Tennant Creek-style copper mineralisation intersected in first drill hole at Warrego North Project, Northern Territory

Highlights

• First diamond drill-hole to test the Parakeet geophysical target intersects Tennant Creek-style mineralisation comprising magnetite-dominant ironstone with visible chalcopyrite and pyrite.
• Strongest chalcopyrite mineralisation intersected between 249m – 258m down-hole (visual inspection), with the hole still in progress to test the main geophysical target at approximately 350m down-hole.
• Parakeet comprises a strong circular (1km x 1km) coincidental magnetic and gravity anomaly located ~20km north-west of the historical Warrego Copper-Gold mine (historical production 1.3Moz gold and 90,000t copper).
• Drill core prioritized for cutting and sampling with assays expected in about three weeks.
• Phase 1 diamond drilling (comprising two ~400m deep holes) is continuing.

PERTH , Western Australia , May 23, 2017 /CNW/ - Chalice Gold Mines Limited ("Chalice" or the "Company") (CHN.AX) (CXN.TO) is pleased to announce that it has intersected potentially significant Tennant Creek-style mineralisation in its maiden drill hole at the Warrego North Project in the Northern Territory. Chalice can earn up to a 70% interest in the Project from Meteoric Resources NL (MEI.AX) by sole funding $800,000 in expenditure (See press release dated June 15, 2016 ).

The Warrego North Project is located ~20km north-west of the historical high-grade Warrego copper-gold mine in the western part of the Tennant Creek Mineral Field (Figure 1). Warrego was the largest deposit mined at Tennant Creek with historical production of 1.3Moz of gold and 90,000t of copper from 5Mt of ore at 8g/t Au and 2% Cu.

The Company's first diamond drill hole, WND17-001, targeted a coincident magnetic-gravity anomaly (see Figure 2) and has intersected interstitial and vein-style chalcopyrite mineralisation in magnetite ironstone between 249-258m down-hole depth (see Figures 3 and 4). 

The drill hole has also intersected multiple narrow ironstone units within strongly chlorite-altered Warramunga Formation siltstone from 258m to the current down-hole depth of approximately 292m, which demonstrates that the alteration system is continuing with depth. The drill core will be prioritised for cutting and sampling and assay results are expected to be received within about three weeks.

Chalice's General Manager – Exploration, Dr Kevin Frost , said: "This is a great result for our very first drill-hole at Warrego North, which validates our belief that this is an exciting iron-oxide-copper-gold target in the Tennant Creek Mineral Field. The coincident aeromagnetic and gravity anomaly provides a compelling exploration target and we look forward to receiving the first batch of assay results and to further evaluating this target with the rest of our Phase 1 diamond drilling program."  

Next Steps

Diamond drill hole WND17-001 will continue to the planned depth of approximately 400m.  The drill rig will then move to the site of WND17-002 to begin diamond coring.

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