Dundas rolls on with diamond drilling at Central; hits indicator sulphides, assays back in Jan 2023

Smallcap explorer Dundas Minerals (ASX:DUN), searching for copper-nickel and gold at its Central project in southern WA overlying the Albany-Fraser Orogen formation, has shrugged off earlier struggles as its diamond drill run rolls on. 

The company today reports intersecting 86.5m worth of core intervals positive for semi-massive pyrrhotite and disseminated pyrite and pyrrhotite sulphides; the drill hole in question is Hole 4 (H4). 

The semi-massive pyrrhotite found at depth down H4 has already got Dundas moving towards a second drill-hole at the target to be commenced in January 2023, with funding coming half from the WA government. 

At the same time, H5  is now being drilled in real time, with the drill roughly a third of the way on-track to its full depth of 350m. It is located 150m northwest of H1. 

Downhole EM campaign

The company is now conducting downhole electromagnetic imaging in to get the geodata it needs to start informing the shape of next-stage drilling. 

Contractors are on-site to run downhole EM tests in 4 different holes, chasing up on an already promising batch of underground targets to investigate. 

Data retrieved will be assessed and then used to corroborate an exploration design plan for the pending H6 drill target. 

What about sulphides? 

Both sulphides encountered today are typically coincident with mineralisation of all three targeted metals, however, the presence of these sulphides does not guarantee the presence of commercial metals; as is the case for lithium in spodumene. 

All in all, shareholders will need to wait for assays to get back to Dundas, which it expects to be returned in January next year. 

Shareholders should keep in mind ongoing delays at assay laboratories in WA (and across the country) remain the quo due to order backlogs, something we’ve talked about here at Market Index for most of the year. The situation is slowly improving. 

A look at width and depth 

Dundas hit a 10.25m intercept of semi-massive pyrrhotite at 500m depths, which it’s worth noting is significantly deep and poses onerous implications for any kind of mine development, at least, at this current time. 

A total of 86.5m worth of core hit disseminated (read: less concentrated) sulphides of two different types at various depths, with the shallowest at 81m. 

Drilling down the latest target was terminated at 555m depth to conduct EM surveys. 

The 10.5m massive sulphides it found at that depth, Dundas notes, are highly conductive (a promising sign that metals may be present), which supports models on-hand suggesting a deep lying hydrothermal mineral system is present.

Dundas Minerals' three month charts

Disclaimer: Market Index helps small-cap ASX listed companies connect with Australian investors through clear and concise articles on key developments. Dundas was a client at the time of publishing. All coverage contains factual information only and should not be interpreted as an opinion or financial advice.