Communicators

Latest intersections open-up potential for multi-million tonne copper-gold resource

-          Diamond drilling intersects 25m haematite breccia including a 15m zone of intense copper mineralisation with visual copper-sulphides at the high-grade Bluebird copper-gold discovery.

-          The latest intersection, in BBDD0025, opens-up the potential of the western step-out zone to host additional high-grade copper-gold mineralisation which remains open in all directions.

-          A separate drilling program continues to test other high-priority geophysical targets along strike, at Perseverance, Perseverance North and Bluebird West, to replicate the Bluebird discovery.

Image 1: Two rigs drilling at the Bluebird copper-gold discovery (looking east from western step-out zone).

Tennant Minerals Chairman Matt Driscoll commented:

“These latest intersections have confirmed the continuity of the intense copper mineralisation at the Bluebird discovery, where we have successfully doubled the strike length to 240 metres and extended to over 300 metres depth in our ongoing Stage 2 drilling program.

“With the discovery remaining open at depth and in all directions, this opens-up Bluebird’s potential to host a multi-million tonne deposit of similar dimensions to other major high-grade deposits at Tennant Creek, such as the nearby Peko Mine, which produced 3.7 million tonnes at 4 percent copper and 3.5 grams per tonne gold.

“We also believe there is significant potential for additional high-grade copper-gold discoveries along strike from Bluebird, where we are advancing a parallel drilling program to test high priority geophysical targets to further enhance our growing resource base, with the ultimate objective of establishing a stand-alone mining and processing operation.”

Figure 1: Bluebird longitudinal projection with high-grade copper-gold results to date and latest intersections.

Tennant Minerals Ltd (ASX:TMS) (“Tennant” or “the Company”) has intersected a 25m haematite alteration/breccia zone with 15m of intense copper mineralisation and visible copper-sulphides in the latest hole (BBDD0025) in the ongoing Stage 2 drilling program at the Bluebird copper-gold discovery.  This intersection is the deepest hole in the recently discovered western step-out zone which remains completely open at depth and along strike (Figures 1 and 2). 

Bluebird is located within the Company’s 100%-owned Barkly Project, 40km east of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory (see location, Figure’s 3 and 4).

The intense copper mineralisation in BBDD0025 occurs 50m down plunge and to the west of the previously announced BBDD0018, which intersected 32.5m of intense haematite and copper mineralisation from 151.6m including a 7m zone of predominantly massive copper-sulphides1,2.  This hole is being processed by Intertek Laboratories, with results pending.

The Company has now completed eight holes for 2,340m of a minimum 3,000m Stage 2 drilling program, which has already succeeded in doubling the strike-length of the Bluebird discovery to 240m (see Figure 1) and extended the mineralisation to over 300m below surface1.  The mineralised zone remains open in all directions.

The latest intersections from the Stage 2 program include BBDD0025, located on step-out section 448,280mE (see Figure 1 and cross section, Figure 2, below), which intersected a 25m zone of haematite alteration and brecciation from 199m downhole including a 15m zone of intense copper mineralisation with visible sulphides (predominantly chalcocite) from 205m downhole (Refer Appendix 1 for mineralisation descriptions).

Figure 2: Cross-section 448,280mE with new intensely mineralised intersection in BBDD0025 and target at depth.

Other recent mineralised intersections from the Stage 2 drilling program (see Figure 1) include:

-          BBDD0024, located on the western-most section drilled, 448,240mE, which intersected a 17m zone of haematite alteration from 204m downhole including a 5m zone of copper mineralisation which included chalcocite and minor chalcopyrite from 207m downhole (Refer Appendix 1), and,

-          BBDD0019, which tested the central mineralised zone below the previously reported BBDD0022 copper mineralised intersection1 (see Figure 1). This hole intersected a massive sulphide zone including chalcopyrite from 207m to 207.6m downhole; a 5m zone of haematite alteration/mineralisation from 251m downhole and a third, 26m intersection of haematite alteration from 348.7m downhole on the south dipping limb of the anticline (Refer Appendix 1).

Samples from all mineralised intersections to date are being logged and processed with the aim of having all drill core submitted for analyses by the end of 2022, with the results available during January/February 2023.  Drilling details are shown in Table 1.

The Bluebird copper-gold mineralisation will then be modelled in 3D prior to follow-up mineral resource definition and extension drilling which is targeted to commence in March 2023, following the wet-season.

drill-testing of other PRIORITY magnetic-gravity-induced polarisation targets

The Bluebird discovery is one of multiple targets identified within the Company’s Barkly Project along a 5km east-west trending gravity anomaly known as the “Bluebird Corridor”. 

Preliminary drill-testing of other priority magnetic-gravity-induced polarisation (IP) targets2, including Perseverance, Perseverance North and Bluebird West (see Figure 3, below) is also being carried out to identify further copper-gold deposits within this zone.

The priority targets being tested include the Perseverance gold deposit where previous bonanza drill-intersections of 3m @ 50.0 g/t Au7 and 3m @ 43.2 g/t Au7 are associated with a structure that is interpreted to sit above the modelled magnetic/gravity high. This potentially represents an ironstone  hosted copper-gold system at depth.

Figure 3: Bluebird-Perseverance zone magnetic intensity image, with structures & magnetic-gravity-IP targets.

ABOUT THE BLUEBIRD COPPER-GOLD DISCOVERY

The high-grade Bluebird copper-gold discovery is located within the Company’s 100% owned Barkly Project, at the eastern edge of the Tennant Creek (copper-gold) Mineral Field (TCMF), which produced over 5Moz of gold and over 500kt of copper from 1934 to 20053 (see Figure 4 below).

Figure 4: Location of the Barkly Project and major historical mines in the Tennant Creek Mineral Field

The latest diamond intersections in the Stage 2 drilling program have extended the thick high-grade dilational zone of mineralisation at Bluebird 120m to the west of high-grade copper-gold intersections (total now 240m strike-length and open) previously announced by the Company4,5 (Figure 1), including:

-          63.0m @ 2.1% Cu and 4.6g/t Au from 153m (down hole) in BBDD00124 (448,360mE)

• including 40.0m @ 3.0% Cu and 7.3g/t Au from 155.0m,
• including 27.55m @ 3.6% Cu and 10.0g/t Au from 160.45m.

-          40m @ 2.6% Cu and 1.34g/t Au from 131m (down hole) in BDD00134 (448,340mE)

• including 24.5m @ 3.9% Cu and 0.45g/t Au from 146.5m,
• including 4.75m @ 15.2% Cu and 0.36g/t Au from 164m.

-          50.0m @ 2.70% Cu and 0.52 g/t Au from 158m (down hole) in BBDD00075 (448,380mE)

• including 24.0m @ 5.01% Cu and 1.01 g/t Au from 159m,
• including   4.3m @ 14.7% Cu and 3.10 g/t Au from 176.6m.

Previous drilling intersections targeting depth extensions of the Bluebird deposit include 17.8m @ 3.7 % Cu, 0.34g/t Au from 277m (including 9.5m @ 6.0% Cu) in BBDD00155, which indicates proximity to a second dilational (thickened) zone target at depth (Figure 2).

The results of the IP program carried out at Bluebird revealed a distinct low resistivity (high conductivity) and coincident chargeability response corresponding with the Bluebird mineralisation on the central section 448,360mE, thus confirming that Bluebird can be detected with IP.  This section includes the BBDD0012 intersection of 63m @ 2.1% Cu, 4.6g/t Au4 and the IP low resistivity zone indicates continuity at depth down to >400m below surface.

Interpretation of the key drilling intersections, utilising structural data from logging of drill core, indicates that the thick and high-grade copper and gold intersections in BBDD00124 and BBDD00135, as well as the massive copper sulphide mineralisation in BBDD00182 and the recent intersections in BBDD0021 and BBDD0025 (results pending), are associated with structures that have intersected the axis of a shallow-plunging anticline, generating a thick dilational mineralised zone (Figure 2). 

The Stage 2 drilling program builds on the successful, recently-completed, Stage 1 diamond drilling program.  At least 10 holes for 3,000m are being drilled in Stage 2, with the aim of extending the Bluebird discovery along strike and at depth and to test for extensions/repeats of the high-grade copper-gold zone along strike to the west within the Bluebird-Perseverance Target Zone (Figure 3). 

The Stage 2 drilling program will aim to identify potential for multiple high-grade copper-gold deposits of similar scale to the Peko deposit, 20km west of Bluebird (Figure 3), which produced 3.7Mt @ 4% Cu and 3.5g/t Au from 1934 and 19813. 

Table 1 below includes Bluebird Stage 2 drillhole details completed to date: 

Appendix 1 includes descriptions of the mineralisation intersected by BBDD0019, BBDD0024, and BBDD0025. 

Appendix 2 includes JORC Table 1, Sections 1 and 2.

REFERENCES

1 21/11/2022. Tennant Minerals (ASX.TMS): “Drilling Doubles Strike Length of Bluebird Copper Gold”.

228/10/2022. Tennant Minerals (ASX.TMS): “Massive Chalcopyrite Intersected at Bluebird”.

3 Portergeo.com.au/database/mineinfo. Tennant Creek - Gecko, Warrego, White Devil, Nobles Nob, Juno, Peko, Argo.

417/08/2022. Tennant Minerals (ASX. TMS): “Bonanza 63m@ 2.1% Copper and 4.6 g/t Gold Intersection at Bluebird”.

5 07/09/2022. Tennant Minerals (ASX. TMS): “Up to 54.5% Cu in Massive Sulphides at Bluebird”.

6 25/08/2022. Tennant Minerals (ASX. TMS): “Standout Geophysical Targets to Replicate Bluebird Cu-Au Discovery”.

7 25/02/1995, Posgold. Final Report for Exploration Licence 7693, 2/6/92 to 25/11/94. NTGS Report CR19950192.

***ENDS***

For enquiries please contact:

Matthew Driscoll

Non-Executive Chairman

M: +61 417 041 725

Stuart Usher

Company Secretary

M: +61 499 900 044