Sydney-based Lode Resources has hit record high-grade silver, zinc, lead and copper at its Webbs Consol project located on the New England Fold Belt.
The highlight of the latest results is a 116.1m intercept that demonstrates the vertical continuity of one of the key targets at the project, the Tangoa West Lode.
While the headline figure is an average 1,003 grams per tonne silver equivalent (agEq), the individual metal assays from the company’s Hole WSC045 tells the fuller story.
Over that 116.1m, silver grades averaged 254g/t, 8.35% per cent zinc, 6.35% lead and 0.24% copper, all with higher-grade intervals.
Mineralisation began at 90.9m down hole.
Mineralised grades grow as hole goes deeper
Webbs Consol is located 16m southwest of the Northern Tablelands town of Emmaville.
The deposit was discovered in 1890, with intermittent mining up until the mid-1950s.
Historically, several mine shafts were worked for only the high-grade galena (a form of lead sulphide) and silver, with high-grade zinc discarded.
Of the new assays, managing director Ted Leschke said the “exceptionally rich” hole demonstrates strong vertical continuity of Tangoa West’s lode.
Also, the hole showed rapidly increasing mineralisation with depth.
Six lodes discovered to date
“This has depth potential implications for all six lodes discovered to date as well as the overall prospectivity and potential scale of the Webbs Consol silver project,” he added.
As to the grades improving as the drilling went deeper, the intervals reported were 15.3m at 1,489g/t AgEq from 126m down hole, then — from 172m — there were 9m ay 1,552g/t of AgEq.
By 196m, there were 8.1m at 2,200g/t AgEq and, from 201m, 3.1m at 3,325g/t AgEq.
This drill intercept represents the highest endowment of all the drilling done by the company so far at Webbs Consol.
It is also seven time greater that the previous hole which returned 54m at 304g/t AgEq.
Historic sampling indicates high-grade zinc and silver
The company says that multiple drill holes have been designed to test the Tangoa West Lode down to a vertical depth of 450m.
It was reported that 12 historical samples taken from the lowest level of the main Webbs Consol shaft, at 205m depth, averaged 210 g/t silver, 22.6% zinc and 2.74% lead.
No leaching or secondary enrichment has been identified.
