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(Sharecast News) - Wishbone Gold unveiled encouraging results from its ongoing diamond drilling at the Cottesloe Project on Friday, a venture it wholly owns.
The AIM-traded firm said the preliminary findings showed substantial mineralisation potential, affirming the exploration model's validity for a notable sediment-hosted metals system, with a particular emphasis on base metals and silver.
It said the current phase of drilling, concentrated in the southern portion of the Cottesloe tenements, encompassed three tenements spread across 165 square kilometres.
The area was regarded as highly prospective for both precious and base metals, the board said.
It added that the subsequent drilling phase was slated for the northern section of Cottesloe, where it anticipated encountering even more promising mineralisation.
The developments but on the firm's 13 December announcement, which highlighted visually-encouraging results indicating zones with 10% to 20% base metal sulphides and elevated base metals readings from portable x-ray fluorescence scans.
Wishbone said it was presently leveraging the data gleaned from the drill programme to refine geophysical interpretations through the modelling of density, structural, and geochemical information.
Among the highlights of the new findings were highly anomalous lead-zinc and silver, indicative of the presence of hydrothermal fluids circulating through the basin sequence.
Additionally, a major structure/cavity was discovered at 160 metres to 180 metres in hole 23CTRCD004A, potentially part of a large fault-thrust dominant structure.
Downhole strip logs revealed key replacement zones, notably lead, zinc and copper increasing, while calcium and magnesium decreased, suggesting the replacement of dolomitic shale by pyrite, sphalerite, and galena from hydrothermal fluid.
The drill programme also intersected elevated mineralisation across various elements, including zinc, lead, silver, nickel, cobalt, lithium, titanium, barium, lanthanum and vanadium.
Additionally, the basin stratigraphy's suitability for sediment-hosted base metal mineralisation, akin to nearby deposits, was confirmed.
The company said it planned to use density data obtained from drilling to reinterpret gravity in light of detailed stratigraphy.
Wishbone added that it had capitalised on funding opportunities, with 50% of diamond drilling costs being covered by the Westen Australian government's EIS scheme, up to $0.22m.
"These results are spectacular and vindicate our original belief that Cottesloe has significant potential," said chairman Richard Poulden.
"For it to occur in the south highlights the scale of what we have in front of us for the entirety of the project."
Poulden said that to have mineralisation and zonation of minerals from surface to 700 metres was "truly incredible", adding that the confirmed large scale mineralised system was "great news".
"We may have a very large base and battery metals discovery in the making at Cottesloe and look forward to moving this project further along the exploration curve in 2024 as this year's exploration season is just about to commence."
At 1422 GMT, shares in Wishbone Gold were up 19.99% at 1.29p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
