Golden Birch prepares for initial drilling at Omu Prospect

Highlights

• Drill targets defined.
• Drill pad has been prepared.
  
• Newly acquired CS 1000 drill rig expected to be delivered by helicopter to the Omu drill pad by 15th December.
• Upgrade of the Waki exploration camp is nearing completion.
• Drilling planned to commence immediately once drill rig has been assembled on site.

Alan Martin, CEO & President of Golden Birch, stated: "We are very excited with our preparations for the initial drill programme at our flagship Omu prospect. Over the next week we expect to mobilise our CS 1000 drill rig via helicopter to the drill site. We are hoping to begin drilling by mid-December. Our first holes will test the large Omu Main IP target and we look forward to reporting the results."

The Omu Prospect is one of the main targets associated with the company's Keveri Project, located approximately 180 km south east of Port Moresby in the Abau District of the Central Province in PNG. The exploration licences straddle a major WNW trending regional structure, the Keveri Fault Zone, which is the southeastern extension of the major structures within the Papuan Mobile Fold Belt. These major structures are important in the emplacement of porphyry and porphyry related Cu-Au deposits in PNG. The company is focusing exploration activities on porphyry-style and porphyry-related Cu-Au mineralisation related to mafic to intermediate composition porphyritic intrusive stocks proximal to the Keveri Fault.

Exploration work completed to date by the company at Omu Prospect includes:

• Rock chip sampling of outcrop and rock float.
• Geological mapping.
• Soil sampling on a 100 m x 100 m grid over a total area of approximately 2 km x 2 kms.
• 26 petrographic samples.
• 3D IP (induced polarisation) survey over an area of approximately 1.5 km x 1.5 km.

Soil sampling, geological mapping and geophysical surveying have defined several target areas requiring follow-up exploration. Results show that mineralisation is characteristic of porphyry related and possible porphyry copper-gold systems with grades that are economically encouraging. By combining geology, geochemistry and geophysics, Golden Birch has generated and prioritised targets for the next phase of exploration. No drilling to date has been completed at these primary targets and this planned drill programme represents the inaugural drill-ing at the Omu prospect.

The Keveri Project contains numerous targets with significant Cu-Au mineralisation that is interpreted to be associated with porphyry style deposits. The work of Golden Birch and previous owners has delineated several target areas, and additional work is warranted to determine if economic mineralisation exists on the Property.

A compilation of these exploration results has been completed over the last several months resulting in the targets defined for this initial drill programme. The planned drill programme will initially consist of approximately 800 m of diamond drilling in two holes.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/exploration-development/08122020/golden-birch-prepares-for-initial-drilling-at-omu-prospect/