ACDC Metals (ASX: ADC) has confirmed that aircore drilling across its heavy mineral sands and rare earth element projects in western Victoria is progressing to plan, with first-pass roadside drilling at the early-stage Watchem and Goschen Central projects already completed.
Drilling designed to build on exploration conducted in December and will enable calculation of resource estimates for release during the second half of this year.
The company has also finished a program of closer-spaced infill work across 64 holes at Goschen Central following positive visual correlations against historical assays, with samples sent to a Perth laboratory for assaying.
Infill drilling aimed to provide greater geological confidence for resource estimation and facilitate the collection of samples for expanded metallurgical testwork by Queensland-based Mineral Technologies.
Material collected will be processed at Mineral Technologies’ pilot plant to produce a monazite concentrate which will then be used for rare earth elements’ process development utilising ACDC’s proprietary medallion monazite process.
Drilling since listing
Since listing on the Australian Stock Exchange in January, ACDC has completed more than 10,000m of drilling across all of its projects and collected samples for resource and metallurgical development prior to calculating a maiden resource.
The company is now preparing to drill the nearby Douglas project where 81 aircore holes for 4050m will aim to validate the location and style of mineralisation identified in historical drilling.
Drilling will be carried out on roadside verges at nominal 250m spacings.
Tighter spacing will be implemented at 100m in the event that high grades are visually logged.
Delivering objectives
Chief executive officer Tom Davidson said the company was on track to delivering on the objectives contained in its prospectus.
“Our aircore program is on track and our logistics chain is working well, with samples getting to the labs as soon as possible,” he said.
“Following drilling at Douglas, we will have a complete view of our projects and their mineralisation potential, allowing us to advance metallurgical testwork, project development and the planning of further exploration programs.”
ACDC holds the Goschen Central, Douglas and Watchem mineral sand projects on the edge of the Murray Basin in western Victoria where past drilling has demonstrated zircon, leucoxene, rutile and monazite mineralisation.
