Stavely Minerals Limited provided an update on the significant new phase of exploration activity which commenced earlier this year at its 100%-owned Stavely Copper-Gold Project in western Victoria following the completion of an extensive review of regional and near- resource discovery opportunities last year. The deep porphyry target drilling programme comprises four deep diamond drill holes drilled in a horizontal 'fence' across the downward projection of the Cayley Lode. Deep porphyry target diamond drill-hole 1 (SMD183) has intersected a narrow interval of carbonate-base metal - possibly precious metal mineralisation (samples yet to be submitted) similar to previous holes that have drilled under the plunge of the Cayley Lode". Deep porphyry target diamond drill-hole 1 (SMD183) has intersected a narrow interval of
carbonate-base metal - possibly precious metal mineralisation (samples yet to be submitted)
similar to previous holes that have drilled under the plunge of the high-grade copper-gold
Cayley Lode. An example is SMD073, which intersected 5m at 2.35% Zn, 0.40% Pb, 0.25% Cu,
1.67g/t Au and 27g/t Ag associated with rhodochrosite carbonate reflecting a cooler style of
mineralisation compared to that of the Cayley Lode.
With deep porphyry target diamond drill-hole 2 (SMD184) having failed at 400m drill depth,
the collar has been shifted 25m to the south and is now being re-drilled as SMD186 which is
currently just past 200m drill depth. The target of deep porphyry drill-holes 2 and 4 are underlain by a discrete magnetic feature
proximal to the intersection of the NW Cayley Lode structure and a NS structure and is below a significant copper in soil auger geochemical anomaly. Deep porphyry diamond drill-hole 3 (SMD185) is currently running rods down to current
depth of 600m following a drill bit change with a final design depth of 800m.
Deep porphyry drill hole 4 has yet to be drilled.
Drilling conditions are challenging in broken ground with zones of intense clay alteration. The Basis of the Deep Diamond Drill Programme:
At the end of 2022, prominent porphyry expert Dr Steve Garwin was invited to review the
drill data for the Cayley Lode and to visit site to inspect the drill core.
As a result of Dr Garwin's review, a new porphyry target has been developed beneath and
along plunge of some of the latest and deepest intercepts on the Cayley Lode including holes
SMD173 and SMD182. SMD173 was one of the last diamond drill holes completed during the Mineral Resource drill-
out. At the time, some investors and analysts had expressed concerns that the Cayley Lode
mineralisation might not extend below the low-angle structure and SMD173 was designed to confirm Stavely Minerals' strongly-held conviction that the mineralisation did continue at
depth. SMD173 intercepted 43m at 2.60% Cu, 0.42g/t Au and 10g/t Ag from 378m drill depth (see
ASX announcement 08/03/2022). Of significance is that the character of the mineralisation in
SMD173 had changed relative to intercepts from previous shallower drill-holes.
The early massive- to semi-massive pyrite phase was less evident and the interval was more
dominantly characterised by jigsaw breccia to stockwork veins of quartz-chalcopyrite-
hematite-specularite-magnetite (Photo 1). There is very little pyrite in this interval and it is
interpreted to represent a hotter style of mineralisation reflecting close proximity to a
postulated causative copper-gold mineralised porphyry. SMD182 was the last drill hole completed in the Mineral Resource drill-out. The objective of
this drill-hole was to further test the down-plunge extent of the Cayley Lode beyond SMD173.
SMD182 intercepted 10.4m at 4.34% Cu, 3.17g/t Au and 11g/t Ag from 421m drill depth, including 4.9m at 6.74% Cu, 6.45g/t Au and 19g/t Ag. Two important observations from SMD182 are: 1) the clear association of hematite-
specularite-magnetite-chalcopyrite with very little pyrite the near parity of gold grade in g/t to the copper grade in %. The potential economic significance of an increase in gold grades with high-grade copper in
this intercept cannot be overstated. As mentioned in the original announcement, more
drilling is required to confirm this increase in relative gold grade but it is not unexpected given
the change in the character of the mineralisation.