UK-based Ankh Resources has announced the receipt and disclosure of assay results for the seventeenth and final diamond drill hole (WDD017) of its maiden drilling programme at the Wadi Dara Concession, in the Eastern Desert, in Egypt.

The company says the 17-hole programme represents an initial phase of prospect drilling, designed both to confirm the down-dip continuity of high-grade trench results and to test the lateral extent of the mineralised system.

The company says geological mapping has identified gold/copper mineralisation extending about 4 km along strike across Target Areas A and B, with an average width of about 1.5 km, of which only a small proportion has been drill-tested to date.

A total of 17 diamond drill holes, for 6 402 m, has been completed at Target Area A testing the down-dip extension of high-grade trench results and the lateral extent of mineralisation previously identified through surface mapping, geochemical sampling and trenching.

Ankh notes that significant gold and/or copper intercepts, as defined by the cut-off grades set out below, were returned from 14 of the 17 holes drilled.

The company says it considers this rate of success notable in the context of an initial prospect drilling programme of this nature, where a significant proportion of holes are typically directed at testing the margins and extent of a system rather than its highest-confidence zones.

Notable intercepts include 15 m at 1.66 g/t gold and 1.12% copper, including 2 m at 11.15 g/t gold and 4.86% copper (WDD001); 10.1 m at 2.54 g/t gold and 1.11% copper, including 0.9 m at 22.44 g/t gold and 5.69% copper (WDD002); 6.2 m at 3.44 g/t gold and 0.57% copper, including 1 m at 16.59 g/t gold and 2.70% copper (WDD005); 6 m at 5.04 g/t gold and 1.28% copper, including 1.15 m at 19.70 g/t gold and 4.85% copper (WDD006); and 1 m at 16.55 g/t gold and 1.58% copper (WDD010A).

Ankh notes that drilling has confirmed mineralisation along strike across multiple sections spanning Section 20900N to Section 21500N, a confirmed strike extent in excess of 600 m within Target Area A.

The company says drill hole WDD007 is interpreted by its exploration team as the probable southern continuation along strike of the mineralised zone first intersected in WDD001 and WDD006 on Section 21200N, extending the confirmed mineralised trend further south.

Mineralisation remains open along strike in both directions beyond the current drilling, consistent with surface mapping that has traced gold/copper mineralisation across a combined strike length of about 4 km between Target Areas A and B; the great majority of this mapped strike extent, including all of Target Area B and the intervening Wadi corridor, remains undrilled.

Mineralisation also remains open at depth, with the deepest hole drilled to date (WDD006) intersecting mineralisation to 526.8 m.

A sub-horizontal structural offset is interpreted to have displaced mineralisation at depth beneath Sections 21500N and 21900N, based on results from two independent scissor-hole pairs (WDD011/WDD013 and WDD010A/WDD012); this interpretation will be further tested in the company’s planned Phase 2 programme.

Ankh says the planned Phase 2 drilling programme is expected to include step-out drilling along strike from the confirmed 20900N–21500N corridor, initial testing of Target Area B and the intervening wadi corridor, targeted infill drilling to improve geological confidence ahead of a maiden mineral resource estimate.

Ankh CEO Mostafa Talaat says the completion of the maiden 17-hole diamond drilling programme marks an important milestone for the company and has materially advanced its understanding of the structural and lithological controls on mineralisation at Wadi Dara.

“Given that this was an initial prospect drilling programme, with a number of holes specifically designed to test the margins and extent of the system rather than its most prospective zones, we are encouraged by the rate of significant intercepts returned.

“The results provide a strong foundation from which to design a more targeted Phase 2 programme building on these results, including follow-up drilling along the considerable strike extent that remains untested,” says Talaat.

Ankh exploration manager Abdelhaleem Assran adds that the results from Phase I drilling have materially strengthened the company’s confidence in both the scale, continuity and geological potential of the Wadi Dara mineralised system.

He says the consistency of mineralisation across multiple drill sections has significantly improved Ankh’s understanding of the controls on mineralisation and provides clear, high-priority targets for the next phase of drilling.

With mineralisation now confirmed over more than 600 m of strike and remaining open in both directions and at depth, Assran says Wadi Dara is demonstrating the characteristics of a laterally extensive gold/copper mineralised system with considerable exploration upside.

“Importantly, substantial portions of the mapped mineralised corridor, including the highly prospective Target Area B and the intervening wadi corridor, remain untested by drilling, providing significant scope to expand the known footprint of mineralisation and further evaluate the broader potential of the project.”