Okapi Resources has intersected multiple zones of elevated sulphide mineralisation in two diamond holes at its Sunnyside prospect, part of its fully owned Enmore gold project in the huge New England Fold Belt in NSW. Its campaign follows a 2021 probe that delivered a suite of notable hits including 1m at 15.15 grams per tonne gold from 172m inside a monster 174m intercept grading 1.83 g/t gold from surface.
The two recently plunged holes form part of an 11-hole, 1800m program at Enmore.
The company says both drill holes repeatedly intersected very promising lithologies such as extensively altered siltstone and granite with various stages of quartz and mild carbonate veining, suggesting the zones are prone to host gold.
In addition, the two bores struck a raft of faults and shear zones rich in sulphide mineralisation – potentially pointing to anomalous occurrences of the precious metal.
Due to the positive lithologies struck, both holes were bored substantially deeper than originally intended, running to 260m and 208m respectively.
According to Okapi, mineralisation at Sunnyside runs over 400m in strike and encouragingly remains open both at depth and along strike.
The company says its rolling work at the prospect could bolster the larger Enmore project's structural and lithological dataset, which in turn could be a catalyst in developing a better understanding of the ground’s mineralisation controls.
Management says Enmore offers geological similarities akin to the operating Hillgrove gold mine about 20km north. Past production at Hillgrove has punched out more than 730,000 ounces of the precious yellow metal.
The miner will also evaluate another of the ground’s more prospective prospects, Sherwood.
According to Okapi, historical drilling at Sherwood has produced a wealth of exceptional intercepts with grades as high as 56.6 g/t from shallow depths of about 60m.
Okapi’s Enmore ground takes in about 135 square kilometres along the New England Fold Belt, about 30km south of the regional centre of Armidale.
Gold was first found in the area in the late 1800s, with sporadic projects continuing such as Red River Resources’ Hillgrove mine.
Interestingly, previous drilling at Enmore has been limited to shallow campaigns and most of Okapi’s targets at the operation have yet to be tested at depth.
With multiple zones of sulphides already struck at Enmore and the ground previously throwing up a gold strike of more than 170m, Okapi Resources could have its foot on a very promising operation – particularly considering work at the site so far has been limited to shallow drilling.
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By Matt Birney
