Exco Resources is set to expand exploration activities at the Northwest Queensland package with a data acquisition phase advancing.
Mr Geoff Laing mew MD of Exco Resources said that Exco’s focus is on exploration in Queensland to maintain the company’s self sustaining position and replace cash flow from the White Dam gold project. For me the focus is very much on exploration in Queensland.
Mr Laing said that “We’ll certainly be looking to replace the cash flows that White Dam has brought in for the last 18 months by potentially acquiring a reasonably advanced project that we could start generating cash flow from in the not too distant future.”
In the Eastern Succession of the Mt Isa Inlier, Exco is targeting iron oxide copper and gold mineralization. This mineralization bears similarities to Xstrata’s Ernest Henry underground mine also in North Queensland and is typified by the coincidence of strongly anomalous magnetic and gravity highs.
At the Weatherly Creek project initial drilling at a number of prospects has produced positive first phase results. Drilling at the Canteen prospect intersected copper and gold below a small historical open pit with results including 12 meters at 1.34% copper and 0.56 grams per tonne gold from 18 meters depth.
Three holes were drilled at the Victory Prospect where previous drilling defined an inferred resource of 196,000 tonnes at 1.2% copper and 1.4 gram per tonne gold. The latest round of drilling intersected relatively low grade mineralization beneath the existing drilling and indicated an increase in gold towards the south of the prospect.
One drill hole intersected 18 meters at 0.28% copper and 1.12 gram per tonne gold from 36 meters depth. At the Bosca and Bosca South prospects, three drill holes tested for oxide copper mineralization below small historical open pits. One drill hole at Bosca intersected 24 meters at 0.62% copper while at Bosca South an intercept of 0.33 gram per tonne gold and 8 meters at 1.69% copper and 0.09 gram per tonne gold was returned.
Finally, one drill hole of a proposed 4 hole program was drilled at the Rock Rat prospect to test a line of historical workings and shafts. The rest of the drilling program was postponed due to the threat of wet weather and will be continued after the wet season. The 1 hole intersected 24 meters at 0.21% copper and 0.51 gram per tonne gold from surface.
In other company news, work at the Pumpkin Gully syncline has yielded positive results with drilling at the Salebury, Crow’s Nest and Tanbah North areas returning:
1. 14 meters at 1% copper and 0.28 gram per tonne gold from 70 meters;
2. 32 meters at 0.56% copper and 1.04 gram per tonne gold from 74 meters and
3. 10 meters at 1.51% copper and 1.34 gram per tonne gold from 98 meters.
Meanwhile resource drilling at the Kangaroo Rat copper gold deposit has been completed with results returned to date in line with expectations. Diamond drilling is planned for the project for metallurgical testwork, geotechnical studies and specific gravity determinations.
(Sourced from www.proactiveinvestors.com.au)
