en.Wedoany.com Reported - Red Mountain Mining has received approval from the New South Wales state resources regulator to conduct drilling operations at the Oakey Creek antimony prospect within the Armidale project, aimed at testing antimony targets. The drilling program includes up to 32 boreholes, with a maximum depth of 300 meters, utilizing reverse circulation technology.
This drilling will test the priority targets identified by Red Mountain Mining through extensive surface geochemical sampling at the Armidale Antimony-Gold Project. Previously, the company completed an induced polarization (IP) survey at South Oakey Creek, employing gradient array and dipole-dipole techniques. The survey, conducted by Fender Geophysics, was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of both techniques in detecting alteration and antimony-mineralized structures. The survey results will be used to assist in drill hole positioning, testing for potential deep mineralization at South Oakey Creek.
Results from conventional and auger soil sampling and rock chip analysis at Oakey Creek have shown antimony grades up to 39.3% and gold grades up to 1.09ppm, indicating the presence of an orogenic antimony-gold vein system with a strike length of approximately 3 kilometers. This characteristic is similar to Larvotto Resources' (ASX:LRV) Hillgrove project, which is the largest known antimony deposit in Australia.
Over the past 12 months, through comprehensive surface rock chip, conventional soil, and auger soil sampling, the company has identified a series of attractive orogenic antimony-gold targets. Drilling will focus on testing a coherent antimony-arsenic soil anomaly measuring 300 meters long and 30 meters wide within the main South Oakey Creek grid, as well as three targets identified through rock chip and auger sampling at North Oakey Creek. While initial drill hole depths are expected to be between 100 and 150 meters, the maximum permitted depth is 300 meters, allowing for further testing of mineralization at depth should initial results prove encouraging. Orogenic antimony vein systems typically have significant depth extent, with LRV's Hillgrove deposit known to extend vertically for over 1 kilometer.
Drilling is expected to commence towards the end of the June 2026 quarter. Meanwhile, the IP survey was undertaken following observations that the gradient array technique had identified extensions to known orogenic antimony-gold mineralization at Hillgrove. The company noted that while the dipole-dipole technique is generally more effective at detecting resistivity and chargeability responses for steeply dipping, narrow structures like orogenic antimony veins, its longer recording times significantly increase costs, particularly for large-scale surveys. Both techniques are being trialed to maximize the potential for directly detecting mineralization.
Red Mountain Mining's three northwest-southeast oriented IP survey lines cross the coherent antimony-arsenic auger soil anomaly of the main South Oakey Creek grid and extend into the mineralized zone of the South Oakey Creek extraction area. Depending on the results, the company may consider conducting a more comprehensive IP survey over the entire Oakey Creek prospect, potentially delineating additional antimony mineralization lacking surface geochemical expression.
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