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Final drilling approval granted to Argonaut Resources (ASX:ARE)

Mining
ASX:ARE
04 January 2021 11:45 (AEST)

Lake Torrens. Source: National Indigenous Times

Argonaut Resources (ARE) has been granted approval by the South Australian Government to proceed with a major exploration drilling program to target iron oxide copper-gold copper mineralisation.

The application was approved for Argonaut’s 100 per cent held subsidiary, Kelaray, and will allow for exploration drilling, plus resource and reserve definition drilling at the Murdie Project in South Australia

Argonaut expects to execute a drilling contract at the beginning of 2021, with drilling to commence soon afterwards.

Kelaray’s application was first launched in February 2020, under section 23 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act.

The government’s authorisation will allow Kelaray to go ahead with exploration-phase drilling plus potential resource and reserve definition drilling.

The agreement is on the condition Argonaut will report regularly to representatives of certain Aboriginal groups, facilitate visits of Aboriginal representatives to observe the results of rehabilitation measures, and adhere to the company’s cultural heritage management plan.

The program, centred around the western shoreline of Lake Torrens and Andamooka Island, as well as the lake itself, will target iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) copper mineralisation.

Starting next week, Argonaut will work with geophysical contractors to acquire detailed gravity data for the finalisation of drill hole locations in the Carrapateena Well, Andamooka Island and Murdie Island areas.

Gravity contractors will work around the clock to complete the acquisition as quickly as possible under the authorisations, with modified tracked quad bikes used in order to avoid salt crust disturbance.

The track-mounted drilling rig will be capable of drilling cored holes to 1500 metres, with drill holes expected to be 500 to 1000 metres in depth.

Argonaut is up 33.3 per cent, trading at 0.8 cents at 10:40 am AEDT.  

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