White Rock Minerals Ltd.: High-Grade Zinc Exploration Activities Commence
Ballarat - White Rock Minerals Ltd. (ASX:WRM) ("White Rock" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on its plans to conduct a comprehensive exploration program at its globally significant 100% owned zinc VMS project at Red Mountain in Alaska.Mobilisation of personnel has been initiated with the first flight from Fairbanks landing into the Newman airstrip, adjacent to the summer field camp (see Figure 1 in link below). This first flight mobilised the crew to establish the camp in readiness for field operations anticipated to commence with two weeks. Over the next two weeks additional crews including the drillers and the field geological crew will continue to arrive in preparation for the drilling, geological reconnaissance and geochemical sampling programs.
It is expected that the geophysics crew (Zonge International) will arrive to commence their on-ground work in mid-June.
White Rock's exploration for the upcoming field season is planned to include:
- A targeted diamond drilling program aimed at in-fill and expansion of the high grade maiden Resource,
- On-ground orientation EM and possibly geochemistry exploration across the two already identified deposits,
- Regional application of the best geophysics and geochemistry exploration tools determined from the on-ground orientation work, and
- A follow-up diamond drilling program on the best of the more than 30 already identified exploration targets.
The drilling campaign will aim to infill and extend the maiden resource which already has two identified deposits (Dry Creek and West Tundra Flats) and a Resource base of 16.7Mt at 8.9% ZnEq (see Note below) including a high-grade component of 9.1Mt @ 12.9% ZnEq (see Note below) (refer ASX announcement 26 April 2017 regarding the maiden Mineral Resource).
This drilling is aimed to follow-up on drilling last done in the 1990s, which included
68.9m @ 4% Zn, 1.8% Pb, 58g/t Ag and 0.3g/t Au (DC98-60),
36.1m @ 6.2% Zn, 2.5% Pb, 183g/t Ag and 1g/t Au (DC98-40) and
12.5m @ 12.5% Zn, 5.5% Pb, 160g/t Ag and 1.1g/t Au (DC97-04).
(refer ASX Announcement dated 15 February 2016 "White Rock Minerals proposes to acquire VMS project in Alaska".)
MD & CEO Matt Gill said "A lot of preparation has gone into planning for the commencement of field activities as early as possible in the 2018 field season. It is great to see all the hard work coming together as field crews begin to mobilise with first drilling expected to be underway within two weeks. There is a real sense of anticipation that the on-ground geochemistry and geophysics teams, combined with drill testing could yield additional high grade zinc deposits that catapult the project to the next stage and realise White Rock's aspiration to develop a new mine. This is an exciting time for White Rock".
Note: ZnEq = Zinc equivalent grades are estimated using long-term broker consensus estimates compiled by RFC Ambrian as at 20 March 2017 adjusted for recoveries from historical metallurgical test work and calculated with the formula: ZnEq =100 x [(Zn% x 2,206.7 x 0.9) + (Pb% x 1,922 x 0.75) + (Cu% x 6,274 x 0.70) + (Ag g/t x (19.68/31.1035) x 0.70) + (Au g/t x (1,227/31.1035) x 0.80)] / (2,206.7 x 0.9). White Rock is of the opinion that all elements included in the metal equivalent calculation have reasonable potential to be recovered and sold.
To view figures, please visit:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/KO7UH25Q
About White Rock Minerals Ltd:
White Rock Minerals Ltd. (ASX:WRM) is an Australian listed minerals exploration and development company with projects located in northern NSW (gold and silver) and central Alaska (zinc, silver, lead and gold). The White Rock vision is to explore and develop both precious and base metal projects.
White Rock's cornerstone asset is the Mt Carrington epithermal gold-silver project in northern NSW. The Mt Carrington project has great leverage to the Australian gold and silver prices with a positive scoping study providing a path towards feasibility studies and development in the near term.
White Rock is also exploring the Red Mountain project in Alaska. Red Mountain is a globally significant advanced VMS project with high grade zinc and silver in two deposits. White Rock is exploring for additional high grade deposits that will enhance the projects leverage to an upturn in the fortunes of zinc and silver.
Source: White Rock Minerals Ltd.
Contact:
Matt Gill (Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer) Or Shane Turner (Company Secretary)
Phone: +61-3-5331-4644
Email: info@whiterockminerals.com.au
www.whiterockminerals.com.au
