Venture Minerals Limited (ASX:VMS, OTC:VTMLF) (ASX:VMS) (OTCMKTS:VTMLF) has high hopes for its Golden Grove North Project in WA after confirming the potential for a large volcanic massive sulphide (VMS) body in maiden drilling at the Orcus prospect, according to managing director Andrew Radonjic.
Radonjic told Proactive’s Andrew Scott: “The VMS system, which is the style of mineralisation at Golden Grove, classically has copper-zinc-gold-silver and some other elements like cobalt and tin, which are signatures for these types of systems.
“When we started drilling, we started seeing the right rocks and the EM plates we’ve been generating show sulphides containing copper and zinc which are now verified by the assays.
“The exciting thing about it is that the assays are in an EM plate which is not as conductive as other plates we’ve generated since."
“We’ve got about half a dozen plates we need to test which in theory will have thicker concentrations of massive sulphide," he said, "which with the right sulphide should mean better grades.”
The project is along strike from the Golden Grove mine which has been operating for 30 years.
Volcanic massive sulphide system
At Orcus, the company drilled underneath a historic intersection of zinc and copper and gold.
All three holes from the maiden program returned strong zones of VMS mineralisation including:
- ORRC001 – 5 metres at 1.3% zinc, 0.54% copper, 1.1 g/t gold and 7 g/t silver from 59 metres, including 1-metre at 6.1% zinc, 1.3% copper, 0.80 g/t gold and 22 g/t silver from 59 metres;
- ORRC002 – 2 metres at 4.4% zinc, 0.87% copper, 0.94 g/t gold and 17 g/t silver from 100 metres, including 1-metre at 7.6% zinc, 1.0% copper, 0.17 g/t gold and 20 g/t silver from 101 metres; and
- ORRC003 – 2 metres at 2.4% zinc, 0.34% copper, 1.0 g/t gold and 4 g/t silver from 152 metres, including 1-metre at 4.2% zinc, 0.47% copper, 1.6 g/t gold and 8 g/t silver from 152 metres.
Vulcan, Vulcan West, Vulcan North and Orcus priority VMS drill targets.
Regional significance
Radonjic said: “In the neighbourhood, we have EMR Capital who have purchased Golden Grove back in 2017.
“They have doubled the mine life, doubled the productivity of the plant, found mineralisation down at 1.2 kilometres below the surface – so they’ve been very very successful.
“Just to the northwest of us we have Firefly Resources Ltd (ASX:FFR) who’ve had a great deal of success on the gold front and the tenement we picked up has a bit of the same system.
“So the area we have is well known for gold but with a massive modern mine down at Golden Grove there’s a bit of a mix so I think we’ve got a bit of both worlds.”
Strong system potential
Radonjic said: “When we started this program it was a concept, now we’re getting assays and clearly the system is fertile.
“The other EM plates and other parts that are open to the north, to the south and at depth also are very encouraging for a much broader zone.
“We have much stronger conductors sitting along strike so we’re very keen to get a drill rig testing those targets sooner rather than later.”
Golden Grove North Project.
Follow-up drilling planned
The company is keen to commence follow-up drilling and has a track record as an aggressive explorer, drilling 83,000 metres with seven drill rigs at its Mount Lindsay Tin-Tungsten Project in Tasmania.
Radonjic said: “We’re pretty aggressive explorers once we get onto it so once we get a hole announces the discovery of a VMS deposit, we will be very aggressive at drilling the project.”
Follow-up drilling at Orcus is hoped to commence before Christmas.
High hopes for Golden Grove-style discovery
Radonjic said that a Golden Grove style discovery would be a game-changer for the company.
He said: “In exploration, people are interested in intersections of sulphide and big results and we’ve seen plenty of evidence - we’ve seen Chalice Mining Limited (ASX:CHN), we’ve seen Legend Mining Limited (ASX:LEG), we’ve seen Estrella Resources Ltd (ASX:ESR) and now the guys at Azure Minerals Limited (ASX:AZS).
“If we can fit into that group, we’ll be very happy and our market cap would be dramatically higher than it is today.”