Mt Isa Metals commences drilling at Gregory IOCG project
Monday, 12 Oct 2009
The Board of Mt Isa Metals announced that drilling has today commenced on the Company's 100% owned Gregory IOCG Project located 240 kilometers north of Mt Isa.
At Gregory MET is targeting Olympic Dam style iron oxide copper gold deposits along the projected northern extension of the regionally mineralized Mt Isa Gunpowder Fault system and associated Western Succession lithologies.
The Gregory Project comprises a large tenement area of approximately 2,000 square kilometers that despite its proximity to Mt Isa has received virtually no prior exploration of the prospective basement rocks. Historical records report only 1 drill hole to basement within the entire project area.
MET recently completed a detailed regional gravity survey of the project area and in conjunction with high resolution public domain magnetic survey data has defined a significant number of geophysical anomalies in a complex structural setting that offer attractive targets for drill testing as potential IOCG alteration systems.
Geophysical targets include discrete gravity and magnetic features and more complex systems including both gravity and magnetic anomalies. The current drill program at Gregory will comprise two deep diamond drill holes that will provide an initial test of geophysical anomalies in the central and northern parts of the project area. It is anticipated that drilling will be completed to a final depth in the range 750 meter to 1,000 meter for both holes.
The Augustus 2 target is located in the centre of the project area within EPM 16119. Drilling is targeting a 7Mgal residual gravity anomaly defined over a 10 kilometers strike length. The gravity anomaly is flanked by a subtle magnetic feature which may be indicative of an early phase of magnetite alteration. Multiple alteration phases are a common feature of IOCG deposits.
The Neumayer 1 target is located in the northern end of the project area within EPM 15774. The target lies within a major NW SE trending cross cutting structural corridor that is evident in regional scale geophysical data. Drilling will target co incident gravity and magnetic peaks that are interpreted to be flanked by 2 discrete granitic intrusives.
Funding for the current program will be supported by a grant of up to AUD 150,000 from the Queensland Department of Mines and Energy under the Collaborative Drilling Initiative. The CDI is designed to directly support companies in the generation and testing of high quality, innovative exploration targets and concepts throughout Queensland.
