Red Mountain Mining (ASX: RMX) has gained approval from the New South Wales mining regulator to start a reverse circulation drilling program at the Oaky Creek prospect within its Armidale antimony-gold project in the state’s north-east.
Drilling is expected to commence by mid-year to test a series of antimony-gold targets defined from comprehensive surface rock chip, conventional soil, and auger soil sampling completed over the past 12 months.
The program will comprise up to 32 holes to a maximum depth of 300 metres at the Oaky Creek South Main Grid antimony-arsenic auger soil anomaly, along with three targets defined by rock chip and auger soil sampling at Oaky Creek North.
Initial drill holes have been planned to depths of between 100m and 150m to establish continuity of mineralisation from surface while the maximum depth will allow for testing of down-dip extensions of mineralisation.
Orogenic antimony vein systems such as those present at Oaky Creek typically have significant depth extensions, with Larvotto Resources’ (ASX: LRV) nearby Hillgrove deposit known to extend over vertical depths of more than 1 kilometre.
Geophysical IP Survey
Red Mountain engaged Fender Geophysics to conduct an orientation induced polarisation (IP) survey at Oaky Creek South earlier this month.
The survey consisted of three 1.6 kilometre-long, 100m-spaced, northwest-southeast oriented lines and a 1.5km long southwest-northeast oriented cross line.
Fender used gradient array induced polarisation (GAIP) and dipole-dipole IP to detect resistivity and chargeability responses for steeply-dipping narrow structures and the data is expected to assist in drill testing for deeper mineralisation at the prospect.
Red Mountain said it would also consider completing a more comprehensive IP survey over the entire Oaky Creek prospect to map out further antimony mineralisation that does not currently have a surface geochemical expression.
Fender’s Hillgrove Work
Fender has previously conducted GAIP work at Hillgrove to identify extensions to known antimony-gold mineralisation, and as a targeting tool for previously unrecognised parallel mineralised veins.
The surveys detected subtle conductivity and resistivity variations associated with narrow (1m) vein-style mineralisation and broader (up to 20m) silica-sericite alteration envelopes which typically surround high-grade veins.
Red Mountain’s Armidale project sits in the Southern New England Orogen (SNEO) west of Hillgrove, which is Australia’s largest antimony deposit and the eighth-largest of its kind globally.
The SNEO is recognised as the country’s premier antimony province where mineralisation occurs in hydrothermal quartz veins, breccias, and stockworks, often with associated gold and tungsten.
Oaky Creek is Armidale’s most advanced prospect and one of several known orogenic antimony-gold occurrences within the tenement.
