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Drilling to commence at massive IOCG target in Australia

Mining & Resources

Drilling of a massive anomaly in South Australia with multiple deposit-scale target zones will begin in a bid to unearth a world class copper-gold resource.

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The Torrens Project is located about 80km southeast of the Olympic Dam Mine in Outback South Australia and is a joint venture between Aeris Resources (70 per cent) and Argonaut Resources (30 per cent).

Argonaut Resources today announced that sufficient funds for Stage One of a major drilling program at the site had been committed in the 2019 financial year to complete the work.

Stage One will involve 8 to 10 drill holes to depths of 700 to 1,500m at priority drill targets. The drilling program will be the first phase of a multiphase program that is expected to take up to two years and comprise 20 to 30 deep drill holes.

Preparations are well advanced at the confirmed iron oxide copper-gold system (IOCG) and the Joint Venture will announce a commencement date once the timing of certain logistical matters is confirmed.

The Torrens anomaly is one of the largest and most geologically prospective IOCG exploration targets in the world.

The anomaly sits under a 250km long dry salt lake and is on the Torrens hinge zone, a continental scale zone of crustal weakness with the capacity to act as a conduit for mineralising mantle fluids.

The size of the intense geophysical anomaly is larger than Olympic Dam, which is the world’s fourth largest copper resource. Each of the 10 targets are also equal or greater in size to nearby Carrapateena, another copper-gold mine being developed in South Australia.

Argonaut CEO and Director Lindsay Owler said shareholders could now expect swift progress towards drilling “and the excitement that this drilling program will bring”.

“The road to drilling at the giant Torrens target has been a long one and agreement on the operational program and budget is the final step,” he said

The South Australian government approved the project in November 2017.

Argonaut’s subsidiary, Kelaray Pty Ltd, has resigned as manager of the Joint Venture and Aeris’ subsidiary, Straits Exploration (Australia) Pty Ltd, is now manager.

Aeris has agreed to reimburse Argonaut $840,000 for Joint Venture expenditure made in gaining access to Torrens for the planned drilling.

South Australia hosts 68 per cent of Australia’s economic demonstrated resources of copper.

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