Unity expands O’Phlay discovery with $70m gold find
Unity Metals has returned a significant intersection from its first follow-up hole at the O’Phlay project in Cambodia, extending the mineralised zone to at least 230m depth. Hole 26DDCM005, designed to test the significance of the July discovery, returned 70.4m at 1.1g/t gold from 195m, including 15.4m at 1.8g/t from 250m. The intersection sits roughly 100m beneath the initial discovery hole and also contained 9m at 0.5g/t from 178m.
The initial discovery hole, 26DDCM001, hit 40m at 1.9g/t Au from 82m, including 17m at 3.9g/t and 5m at 10.5g/t. This marked the first modern drilling ever undertaken at O’Phlay. Unity Metals (ASX:UM1) notes that the success of hole 005 goes beyond a wide gold intercept; it provides the company with its first real understanding of the shape and orientation of the mineralised system.
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Drilled on the same section as the discovery hole, 005 intersected a continuation of broad zones of massive and stockwork quartz-arsenopyrite veins hosted in diorite. Unity now interprets the zone as dipping steeply southeast, with an estimated true width of around 45-50m and mineralisation extending from surface to at least 230m vertical depth. The zone also appears to strike northeast, an orientation seen in massive veins in drill core and historical workings. It is associated with a prominent northeast-trending magnetic high, part of a series of magnetic anomalies extending for kilometres across O’Phlay.
The emerging geometry should give Unity a more focused basis for planning the next round of holes. Managing director Craig Mackay said the new intercept confirms the broad gold mineralisation discovered previously. There are signs of where the system could head next but these are yet to be confirmed with assay results. Hole 007, drilled just 20m north of holes 001 and 005, intersected strong stockwork quartz-arsenopyrite veining over an interpreted true width of around 40m. Hole 006, 40m south-southwest of the discovery hole, encountered thinner mineralised intervals of less than 5m, suggesting the zone may narrow in that direction. Earlier holes 002-004 returned no significant gold. Those holes were drilled before assays from the discovery hole were available and helped Unity refine its interpretation. Hole 003, for example, is now thought to have passed too far west of the northeast-striking zone.
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Expanding the scope
Unity is planning another 20 diamond holes for 3250m when drilling resumes in October following the peak of Cambodia’s monsoon season. The program will test extensions of the discovery along strike and at depth, while also drilling around six other targets across O’Phlay. The company has identified several promising areas, including O’Phlay’s largest historical open pits, around 800m northwest of the discovery. Unity has recorded rock chips grading up to 28.5g/t and 21.1g/t at this location. Another target is Small Creek, 1.8km south, where historical underground mining targeted high-grade gold veins and Unity rock chips returned up to 37.1g/t.
That gives the next campaign plenty of diverse targets to work with. Unity will test the dimensions of a discovery that has delivered two broad intersections on the same section while opening up several new areas across a project that has never seen modern exploration before the company’s arrival. Drilling is expected to resume in October, with assays flowing through the December quarter.
