Updates on Mount Carbine, Bundarra exploration, Mount Chalmers, Thalanga operations and more in this week’s exploration, mining and processing briefs.

High-grade results at Mount Chalmers

Final assays from the maiden diamond drilling program at Mount Chalmers near Rockhampton have returned outstanding copper, gold and polymetallic results, QMines reports.

It comes after DDH1 Drilling completed an 11-hole diamond drilling program for 1587m over six weeks at the Mount Chalmers copper project.

Intersections from the last four holes included 2.2m grading at 0.85g/t gold, 41g/t silver, 0.54 per cent copper, 8.3 per cent lead and 16.8 per cent zinc.

“The current resource model has not factored in zinc and lead so we will now work towards updating the resource model to factor in these results,” QMines chairman Andrew Sparke said.

“The company’s RC drilling program is progressing well with six holes drilled to date. We expect to deliver more results that will lead to a resource update in the near future.”

Mount Carbine drilling hits Iron Duke extensions

Extending a hole into the adjacent Iron Duke prospect has produced a promising outcome for the current drilling campaign at EQ Resources’ Mount Carbine project.

“This drill hole has changed our thinking on the orientation of the Iron Duke tungsten veins, which also appear to get better at depth,” EQ Resources chief executive officer Kevin MacNeill said.

The drilling has been focused on the existing Andy White open pit at the Far North Queensland tungsten site.

“Extending hole EQ012 by 70 metres has been worthwhile. We are reporting intersections at an RL of 100-120m, which is approximately 100m deeper than any other high-grade zones encountered around or beneath the pit, which is 285m below surface,” Mr MacNeill said.

The new interpretation is shown schematically in the figure at right, with the Iron Duke veins indicated in red and with drilling indicating more than 10 veins are intersected in three ‘sub’ packages named the Dazzler, Talis and Crown zones.

Bundarra regional exploration update

Soil geochemical surveys and electrical geophysics techniques have generated new targets at the Bundarra project in Central Queensland. (details HERE)

“We will continue to explore the regional potential of the Bundarra intrusion as the development work progresses, which we are confident will only add to the scale of the project,” Duke Exploration managing director Philip Condon said.

“The second phase of resource drilling has now been completed and we are waiting for assays from the
final holes, including the extension holes to the north.

“We are now finalising the logistics for our first exploration holes at the Prairie Creek gold prospect and expect drilling to start by the end of July, with gold assay results by mid-August.”

Initiative to decarbonise heavy industry gains momentum

An effort to transition ‘hard-to-abate’ sectors to net-zero emissions by 2050, including iron and steel, aluminium and chemical supply chains, has been boosted by both a $2 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

And major players Rio Tinto and HSBC have become the latest companies to join the Australian Industry Energy Transitions Initiative (Australian Industry ETI), along with research provider BloombergNEF.

The Australian Industry ETI brings together key industry and finance companies to accelerate action towards achieving net-zero emissions in supply chains by 2050 across critical sectors known as ‘hard-to-abate’ given their high emissions and relatively higher abatement costs. 

Industry partners include BHP, Woodside, BlueScope Steel, BP Australia, Fortescue Metals Group, Orica, APA Group, Australian Gas Infrastructure Group, Wesfarmers Chemicals, Energy and Fertilisers, Aurecon, AustralianSuper, Cbus, National Australia Bank and Schneider Electric.

Thalanga operations production update

Red River Resources has provided a June quarter update on production at its Thalanga operations in North Queensland.

Thalanga operations produced 6,311 tonnes of zinc concentrate, 1,350 tonnes of lead concentrate and 3,565 tonnes of copper concentrate.

The company reported mining and processing operations were steady throughout the quarter with Far West mine continuing to deliver strong zinc equivalent grades to the processing plant.