PEAK ASSET: MORNING WRAP 6 March:ASX 200 futures are pointing down 156 points or 1.8 per cent to 8770 | Dow Jones plunges, oil surges toward $US86/barrel | Auravelle Metals ramps up exploration at Nuckulla Hill gold project |

Auravelle Metals ramps up exploration at Nuckulla Hill gold project

• AUV to begin new phase of exploration at Nuckulla Hill gold project in SA
• Company aims to refine and expand drill targets for future RC program
• Preliminary metallurgical testwork also underway at the project

Special Report: Auravelle Metals has commenced a major new phase of exploration at its Nuckulla Hill project in South Australia.

The company will undertake a detailed aeromagnetic survey covering the entire 40km strike extent of the highly prospective Yarlbrinda Shear Zone – which is host to Barton Gold’s (ASX:BGD) neighbouring 1.6Moz Tunkillia gold project.

It also hosts Auravelle Metals’ (ASX:AUV) high-priority Sheoak gold prospect, which recently returned 28m at 3.4g/t gold in RC drilling.

The 9,400-line km survey will be undertaken on 25m line-spacing, with selected areas on 50m spacing, yielding significantly more detail than the current 200m spaced data.

The company expects the data to assist in defining new target areas and refining existing targets, building on its recent structural targeting review which highlighted multiple new targets in areas with little to no previous work or drilling.

Then the plan is to commence infill and extensional RC drilling at Sheoak in the coming weeks.

Metallurgical work also on the cards

MD Andrew Muir said work is rapidly advancing at Nuckulla Hill on multiple fronts.

“A detailed magnetic survey is currently underway aimed at identifying and refining targets for new gold discoveries along the entire 40km strike extent of the highly fertile Yarlbrinda Shear Zone that sits within Auravelle’s tenements,” he said.

“At Sheoak, we continue to improve our knowledge of the gold mineralisation. Down-hole televiewer surveys have been completed on a number of existing RC holes to give insights into mineralisation controls that cannot be gathered from the RC drill chips.

“In addition, preliminary metallurgical test work is underway to provide a vital early-stage assessment of the recovery characteristics of the gold mineralisation to guide potential future development studies.

“Sheoak sits within a zone of gold anomalism that has so far been defined over a strike extent of more than 600m.

“The next phase of RC drilling scheduled to commence in the coming weeks is designed to in-fill and extend this gold mineralisation both along strike and at depth.”

In addition, aircore drilling is also planned at Nuckulla Hill in Q2, with further follow up RC potentially on the cards once the current programs wrap up.

At its other projects, AUV plans to visit the site and begin sampling at the Skye gold project in SA, and soil sampling at the Crown gold project in WA.

Source: Stockhead