHMS mineralisation.
Figure 7: Chalcopyrite vein in intensely chlorite and silica altered unit with zones of strong brecciation and disseminated microsulphide throughout groundmass, MCDDH008.
ONGOING EXPLORATION ACTIVITY
- Exploration drilling at Mt Chalmers has now commenced with a 3,000 metre RC program being undertaken in and around the Mt Chalmers Copper Project. RC drilling will be ongoing for several weeks with all drilling designed to further validate historical drillhole data and as infill drilling to be used to expand and upgrade the current resource*.
- The Company has engaged Planetary Geophysics to manage and deliver an extensive 1,800 line kilometre REP-TEM airborne EM survey over the Mt Chalmers area extending both to the north-west and south-east of the Mt Chalmers mine covering an extensive area of the Berserker Beds. This survey is scheduled to commence in Q3-2021 and will be used in conjunction with all current data sets to define future potential VHMS drill targets.
- Soil testing will continue and be expanded over much larger areas with extensive soil grids utilising Niton portable handheld PAS XRF which delivers real time base metal suite analysis.
*The current resource for the Mt Chalmers Copper Project is located on the QMines website. It can be found in the recent QMines Prospectus in ANNEXURE A – Independent Geologists Report.
https://qmines.com.au/prospectus-2/
COMPETENT PERSON’S STATEMENT
The information in this announcement that relates to exploration results is based on information compiled by Hamish Grant a competent person who is a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG). Hamish Grant is employed by QMines Limited as Project Geologist. Hamish has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposits under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 edition of the JORC Code. Hamish Grant consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the matters based on his work in the form and context in which it appears.
Table 1: Significant intercepts Mt Chalmers diamond core program March 2021*
*Note MGA 94_56
- In reported exploration results, length weighted averages are used for any non-uniform intersection sample lengths. Length weighted average is (sum product of interval x corresponding interval assay grade), divided by sum of interval lengths and rounded to two decimal points.
- No top cuts have been considered in reporting of grade results, nor was it deemed necessary for the reporting of significant intersections.
- No metal equivalent values have been reported.
*Downhole intersections contained in this announcement in the vertical drill holes reported, represent true widths of the assayed mineralised intersections contained in Table 1.
*Downhole intersections contained in the announcement in drill holes at 60-degree dip represent approximately 87% true width of the assayed mineralised intersections contained in Table 1.
This announcement has been approved and authorised by the Board of QMines Limited.
ABOUT QMINES
QMines Limited (ASX: QML) (FSE:81V) is a Queensland based copper and gold exploration and development company. QMines is seeking to become Australia’s first zero carbon copper and gold developer. The Company owns 100% of four advanced projects with a total area of 978km². The Company’s flagship project, Mt Chalmers, is located 17km North East of Rockhampton. The Project is a high-grade historic mine that produced 1.2Mt @ 3.6g/t Au, 2.0% Cu and 19g/t Ag between 1898-1982. Mt Chalmers has an Inferred Resource (JORC 2012) of 3.9Mt @ 1.15% Cu, 0.81g/t Au and 8.4g/t Ag.1,2
QMines’ objective is to grow its resource base, consolidate assets in the region and assess commercialisation options. The Company has commenced an aggressive exploration program providing shareholders with significant leverage to a growing resource and exploration success.
Telephone (AUS): +61 (2) 8915 6241
Telefon (EUR): +49 (0)831 930 652 43
Daniel Lanskey, Managing Director Email: [email protected]
Peter Nesvada, Investor Relations Australia Email: [email protected]
Investor Relations, Deutschland Email: [email protected]
Notes:
¹ Refer to the Independent Geologist Report commencing on page 84 of the Prospectus dated 16 March 2021 available at https://qmines.com.au/prospectus-2/
2 The Company confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in the Prospectus dated 16 March 2021 and that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the resources estimates in the Prospectus dated 16 March 2021 continue to apply and have not materially changed.
DIRECTORS
ANDREW SPARKE
Executive Chairman
DANIEL LANSKEY
Managing Director
ELISSA HANSEN
Non-Executive Director & Company Secretary
QMINES LIMITED
ACN 643 212 104
SHARES ON ISSUE
110,528,415 Fully Paid Ordinary
UNLISTED OPTIONS
4,200,000 exercisable at $0.375 expiring on 6 May 2024
ASX CODE
QML
QMINES LIMITED
Registered Address: Suite J, 34 Suakin Drive, Mosman NSW 2088, Australia
Website: www.qmines.com.au
Please follow the link to view entire original news (incl. JORC-Code):
[i] Silver results in this announcement have been rounded to the nearest whole number.
