A 60,000m drilling campaign has begun at Strickland Metals’ Rogozna gold project
Two diamond rigs are on site to initially focus on infill extensions to the 4.6Moz Shanac resource
Two more DD rigs to arrive in the coming weeks
Strickland well-funded to support its Rogozna and WA Yandal projects with $51.4m cash
Special Report: Strickland Metals has kicked off a huge 60,000m drilling campaign at its newly acquired 5.4Moz Rogozna gold project in Serbia.
Gold explorer Strickland Metals (ASX:STK) has been focusing on its Yandal gold project in WA lately, where high-grade gold hits have been steadily streaming in from drill results at the Palomino prospect.
Yet, cashed up from the $61m sale of its Millrose gold project to Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) last year, STK has been running the ruler over other advanced projects which culminated in the recent purchase of the 5.4Moz Rogozna gold project in Serbia for ~$37m in shares.
A number of global majors have significant Serbian projects, including BHP (ASX:BHP), Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), Vale, Zijin Mining, Kinross Gold and Dundee Precious Metals.
Mid-capped silver producer Adriatic Metals (ASX:ADT) paved the way for exploration companies operating in the region – listing for 20c in 2018 to now become an $800m company with a share price of ~$4.
Rogozna 2024/25 drill campaign
The proposed 60,000m diamond drilling plan to end calendar 2025 has been designed to deliver a substantial increase to the current 5.4Moz gold equivalent resource base.
About 35,000m of resource definition drilling will be focused on the Shanac and Copper Canyon deposits (both with existing resources), as well as Medenovac and Gradina, where the company aims to deliver maiden mineral resource estimates (MRE) by mid-2025.
STK says it will soon have two diamond hole results from Medenovac that were drilled earlier this year.
Another 25,000m of discovery-focused drilling will be dedicated to testing the extensive pipeline of exploration targets that exist across the project area.
These targets fall within several categories, including:
Target areas with significant mineralised drill intercepts from previous drilling – Copper Canyon South, Cesme and Jezerska Reka
Targets occurring in proximity to existing deposits with limited or no previous drilling – Kotlovi and Red Creek
Recently defined target areas with no previous drilling – Obradov Potok; and
porphyry copper-gold targets – strong geophysical anomalies with associated pathfinder geochemical anomalism
The Rogozna gold project prospects. Pic supplied: (STK)
Drilling at Shanac
STK’s primary focus will be on the 4.6Moz gold Shanac deposit contained within Rogozna, with ~7000m of infill drilling planned to update the resource model into higher confidence categories.
Another 3000m is planned to test extensions of the currently defined deposit – specifically to the highly prospective north and east of the current resource where there’s either limited drill data or isolated intersections of mineralisation that require follow-up drilling.
The first diamond drill rig operating at the Shanac deposit. Pic supplied: (STK)
Largest ever campaign at Rogozna
STK chair Anthony McClure says the 2024/25 drilling program at Rogozna will be the largest-ever exploration drilling program undertaken at the project, has now commenced.
“In the coming weeks we will have four diamond rigs drilling 24/7, with multiple geophysical survey crews mobilising shortly as well,” McClure says.
“The first two rigs will initially be focused on the 4.6Moz Shanac deposit, where outstanding results – such as ZRSD20120 408.9m @ 1.4g/t and EOKSC1686: 236.4m @ 1.8g/t – have historically been intersected.
“The substantial mineralisation remains open to the north, east and at depth and current drilling is expected to drive expansion of the current resource.”
Shanac, McClure notes, is the most advanced part of the Rogozna project.
“The high-grade core, which occurs from ~150m to 450m vertical depth and represents approximately 30% of the total endowment at Shanac, averages a very impressive 14,000oz per vertical metre (including up to a spectacular 20,000oz per vertical metre in parts),” McClure says.
“Drilling at Shanac is designed to better define the high-grade core, the results of which will then feed into ongoing mining studies.
“Upcoming drilling will also complete the necessary work to release maiden mineral resource for the advanced Medenovac and Gradina prospects.
“Additionally, one diamond rig will be dedicated to testing the pipeline of excellent exploration targets, with a higher priority placed on testing targets exhibiting strong copper-gold porphyry potential.
“The company eagerly looks forward to providing further updates on drilling, including the results from two previously drilled diamond holes at Medenovac, which are expected to be released shortly.”
This article was developed in collaboration with Strickland Metals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
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