Ballymore secures exploration grants for new surveys

Ballymore Resources has snagged $600,000 from the Queensland Government to fund new geophysical surveys at its Dittmer and Ruddygore projects. Ballymore technical director David A-Izzeddin said $600,000 represented almost 15 per cent of additional funding over and above the company's planned 2024 budget, allowing accelerated progress. "These major surveys will compliment already planned work programs by the company for these areas and place the company in a strong position for future success,” Mr A-Izzeddin said. "Our proposed geophysical surveys will address significant data gaps in two highly prospective and yet relatively unexplored areas of North Queensland. "These surveys will add another valuable dataset to assist in rapidly delineating and prioritising exploration targets in these exciting regions." Related: Ballymore barrels ahead with Taurus backing The Collaborative Exploration Initiative (CEI) grants awarded to Ballymore comprise: $300,000 to conduct a low level heli-borne gradient magnetic and radiometric survey over the entire Dittmer project area to assist delineating additional intrusive-related copper and gold targets and refining drill targets. $300,000 to conduct a heli-borne electro-magnetic survey (EM) at the Ruddygore project’s Maniopota prospect to advance target definition of this major polymetallic mineralised system. Despite the Dittmer area near Proserpine being a significant historical mining district, Ballymore says it remains remarkably under-explored. It proposes to engage New Resolution Geophysics to undertake a survey using an ASTAR B-series helicopter fitted with the Xplorer system (example picture below). The collected magnetic data will be modelled and the resulting 3D data will be integrated into the company’s existing 3D models to better delineate alteration/mineralised systems as well as geological bodies The Dittmer mine was the highest-grade gold mine in Australia when in operation with significant copper and silver by-products (151.1g/t gold, 66.8g/t silver and 2.8 per cent copper) and had never been drilled prior to Ballymore acquiring the project in 2020. Drilling by Ballymore has recognised that the historically mined Duffer Lode has been displaced at depth with a repetition recognised within 30m of the historical workings. Its results have included drill intersections of 4.3m at 29.0g/t gold, 11g/t silver and 0.81 per cent copper. With a Stage 4 underground drilling program underway, Ballymore is undertaking major work programs to evaluate the broader area under a new geological model. Recent soil sampling has highlighted a 2km x 1.5km gold-copper anomaly and preparations are underway to undertake an initial surface drilling program to test the greater Dittmer area in April. Maniopota is located between major deposits in the Chillagoe region including Red Dome, Mungana, Redcap and Victoria to the north, and Mount Garnet to the south. The prospect contains classic skarn-hosted mineralisation, similar in style to other deposits and mines in this area, and recent multi-element soil and rock chip sampling completed by Ballymore has identified broad polymetallic anomalies over 6.5km. The proposed heli-borne EM survey will allow Ballymore to build a comprehensive 3D model identifying conductive zones and define the geometry of sedimentary and igneous lithologies along the mineralised Palmerville Fault system corridor, as well as potentially highlighting significant “blind” zones of mineralisation. Ballymore is proposing to use the SkyTEM heli-borne EM system to complete the survey.

Ballymore secures exploration grants for new surveys

Industry Queensland

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