Benz aims to upgrade, expand Mel zinc
North of 60 Mining News – February 2, 2018
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Last updated 9/24/2020 at 6:20pm
Benz Mining Corp.
This core is from an 8.62-meter drill intercept from 2017 drilling at the Mel project that averaged 10.9 percent zinc and 62.8 percent barite.
Benz Mining Corp. Jan. 30 said it plans to complete 14,000 meters of drilling during its 2018 exploration and resource upgrade program at the Mel zinc-lead-barite project in southeastern Yukon.
The Mel Main zone hosts 5.28 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 6.51 percent zinc, 1.86 percent lead and 45 percent barite (BaSO4).
The company is looking into the potential of marketing the barite, which is a major component and the weighting agent used in drilling mud for the oil and gas industry's exploration and developmental drilling programs. It suppresses high formation pressures and prevents blowouts; the deeper the hole, the more barite is needed as a percentage of the total mud mix.
The first objective Benz's 2018 program at Mel is to increase the zinc- and barite-rich resource base by drilling the northern and southern extensions of Mel Main, as well as the Jeri and Jeri North targets.
The company said trenching completed last year indicated a potential 125-meter northern extension of Mel Main and the zone remains open to the south.
Benz Mining Corp.
Benz completed nine holes at the Mel project in southeastern Yukon last year, seven of which cut significant barite grades.
The company plans to test these extensions of the Mel resource with 3,000 meters of drilling in 12-16 holes.
Trenching and shallow drilling are planned for Jeri and Jeri North, exploration targets where past drilling and soil anomalies indicate the potential for finding a new, near-surface resource.
Benz plans to begin its exploration at the Jeri targets with trenching, followed by a roughly 1,000-meter initial phase of drilling.
The second objective of the 2018 program is to upgrade the resource at Mel.
To accomplish this, the company is planning to complete 10,000 meters of infill drilling at Mel Main. The company said this drilling, along with drilling completed last year, is expected to provide enough detail to upgrade the majority of the inferred resource to the higher confidence measured and indicated categories.
-SHANE LASLEY
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