REG - Red Rock Resources - Drilling begins at Historic Berringa Gold Mine

Red Rock ResourcesAnnouncement

13/12/2022 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20221213:nRSM4515Ja&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 4515J  Red Rock Resources plc  13 December 2022

Red Rock Resources PLC

("Red Rock" or the "Company")

Drilling Begins at Historic Berringa Gold Mine

13 December 2022

Red Rock Resources PLC (LON:RRR), a natural resource development company with
interests in gold and base metals, principally in Africa and Australia,
announces an update in relation to the exploration programmes being carried
out by joint venture subsidiary New Ballarat Gold Corporation plc ("JV" or
"NBGC") in the Victoria Goldfields of Australia. Exploration is carried out by
Red Rock Australasia Pty Ltd ("RRAL"), the 100% owned Australian operating
subsidiary of NBGC.

Further to the announcement of the acquisition of the Berringa Gold Mine on 22
September 2022, Red Rock announces that diamond drilling has begun at the
historic Berringa Gold Mine ("Berringa" or the "Project"), near Ballarat in
the Victoria Goldfields.

HIGHLIGHTS:

§ Diamond drill rig has been mobilised to site and drilling has commenced at
the historic Berringa former high-grade producing gold mine in the Victoria
Goldfields.

§ Planned 1,000 metres of diamond drilling with an estimated 5 drill holes
into 3 priority targets to test for the extension of previously mined gold
mineralisation.

§ Expedited assay testing arrangements in place with batch sampling process
expected to deliver first assay results in early 2023.

§ A video showing the planned drill programme may be viewed through the
following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=825WYdDVdyQ
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=825WYdDVdyQ)

The cost of the drill programme to NBGC is estimated at approximately AUD
350,000.

Red Rock Chairman Andrew Bell comments:

"We have now begun our diamond drilling campaign targeting three high-priority
targets within the historical Berringa Gold mine. This has been some time in
the planning as we refined and interpreted our 3-D model derived from old
workings and data.

At Berringa, historical production of high-grade gold has amounted to 293,250
ounces at 8.3 g/t and we now start to test the hypothesis that there is a
considerable gold endowment remaining. This drill programme is not large, but
will at minimum provide valuable information, and at maximum may identify the
continuation of high grade mineralisation.

The key thing to remember in the Goldfields, which are typified by nuggety
mineralisation, is that anything over 0.1 g/t may be regarded as mineralised,
and as recent results in a neighbouring tenement showed, a sampling of one
half of a core may yield little gold, while the other half core on sampling
may yield over 20 g/t. We are drilling at this stage for structure, and
drilling out a structure to try to delineate a mineralised body at a typical
6-8 g/t gold grade would be a later stage.

Further updates will be given as drilling continues."

BACKGROUND

Red Rock announced the acquisition of exploration licence EL 5535 (the
"Acquisition"), covering the footprint of the Berringa workings, on 22
September 2022.

Further background to the Acquisition including detailed records of historical
production from Berringa (293,250 ounces of gold at 8.3g/t), as well as
further information regarding the conceptual (but unproven) exploration
targets totalling up to 2.91M ounces of gold was included in the Company's
announcement on 6 July 2022.

A map highlighting the location of Berringa may be seen below:

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/4515J_1-2022-12-12.pdf
(http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/4515J_1-2022-12-12.pdf)

Diagrams, images and videos from the Victoria Goldfields are available on the
Company's website through the following link and will be updated as drilling
progresses:

https://www.rrrplc.com/projects-and-investments/gold/red-rock-australasia/
 

The JV is in the process of renewing licence EL5535 seeking a 5-year
exploration licence period with effect from 16 November 2022.

DRILL PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS

Approximately 1,000m of diamond drilling is to be undertaken at Berringa by
the JV drilling contractor, Trimac Drilling Pty Ltd, Ballarat, Victoria.

 

An estimated 5 drill holes are anticipated, with an average depth of 200m per
hole, over three priority gold targets outlined below.

§  South Birthday: The South Birthday and Birthday mines at Berringa had
the most consistent mineralisation within what is known as the Birthday Reef.
This Reef consists of a laminated 1-2m quartz lode found within a black shale
unit which rolls from the west limb into the east limb of the main anticline.
This mineralisation remains open to the south and planned drilling here is
designed to test for the southerly plunge of the Birthday Reef below the
historical workings of a previously mined lode.

 

§  Berringa Syndicate:  Targeting a previously identified non-JORC
compliant resource at the Southland Mine to confirm the potential grade and
tonnage identified by the Berringa Syndicate in the 1980s. Here drilling will
be targeting the downdip potential of the Kangaroo quartz reef found within
the eastern limb of the main anticline.

 

§  Kangaroo East: Previous mining at the Kangaroo Mine identified a
secondary parallel reef named the Big Reef which is located east of the main
Kangaroo shaft. The Big Reef is a laminated quartz reef hosted within a black
shale on the western limb of the eastern anticline. The drill target will test
for the along-strike extension of the Big Reef. The successful drill testing
of this lode along strike extension could lead to further exploration
opportunities on this lode elsewhere in the Berringa gold field.

Arrangements have been made with local accredited assay laboratories for gold
focused assay testing with expedited turnaround on a batch sampling basis.
Subject to the pre-Christmas drilling timetable, first assay results are
expected in early 2023.

FURTHER PROJECT WORK

 

-      In parallel with drilling, the JV will investigate the potential
to excavate and open a buried entrance to Berringa. If deemed to be possible,
the reopened adit would provide access to the Berringa shaft sub-surface.

 

-      The JV is in ongoing discussions regarding the possibility of
processing ore at the nearby Ballarat Gold Mine (located approximately 25km
away), should the JV discover and develop an economic gold deposit. This
arrangement would dramatically reduce both the mine build-out time horizons
and heavy capital requirements for building a new standalone processing
facility.

JOINT VENTURE STRUCTURE

The joint venture is held through New Ballarat Gold Corporation PLC, which is
focused on the prolific Victorian Goldfields of Australia. The JV is held
between Red Rock (50.1%) and its partner, London-listed Power Metal Resources
PLC (49.9%) (together the "JV Partners").

NBGC has a wholly owned Australian operating subsidiary Red Rock Australasia
Pty Ltd which holds a strong land position comprising 15 granted exploration
licences for a total area of 1,841km(2) within the gold fields of Victoria,
Australia, principally around the mining centre of Ballarat.

5 licences covering 493km(2) await grant. The company has carefully assembled
its portfolio of properties comprising a broad range from robust exploration
targets to near term resource potential, all of which remain largely
undeveloped by modern explorers.

With the first tenements granted only in 2021, RRAL has already conducted
detailed exploration of its initial targets, including a diamond drill test of
two prospects in December 2021 to Spring 2022.

The JV Partners retain the intention of listing the JV company NBGC and will
make further announcements as appropriate.

QUALIFIED PERSON STATEMENT

The technical information in this report is compiled by David Holden, BSc,
MBA, MEM, who is a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and the
Executive Officer and Exploration Manager of RRAL. He is a member of a
recognised professional organisation and has sufficient relevant experience to
qualify as a qualified person as defined in the Guidance Note for Mining, Oil
and Gas Companies, published by AIM.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law
by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is
disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of
MAR.

For further information please visit www.rrrplc.com (http://www.rrrplc.com) or
contact:

Andrew Bell 0207 747
9990
Chairman Red Rock Resources Plc

Roland Cornish/ Rosalind Hill Abrahams 0207 628 3396           NOMAD
Beaumont Cornish Limited

Jason Robertson 0207 374
2212
        Broker First Equity Limited
 

 

 

NOTE TO EDITORS

Red Rock Resources plc - Background

Red Rock Resources plc (LON:RRR) is an AIM listed metals exploration company
focused on gold, copper and battery metals and principally active in Africa
and Australia. It has historically been involved with production as well as
exploration, having brought a historic gold mine back into production in
Colombia and participated in the development to production of a major open pit
manganese mine in South Africa.

The Company currently has gold exploration projects in Kenya, West Africa and
Australia, copper/cobalt exploration in Congo, and lithium exploration in
Zimbabwe.

 

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  DRLVLLFFLLLZFBV