HIGHLIGHTS
• Steam Engine Lode continues to thicken with depth. Latest assays from 15 reverse-circulation drill holes returned significant intersections, including:
– 21m @ 2.2 g/t Au from 160m (SRC188) incl 5m @ 5.1 g/t Au from 161m
– 8m @ 2.8 g/t Au from 154m (SRC175) incl 1m @ 6.7 g/t Au from 156m
– 9m @ 3.0 g/t Au from 173m (SRC183) incl 1m @ 10.7 g/t Au from 178m
– 7m @ 2.7 g/t Au from 118m (SRC176) incl 2m @ 5.6 g/t Au from 119m
– 7m @ 2.4 g/t Au from 76m (SRC178) incl 1m @ 8.1 g/t Au from 81m
– 8m @ 2.2 g/t Au from 126m (SRC177)
– 20m @ 1.3 g/t Au from 139m (SRC181)
• Results consistent with overall indications from 2021 drill program, supporting significant Resource growth potential in the near term; planning underway for large Resource expansion drill program to aggressively increase total Resource ounces
• 85 RC/diamond holes have been drilled at Steam Engine for total of 7,916m from the 13,000m, 2021 Greenvale Project drilling campaign
• Mineral Resource Estimate upgrade and Maiden Ore Reserve targeted for December 2021
• Feasibility Study progressing on a low capex operation generating near-term cashflow
Superior Resources Limited (ASX:SPQ) (Superior, the Company) announced today a further boost for its emerging Steam Engine Gold Project following the latest batch of assay results. The drilling program is part of the Company’s 13,000m drilling campaign underway at its 100%-owned Greenvale Project, located approximately 210kms west of Townsville, Queensland.
The latest results from 15 RC holes drilled into the Steam Engine Lode confirm the down-dip strengthening of the lode, a development that has been observed over substantial portions of the Steam Engine Lode. Importantly, the intersections are located predominantly outside the current Mineral Resource of 1.73 million tonnes grading 2.2 g/t Au for 122,000 ounces of gold, which was based on the 2020 drilling program.
Superior’s Managing Director, Peter Hwang commented:
“Once again, the results continue to firm up the project’s potential at depth and along strike. The confidence provided by this year’s drilling program has enabled us to commit to an even larger follow-up program aimed at aggressively expanding the mineralisation envelope.
“Of the almost 15,000 metres of Resource drilling that has been completed since mid-2020, most were infill holes aimed at upgrading confidence levels of shallow parts of the Steam Engine and Eastern Ridge lodes. Having achieved that objective, we will now focus on expanding the mineralisation envelope to realise the potential of the Steam Engine and Eastern Ridge lodes. At surface, these lodes have a combined strike length of at least 2.5 kilometres, of which, only about 15% has been tested to any depths greater than about 50m.
“In addition, we will also target the significant potential that exists in the Southern Zone Lodes and the two-kilometre-long Dinner Creek Lode. The southern extents of most of the lode zones are obscured by thin Tertiary cover. Surface soil geochemistry indicates the potential for extensions of the lodes beneath the cover as well as the existence of new lode zones west and south of the current lodes. We are planning to drill each of these target zones in the next program.
“In the meantime, we are progressing with a revision of the Mineral Resource Estimate as well as preparing a maiden Ore Reserve. With the continued positive developments from this year’s Resource drilling program together with the recent strengthening of gold price forecasts, we are also undertaking further financial modelling to reassess the project’s development strategy.
“This process will examine the merits and timing of establishing a scalable processing plant against haulage and toll-treatment pathways, optimal Mineral Resource targets and other key financial factors.”
The latest results at Steam Engine follow the spectacular intersection grading 115.2 g/t Au from its Eastern Ridge Lode, announced in October (refer ASX release 18 October 2021), among other positive drilling results in 2021.
Superior aims to develop a low capex mining operation at Steam Engine, with the potential for near-term cashflow to drive increased shareholder value and support the Company’s other high-potential Queensland projects, including the Bottletree Copper Prospect.