Ventnor Resources: high grade copper strikes at Green Dragon provide immediate ore for production

Ventnor Resources (ASX: VRX) has delivered some outstanding intersections from reverse circulation drilling at the highly prospective and strategically located Thaduna and Green Dragon copper project.

Phase three drilling highlights from the Green Dragon prospect include:

- 10 metres at 6.82% copper from 34 metres, including 6 metres at 10.96% copper;
- 7 metres at 4.43% copper from 75 metres, including 5 metres at 6.07% copper; and
- 7 metres at 4.33% copper from 88 metres, including 5 metres at 5.93% copper.

Supporting these discoveries are some broad intersections, including; 19 metres at 3.33% copper from 63 metres, including 12 metres at 5.07% copper; and 29 metres at 2.22% copper from surface, including 9 metres at 4.00% copper.

Bruce Maluish, managing director, commented on the very positive drilling results:

“The last phase of reverse circulation at the Green Dragon has largely completed the investigation of the extent of the main zone of mineralisation to a vertical depth of 200 metres.

“Significant high grade results at or near the surface greatly enhance the economics of this deposit with immediate ore access for production.”

Where the story gets even more interesting for Green Dragon, is that the prospect is just 4 kilometres north of the primary project at Thaduna, and is ideally situated to provide high-grade supplementary feed stock early in the production
scenario.

The majority of the mineralisation at the Green Dragon confirmed to date is chalcocite. The company is also well funded to continues exploration, after raising $3.4 million from a placement earlier in the month.


Phase four diamond drilling underway

A 9000 metre phase four drilling program is already underway with predominately diamond drilling to be completed in April 2012, allowing for a JORC Resource to be delivered to the market around mid-2012.

Two 2 HQ diamond holes for 340 metres will be drilled within the main mineralised zone to generate metallurgical samples, as well as geotechnical data to aid with pit design work.


Strategically located

To say Thaduna and Green Dragon is strategically located is almost an understatement, with the area rapidly turning into one of the biggest, if not the best, emerging copper districts in Australia.

Highlighting the prospectivity, Sandfire Resources' (ASX: SFR) massive De Grussa project is just 40 kilometres away, with a group of explorers in the region discovering high grade copper during 2011.


Analysis

The phase three assays plus previous results show that Ventnor has something special at Thaduna and Green Dragon, which further drilling will unfurl over time.

Phase four drilling is already underway with a focus on diamond drilling to provide additional data to the JORC Resource forecast for around mid-June.

Originally published at: http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/25492/ventnor-resources-high-grade-copper-strikes-at-green-dragon-provide-immediate-ore-for-production-25492.html