Tennant Minerals - Bonanza Bluebird Gold Results Including 5.7m @ 49.3 g/t Au
- Latest results part of 24m @ 0.66% Cu, 11.8 g/t Au intersection, 40m west of previous spectacular drill hit - 30.5m @ 6.2% Cu, 6.8 g/t Au1
- New results include bonanza gold drill-hits from diamond drill hole BBDD0021 at the Bluebird copper-gold discovery, 40km east of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory:
24m @ 0.66% Cu and 11.8 g/t Au from 161m (downhole),including 5.7m @ 0.74% Cu and 49.3 g/t Au and from 161m, and,
including 4.97m @ 1.06% Cu and 23.9 g/t Au and from 165.66m.
- Latest results have extended the thick, dilational, high-grade gold with copper zone at Bluebird a further 40m to the west of the previous spectacular intersection in BBDD0018 of 30.5m @ 6.2% Cu, 6.8 g/t Au including 17.8m @ 5.2% Cu, 11.5 g/t Au1.
- The Bluebird discovery is now over 240m strike-length, extends to over 250m below surface and remains open in all directions.
- Two new, fully-funded, follow-up drilling programs are planned to commence immediately following receipt of final results from the latest drilling. These new programs will aim to:
Extend the recently identified, shallow-plunging high-grade gold-copper zone and test below 250m depth to expand the resource potential of the Bluebird discovery, and, Following additional Induce Polarisation (IP) geophysical lines, refine and test other priority targets within the 2.5km Bluebird-Perseverance Corridor, where recent drilling intersected mineralised structures above ironstone hosted copper-gold targets.
Tennant Minerals Chairman Matthew Driscoll commented:
“The bonanza gold grades in this latest drill intersection at Bluebird have demonstrated continuity of the high-grade gold zone, which is completely open at shallow depth to the west and east.
“With every new hole we drill, the Bluebird discovery is looking more and more like a repeat of some of the best known high-grade copper-gold orebodies in the Tennant Creek Mineral Field, including the Peko deposit, only 20km west of Bluebird, which produced 3.7 million tonnes5 grading 4 percent copper and 3.5 grams per tonne gold from the 1930s to the 1970s.
“Our planning is already well advanced for follow-up drilling to test the immediate extensions of this bonanza gold zone, along with the multiple other exciting Bluebird look-alikes we have identified through our geophysical programs along the 2.5km Bluebird-Perseverance Corridor.
“These targets will be further refined by new IP programs as we look to define additional high-grade resources to underpin the development of this rich new copper-gold discovery.”
Tennant Minerals Ltd (ASX:TMS) is very pleased to announce bonanza gold results from the latest drilling at Bluebird copper-gold discovery, on the Company’s 100% owned Barkly Project, 40km east of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory (see longitudinal projection Figure 1 and cross section Figure 2, below).
The new results include exceptionally high-grade gold with copper intersections in BBDD0021 (Table 1):
- 24m @ 0.66% Cu, 11.8 g/t Au from 161m (downhole),
incl. 5.7m @ 0.74% Cu, 49.3 g/t Au and from 161m, and, incl. 4.97m @ 1.06% Cu, 23.9 g/t Au from 165.66m and 3.94m @ 1.37% Cu from 179.3m.
Figure 1: Bluebird discovery, longitudinal projection showing the latest bonanza gold intersection in BBDD0021
Figure 2: Bluebird cross section 448,280mE showing gold intersections in BBDD0021 and intense Cu in BBDD0025.
The new gold results in BBDD0021 occur at a similar depth to the spectacular intersections in BBDD0018 of 30.5m @ 6.2% Cu, 6.8 g/t Au including 17.8m @ 5.2% Cu, 11.5 g/t Au1 from 153.6m and BBDD0012, which produced 63.0m @ 2.1% Cu, 4.6 g/t Au2 from 153.0m including 27.55m @ 3.6% Cu, 10.0 g/t Au2.
These thick and high-grade copper-gold intersections are associated with a shallow easterly-plunging dilational zone where the mineralised structure at Bluebird has intersected an anticlinal closure. The high-grade zone remains completely open to the east and west - where it projects to shallower depth (see Figure 1). The previous intersections within this more than 240m strike-length zone include, from west to east:
- BBDD0018: 30.5m @ 6.2% Cu, 6.8 g/t Au from 153.6m incl. 17.8m @ 5.2% Cu, 11.5 g/t Au1
- BBDD0012: 63m @ 2.1% Cu, 4.6 g/t Au from 153m incl. 27.55m @ 3.6% Cu, 10.0 g/t Au2
- BBDD0013: 40m @ 2.6% Cu, 1.3 g/t Au from 131m incl. 3m @ 1.8% Cu, 13.2 g/t Au3
- BBDD0007: 50m @ 2.7% Cu, 0.52 g/t Au from 158m incl. 24m @ 5.0% Cu, 1.0 g/t Au4
- BBDD-2: 20m @ 0.61% Cu 8.17 g/t Au from 157m incl. 4m @ 0.66% Cu, 37.9 g/t Au4
The discovery of this high-grade gold with copper zone opens-up potential for new drilling to continue delivering outstanding results at shallower depth to the west, and also to the east (Figure 1).
The intersection of high-grade gold in several holes at Bluebird underlines the potential of the Bluebird discovery to rival the Peko deposit, 20km west of Bluebird, which produced 3.7mt @ 4% Cu & 3.5 g/t Au5.
Other new results include from two strongly copper mineralised zones in diamond hole BBDD0022, down-plunge from the main or eastern zone at Bluebird (see Figure 1), including the following intersections:
- 8.38m @ 1.61% Cu, 0.13 g/t Au from 210.21m (downhole),
incl. 2.84m @ 3.64% Cu, 0.12 g/t Au from 211.62m, and,- 12.8m @ 1.24% Cu from 244.2m incl. 4.5m @ 3.42% Cu, 0.16 g/t Au.
The results in BBDD0022 indicate continuity of the mineralisation at depth towards the previous intersection in BBDD0015 of 17.8m @ 3.7% Cu, 0.34g/t Au from 277m including 9.5m @ 6.0% Cu3 which is open below 250m depth from surface.
Results are pending from a further four completed holes which tested western extensions of Bluebird, as well as at depth (see Figure 1 for pierce-point locations and Appendix 1 for descriptions of mineralisation).
The results pending include from BBDD0025, drilled below BBDD0021 (see cross section, Figure 2), which intersected a 25m zone of hematite alteration and brecciation from 199m downhole, including 15m of intense copper mineralisation with visible sulphides (predominantly chalcocite – see Appendix 1)6.
Following receipt of final results, further drilling will test immediate extensions of the thick and high-grade gold and copper zone to both the east and projecting to shallower depth to the west. Drilling is also planned to test depth extensions and a repeat of the thick dilational copper-gold zone as the mineralised structure is projected to intersect the next anticlinal closure at depth (see Figure 1).
OTHER PRIORITY TARGETS TO BE TESTED IN BLUEBIRD-PERSEVERANCE CORRIDOR
The results of an induced polarisation (IP) program carried out at Bluebird revealed a distinct low-resistivity (high conductivity) response, corresponding with the Bluebird mineralisation on cross section 448,360mE (see Figure 3). This confirmed that the mineralised structure at Bluebird can be detected using IP geophysics. This section includes the BBDD0012 intersection of 63m @ 2.1% Cu, 4.6g/t Au2 and the IP low-resistivity zone shows potential continuity below 400m depth.
Figure 3: Bluebird cross section 448,360mE on IP resistivity (reverse colour stretch).
Further dipole-dipole IP traverses, in combination with detailed drone magnetics and detailed gravity modelling, has identified six priority targets for the discovery of buried high-grade copper-gold deposits within the 2.5km Bluebird-Perseverance Corridor7 (see Figure 4).
Three priority, coincident magnetic, gravity and IP low-resistivity targets were selected for initial drill-testing, including Perseverance North, Perseverance and Bluebird West8 (Figure 4). A multi-purpose (DDH1) rig was utilised to complete eight reverse-circulation (RC) holes with six diamond tails into these target zones, for a total of 1981.1m (see Table 3 for drilling details, results pending).
Figure 4: Bluebird-Perseverance zone bouguer gravity image with structures & gravity-magnetic-IP resistivity targets.
The initial drill testing of these priority targets intersected mineralised and brecciated fault structures in all three target areas8. The potentially mineralised structures are interpreted to lie above iron-stone hosted copper-gold targets previously identified by inversion modelling of gravity and magnetics, as well as associated with IP low resistivity geophysical anomalies. Results are pending for these recently completed RC and diamond drill holes.
Further dipole-dipole IP traverses will now be carried out both east and west of Bluebird and along strike from the other priority targets in the Bluebird-Perseverance Corridor (Figure 4).
Following receipt of results from the initial drill testing of the other priority targets, and the results of the follow-up IP program, further drilling will be carried out to test the ironstone hosted copper-gold targets.
The ability to detect ironstone hosted copper-gold deposits using a combination of detailed gravity, magnetics and dipole-dipole IP geophysics represents a breakthrough that offers potential to directly drill target new high-grade copper-gold discoveries within the Bluebird-Perseverance Corridor.
The drilling programs planned at both Bluebird and the other priority targets will target multiple, multi-million tonne, high-grade copper-gold deposits within the Barkly Project.
The ultimate objective is to discover and define substantial high-grade copper-gold mineral resources at Barkly, sufficient to support the development of a new, stand-alone, copper-gold project.
ABOUT THE BARKLY PROJECT AND THE BLUEBIRD COPPER-GOLD DISCOVERY
The high-grade Bluebird copper-gold discovery is located within the Company’s 100% owned Barkly Project, at the eastern edge of the richly endowed Tennant Creek Mineral Field, which produced over 5.5Moz of gold and over 700kt of copper from 1934 to 20055 (see Figure 5 below).
Figure 5: Location of the Barkly Project and major historical mines in the Tennant Creek Mineral Field
Bluebird is a greenfields discovery with no previous mining apart from the historical Perseverance Mine, located 1.5km west of Bluebird, which was a small high-grade gold producer mined to only shallow depth.
The mineralisation intersected at Bluebird is typical of the high-grade copper-gold orebodies in the Tennant Creek Mineral Field. The high-grade mineralisation is associated with intense hematite alteration and brecciation with quartz veining inside a halo of chlorite alteration and variable hematite development. The upper parts of the shoots include secondary malachite (copper-carbonate) as well as native copper, which transitions to primary sulphide mineralisation at depth e.g. chalcocite, bornite and chalcopyrite.
The latest diamond drilling intersections in the Stage 2 drilling program (see Figure 1) have extended the thick high-grade dilational zone of mineralisation at Bluebird to the west of the previous, Stage 1, high-grade copper-gold intersections announced by the Company2,3,4.
The Stage 2 drilling program at Bluebird has built on the very successful Stage 1 program, with the addition of the recently announced high-gold grades to go along with the thick copper-gold intersections previously announced2,3,4.
Drilling has also tested priority targets for repeats of the Bluebird discovery within the 2.5km Bluebird-Perseverance Corridor, based on gravity, magnetics and IP geophysics. This drilling intersected mineralised structures above ironstone-hosted copper-gold targets which will be further drill-tested during the next program8 (see Figure 4).
A total of 16 holes for 4,321m were drilled in the latest Barkly Project drilling program at both Bluebird and the other priority targets in the Bluebird-Perseverance Corridor (see Tables 2 and 3). Results are pending from a further four completed holes at Bluebird and eight Bluebird-Perseverance Corridor holes.
Table 1 below includes all significant intersections in BBDD0021, BBDD0022 and BBDD0019 (Part 1):
Hole #
From
To
Interval
Cu%
Au g/t
Ag g/t
Bi %
Co ppm
Fe %
Cut-off
BBDD0021
161.00
185.00
24.00
0.66
11.8
2.0
0.18
78.2
30.5
0.5% Cu
incl.
160.00
169.00
9.00
0.55
31.3
4.7
0.46
147.5
33.2
0.1 g/t Au
incl.
161.00
166.70
5.70
0.74
49.3
7.7
0.72
169.4
32.9
2.0 g/t Au
incl.
163.40
166.70
3.30
1.08
80.7
13.0
1.11
121.1
37.2
10 g/t Au
& incl.
165.66
170.63
4.97
1.06
23.9
2.3
0.45
98.0
36.5
0.8% Cu
& incl.
179.30
183.24
3.94
1.37
0.02
1.2
0.01
51.9
29.5
0.8% Cu
BBDD0022
210.21
218.59
8.38
1.61
0.13
0.61
0.04
142.2
13.9
0.5% Cu
incl.
211.62
214.46
2.84
3.64
0.12
1.8
0.08
215.6
20.8
0.8% Cu
BBDD0022
244.20
257.00
12.80
1.24
0.06
0.00
0.00
51.6
26.7
0.5% Cu
incl.
251.20
255.70
4.50
3.42
0.16
0.00
0.01
153.0
82.7
0.5% Cu
BBDD0019
207.05
208.00
0.95
3.15
1.43
1.2
0.01
224.1
21.0
0.1% Cu
incl.
207.05
207.60
0.55
5.31
2.45
2.0
0.01
286.0
26.4
3.0% Cu
Table 2: Bluebird Stage 2 drillhole details
Hole #
Dip°
Az Grid°
GRID_E
GRID_N
RL
Mud (m)
DDC (m)
Depth (m)
BBDD0018
-65
0
448,320
7,827,050
332
62.7
184.1
246.8
BBDD0019
-65
0
448,360
7,826,990,052
332
41.4
406.3
447.7
BBDD0020
-65
0
448,340
7,826,960,072
332
54.9
77.8
132.7
BBDD0021
-65
0
448,280
7,827,050
332
80.0
211.5
291.5
BBDD0022
-60
0
448,360
7,826,998,010
332
40.1
336.4
376.5
BBDD0023
-65
0
448,240
7,827,050
332
81.0
174.0
255.0
BBDD0024
-65
0
448,240
7,827,030
332
47.8
204.7
252.7
BBDD0025
-65
0
448,280
7,827,030
332
50.8
256.1
306.9
Total
458.7
1,881.1
2,339.8
Table 3: Bluebird – Perseverance Priority Targets drillhole details
Hole #
Dip°
Az Grid°
GRID_E
GRID_N
RL
RC (m)
DDC (m)
Depth (m)
Perseverance North
PNDD0001
-65
0
447,000
7,827,450
330
91.1
149.5
240.6
PNDD0002
-65
0
447,000
7,827,400
330
179.9
148.7
328.6
PNDD0003
-65
0
447,118
7,827,507
330
119.8
120.6
240.4
PNDD0004
-65
0
447,118
7,827,448
330
179.8
129.7
309.5
Bluebird West
BWDD0001
-65
0
447,899
7,827,253
335
120.1
195.4
315.5
BWRC0001
-65
0
447,902
7,827,191
335
186.0
nil
186.0
Perseverance
PVDD0001
-65
0
447,398
7,827,043
335
60.5
180
240.5
PVRC0001
-55
0
447,398
7,827,045
335
120.0
nil
120.0
Total
1057.2
923.9
1981.1
Appendix 1 includes descriptions of the geology and mineralisation intersected in selected holes from the bluebird diamond drilling program and Appendix 2 includes JORC Table 1, Sections 1 and 2.
REFERENCES
1 08/02/2023. Tennant Minerals (ASX.TMS): “Spectacular Bluebird Drill-Hit 30.5m @ 6.2% Cu, 6.8 g/t Au”.
2 17/08/2022. Tennant Minerals (ASX. TMS): “Bonanza 63m@ 2.1% Copper and 4.6 g/t Gold Intersection at Bluebird”.
3 07/09/2022. Tennant Minerals (ASX. TMS): “Up to 54.5% Cu in Massive Sulphides at Bluebird”.
4 08 March 2022. Tennant Minerals (ASX. TMS): “Spectacular 50m @ 2.70% copper intersection at Bluebird”.
5 Portergeo.com.au/database/mineinfo. Tennant Creek - Gecko, Warrego, White Devil, Nobles Nob, Juno, Peko, Argo.
6 14/12/2022. Tennant Minerals (ASX.TMS): “Intensely Copper-Mineralised Drill-Hits Extend Bluebird”.
7 25/08/2022. Tennant Minerals (ASX. TMS): “Standout Geophysical Targets to Replicate Bluebird Cu-Au Discovery”.
8 24/01/2023. Tennant Minerals (ASX. TMS): “Mineralised Structures at Key Copper-Gold Targets”.
For enquiries please contact:
Matthew Driscoll
Non-Executive Chairman
M: +61 (0) 417 041 725
Stuart Usher
Company Secretary
M: +61 (0) 499 900 044
Andrew Rowell
White Noise Communications
M: +61 (0) 400 466 226