Stavely Minerals – (ASX: SVY, Share Price: $0.77, Market Cap: $207m, coverage initiated @ $0.33 in March 2019 – current gain of 133%)
Key Catalyst
Strong new shallow intercept at the Cayley Lode discovery in Victoria, including a high-grade zone of 28m at 3.31% Cu, 0.49g/t Au – and located ~275m along strike from the discovery intercept.
We initiated coverage of SVY during March 2019, on the back of the company’s burgeoning exploration success in Victoria. SVY has claimed a ‘major exploration breakthrough’ related to a recent review of drill-core, assay results and other technical data undertaken in conjunction with the company’s consultants, Greg Corbett, Scott Halley and Paul Ashley. The review has significantly improved SVY’s understanding of the mineralisation setting at its Thursday’s Gossan prospect, highlighting significant similarities between the project’s large mineralised system and the Butte, Montana and Magma, Arizona copper deposits. On the back of this technical review, SVY is now testing for similar high-grade, lode-hosted copper-gold-silver mineralisation. An intensive resource drill-out is currently underway on this ~1km long discovery zone, with the aim of delineating near-surface copper-gold-silver mineralisation over a significant strike extent.
Latest Activity
Thursdays Gossan Project Update
SVY has reported significant new assay results from the ongoing resource drilling program at the shallow high-grade copper-gold discovery at the Thursday’s Gossan prospect, which forms part of its 100%-owned Stavely Copper-Gold Project in Victoria.
Overview
Ongoing resource drilling within the high-grade Cayley Lode discovery at the Thursday’s Gossan prospect has returned one of the most significant intercepts since its discovery in September last year. The strong new intercept from diamond hole SMD104 is located ~275m southeast along strike from the discovery intercept of 32m at 5.88% Cu, 1.00g/t Au and 58g/t Ag in SMD050 last year – and continues to reinforce the scale, continuity and shallow nature of the copper-gold-silver mineralisation within the Cayley Lode.
An intensive resource drill-out is continuing, with a focus of extending to the northwest within the 1.5km long discovery zone, with in-fill and step-out drilling continuing based on a roughly 40m x 40m drilling grid. The Mineral Resource drill-out is well advanced and progressing well.
Results
Diamond drill-hole SMD104 has intersected a very broad zone of significant copper mineralisation in a very shallow intercept in the Cayley Lode – comprising 144m at 1.04% Cu, 0.15g/t Au and 3.4g/t Ag from 35m down-hole. This hole includes 84m at 1.55% Cu, 0.23g/t Au and 5.0g/t Ag from 95m, which in turn includes 28m at 3.31% Cu, 0.49g/t Au and 7.1g/t Ag from 151m.
SMD104 was drilled in an attempt to understand the significant change in tenor of copper-gold-silver mineralisation between drill-holes SMD052 (67m at 0.38% Cu and 0.10g/t Au) and SMD084 (69m at 1.00% Cu and 0.18g/t Au) on adjacent sections.
Not only has SMD104 exceeded the intercept in SMD084, but it has also demonstrated that there is likely to be some structural disruption on the SMD052 section that has displaced the high-grade intercept that otherwise would have been expected on the ultramafic contact – i.e. SMD052 has not effectively tested the target position.
Technical Significance
SVY is excited by the scale of the opportunity that continues to emerge at Thursday’s Gossan, as ongoing drill programs continue to define the Cayley Lode – both along strike and at depth. SVY now has significant drill intercepts in the Cayley Lode over a strike length of more than 1.5km, as well as intercepts in other structural positions to drill depths of 1,150m. From an investor perspective, upside comes from the potential for ongoing drilling to identify further high-grade copper-gold-silver mineralisation over substantial widths.
In addition to defining the known high-grade copper-gold-silver mineralisation within the three structures identified to date at the Thursday’s Gossan prospect – the Cayley Lode in the Ultramafic Contact Fault, the Copper Lode Splay and the North-South Structure – SVY is planning to introduce two large-capacity diamond drill rigs on-site within the next couple of weeks to commence drilling two 1,500m diamond drill holes to test for the blind porphyry system that is interpreted to be driving the mineralised system.
Figure 1: Drill-hole SMD104 cross-section
Next Steps
The intention of the current Mineral Resource drill program is to delineate high-grade, near-surface copper-gold-silver mineralisation over a significant strike extent within the Cayley Lode, which would complement the existing large Inferred Mineral Resource that’s hosted within a shallow chalcocite-enriched blanket – comprising 28 million tonnes at 0.4% copper (gold and silver not estimated) at Thursday’s Gossan.
Once the near-surface potential is confirmed and some similar regional targets are tested, drilling will shift towards confirming the depth potential of the high-grade copper-gold-silver mineralisation on a number of mineralised structures – including the Cayley Lode, the North-South Structure (NSS) and the Copper Lode Splay (CLS). Other structures that have the potential to host well-developed copper-gold mineralisation may be inferred from a recently completed seismic survey.
Summary
The latest drilling results are significant because they demonstrate ongoing consistency and continuity of mineralisation within the Cayley Lode. The recognition that SVY should be using a Magma/Butte high-grade structurally-controlled mineralisation model for its drill-targeting has been rewarded in the form of encouraging drill results and share price recognition.
The deposit’s potential scale is significant and SVY is therefore accelerating its drilling program to define the full extent of the Cayley Lode and other mineralised structures, including the Copper Lode Splay and the North-South Structure.
Resource drilling is continuing, with four rigs operating on a roughly 40m x 40m drill pattern, and a further two rigs set to join the program. It is expected that an interim Mineral Resource estimate for the shallow portions of the Cayley Lode will be completed during H2 2020.
