Updates from Alice Queen, QMines, GBM Resources, Zenith Minerals, R3D Resources, Mitchell Services and Carnaby Resources in this week’s exploration, drilling and investment news briefs.

Alice Queen gets drill bit spinning on Horn Island

Alice Queen is undertaking a 49-hole RC drilling program near the historical gold mine on Horn Island in the Torres Strait.

This tightly spaced RC drilling program will followed by a preliminary RC drilling program of 43 holes to test legacy gold mining stockpiles located adjacent to the company’s Horn Island gold resource.

“It’s exciting to have the drill bit turning again at Horn Island,” managing director Andrew Buxton said.

“These RC drill programs have the potential to significantly improve the underlying economics of a potential future mining operation.”

Mr Buxton said the results would go into the current Horn Island scoping study.

“In addition, the Horn Island exploration team, led by Queensland exploration manager, Adrian Hell, is also busy developing aggressive exploration programs to make further discoveries at Horn Island. These plans will be announced to the market shortly.”

Western Division Drilling in Tartana exploration deal

R3D Resources has reached an agreement with Western Division Drilling (WDD) to provide a drill rig for the company’s exploration activities in the Chillagoe region.

Upwards of 50 per cent of the drilling costs would be paid in shares, the company said.

“R3D Resources is in a strong position to test the Tartana copper and gold targets as well as emerging targets at Bellevue, Beefwood and Bulimba from the recent Falcon gravity/magnetic surveys,” managing director Stephen Bartrop said.

“Hence, this is the first stage of a drill program which meets the company’s strategy of identifying and testing large targets.”

A 1500 m diamond drilling program is scheduled to start this month at the Tartana mining leases and continue through to the start of the wet season.

R3D Resources began trading on the ASX last month after completion of a $4.25 million capital raising and a relisting that involved the friendly takeover of Tartana Resources.

It aims to restart copper sulphate production at the former Tartana copper operation near Chillagoe, potentially in early 2022 (Read more HERE).

Mitchell launches $10.5m equity raising as rig fleet grows

Drilling service provider Mitchell Services has outlined a growth strategy including the acquisition of up to 12 new drill rigs within two years.

With the outlook for drilling services demand the strongest since 2008, the company said it was embarking on a $10.5 million capital raising to support its growth opportunities.

This will be in the form of a fully underwritten accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer.

Announcing the move, Mitchell Services said it had a material capital investment program underway which included the purchase of nine LF160 drill rigs, with a staggered delivery through until December 31 2021, and an option for an additional three rigs.

“These rigs were pre-ordered and will be delivered during a period of significant and increasing lead times for rig supply,” it stated.

“Other barriers to entry for mining services providers are high and growing, including challenging access to funding with limited lender appetite in the sector, a tightening labour market, and a highly complex regulatory environment.”

Mitchell Services expects to generate FY22 revenue of $200-$220 million, with EBITDA of $40–$44 million.

GBM reinforces potential at Yandan gold project

GBM Resources is reporting ‘excellent’ results from a 13-hole drill program (5676m) at the Yandan gold project in the Drummond Basin.

The program focused on the East Hill portion of the Yandan resource.

Assay results are still pending on some holes, however highlights from initial results include 214.1m at 1.6 g/t gold from 236m (including 26m at 5.4 g/t gold) and 189m grading at 2.0 g/t gold from 255m (including 16 m at 4.6 g/t gold).

“Excellent results from the East Hill drilling program and confirmation of the high-grade core to the mineralisation re-enforces the potential at Yandan,” GBM managing director and chief executive officer Peter Rohner said.

“Along with Twin Hills, Yandan represents a significant part of our ‘processing halo’ strategy. We continue our aim to extend our Drummond Basin resource base to more than 2 million ounces of gold and develop GBM into a genuine mid-tier Australian gold company.”

QMines takes to the air for more Mount Chalmers exploration work

QMines has engaged Planetary Geophysics and Geosolutions to conduct a 1092-line kilometre REP-TEM airborne Electro Magnetic (EM) survey over the Mount Chalmers area, near Rockhampton.

The program will extend to the north-west and south-east of the historical Mount Chalmers mine, covering an extensive area of the Berserker Beds.

The company said the survey would be used in conjunction with current data sets to define future potential VHMS drill targets.

It comes after news last week that a six-month program to digitise a large dataset from soil sampling at the site pointed to large copper and zinc anomalies – one as large as 10km long.

The company said the discoveries demonstrated significant scale potential at the Central Queensland site, with multiple Mount Chalmers ‘lookalikes’ surrounding the historical mine.

Carnaby intersects broad copper-gold zones

Drilling at Nil Desperandum has intersected broad zones of copper-gold mineralisation, confirming the continuity of a thick, high-grade shoot from near surface to over 300m down plunge, Carnaby Resources says.

Recent drill results include 60m grading at 1.0 per cent copper from 139m, including 23m at 1.7 per cent copper, 0.4 g/t gold from 152m.

“We are delighted to report these new results which confirms that Nil Desperandum is rapidly emerging as a very significant copper gold deposit of scale in the Mount Isa district,” managing director Rob Watkins said.

“We look forward to receiving further results from other drill holes already completed where visible copper
mineralisation has been observed over considerable widths.”

New copper-gold targets at Red Mountain

Zenith Minerals has defined two ‘meaningful’ drill targets in ongoing technical work on its Red Mountain project, near Cracow in Central Queensland.

Chairman Peter Bird said one totally new target sat within the core of the breccia pipe and was interpreted to be a copper-dominant target.

“The second is an extension to the western gold discovery and wraps around the margins of the breccia pipe for approximately 1200m, pushing down to over 300m depth. This is interpreted to be a gold-dominated target,” he said.

 “To date drilling for gold has only focused on the western margin of the breccia pipe for a lateral distance of 300m. 

“Whilst these are early-stage developments, it is very exciting as Red Mountain may be much more than just a discrete high-grade gold discovery. Drilling is ongoing to test these targets.”