Strickland Metals has been named the manager of the Iroquois zinc-lead project in Western Australia’s Earaheedy Basin after the company completed a formal joint venture agreement with Gibb River Diamonds.
The new joint venture supersedes a historical option agreement from 2012, with Strickland moving quickly to announce plans to resume drilling at the site once approvals and heritage clearances are in place.
The company says a native title heritage survey will be requested for next month. The company is planning a 5000m drilling program, with a further 5000m in the works, subject to positive results.
Strickland Metals Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Bray said: “As part of recommencing work at Iroquois, a large soil sampling program will be undertaken. Previous work conducted by Strickland has demonstrated that elevated copper in soil is an accurate marker of the ‘feeder structure’ which controls the zinc-lead mineralisation.”
The company believes that future soil and geophysical programs will assist with locating further structures that can then be drill-tested.
In March, the company returned high-grade zinc-lead assays from RC drilling at Iroquois with results of 8m at 5.2 per cent zinc from 95m and 5m grading 10.1 per cent combined zinc-lead from 110m.
The highest grade was contained in a broad zone giving 18m at 4.2 per cent combined zinc-lead.
The company says the arrival of a third rig at its flagship Millrose gold project provides Strickland the flexibility and opportunity to undertake a series of targeted programs at Iroquois to identify new areas of geochemical anomalism.
Previous drilling has been constrained by historic native title heritage clearance surveys, however Strickland says it expects at least 5000m of RC and diamond drilling to be complete within 12 months of approvals and clearances.
Strickland’s tenements adjoin Rumble Resources’ Earaheedy Basin project and the company believes the area is shaping up as an exciting base metal province. It has about 30km strike length of the prospective zinc-lead zone and is enthusiastic about the potential for additional discoveries.
Strickland’s Iroquois zinc-lead discovery in the Basin is 80 per cent-owned by the company, with the remaining 20 per cent under Gibb River Diamonds.
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By Matt Birney
