Stavely Minerals Limited (ASX Code: SVY - 'Stavely Minerals') advises that it has reached agreement to gain access to the eastern zone for air-core drilling to verify the location of historic drill intercepts at the Junction Prospect, within the Company's 100%-owned Stavely Project.

The agreement will enable the Company to drill 20 air-core holes to better define targets for subsequent diamond drilling. This access provides a much improved and more cost-effective method to determine the orientation of the Junction Lode. The Junction Prospect is defined by two zones of mineralisation - the eastern and western zones located on either side of Stavely Road. Historic drilling (TGAC- and TGRC- pre-fixed drill- holes, drilled in separate campaigns in December 2008 and January 2009) was designed to follow up on the earlier Pennzoil of Australia Ltd drill-hole PENP004 drilled in 1979, which intersected:

However, TGRC109 and TGRC110 had collar location coordinates recorded as having been drilled on the western side of Stavely Road with these new results defining the western zone of the Junction Prospect. The inexplicable nature of this target location on the west side of Stavely Road for TGRC109 and TGRC110 is that there was no prior copper anomalism in earlier drilling on the western side of Stavely Road and these holes, drilled in late January 2009 were following-up on pre-Christmas 2008 significant intercepts in TGAC078, TGRC082 and TGRC087. Stavely has recently completed two initial diamond drill holes targeting the Junction Prospect (as outlined in recent ASX releases). The first hole was collared to drill from the Stavely Road verge to due south, between the eastern and western zones of previous drill intercepts at the Junction Prospect. This hole (SMD189) failed to confirm the east-west orientation of mineralisation linking those two zones - an interpretation based on the incorrect position of TGRC109 and TGRC110.

The diamond rig was subsequently oriented at 225 degrees (south-west) to establish if the mineralisation hosted by drill holes TGRC109 and TGRC110 (incorrectly recorded as located on the west side of Stavely Road) could be confirmed with a second diamond drill hole SMD190. Despite passing less than 10m below the recorded end-of-hole position of drill-hole TGRC110, that finished in 6m at 1.77% Cu and 21g/t Ag, SMD190 did not intersect any material copper mineralisation. The Company's interpretation is that drill holes TCRC109 and TCRC110, completed in January 2009 in the western zone of the Junction Prospect, have been mis-located and were in fact collared approximately 100m to the east of the recent drilling - a data entry error with the easting of TGRC110 entered as 642788mE rather than 642888mE, with the same 100m west transposition affecting TGRC109 (and for that matter, also TGRC111). The Stavely Minerals team has since confirmed this interpretation after reviewing archived historical records. Stavely Minerals believes the incorrect location for drill holes TGRC109 and TGRC110 has been perpetuated for some 15 years in databases, reports and drill hole location plans, as a data entry error, ever since the drilling of those holes. The net outcome is that these historic holes are in fact believed to be located on the eastern side of Stavely Road, shifting by 100m by the historical transposition of one digit in the collar easting of both drill holes and that this location makes perfect sense in the context of following-up the significant copper assay results from pre-Christmas 2008 drill holes TGAC078, TGRC082 and TGRC087. This means that the Junction opportunity is still very much alive, and the recently agreed terms for access for 20 air-core drill holes in the paddock to the east of Stavely Road will solve this locational issue prior to a resumption of definitive diamond drilling. Stavely Minerals Executive Chair and Managing Director, Mr Chris Cairns, said: 'While we are disappointed that the first two diamond holes failed to locate any mineralisation, we are relieved that we now understand the reason why the expected copper mineralisation was not there - because it never was. If anything, the transposition of drill holes TGRC109 and TGRC110 enhances the zone of high-grade copper mineralisation at Junction.

'We are pleased that we have agreed to terms to secure air-core drill access with the owner of the property to the east of Stavely Road. This will allow us to better define the known high-grade copper mineralisation with air-core drilling prior to a resumption of more expensive diamond drilling. 'The Junction Lode opportunity has not gone away and we ask shareholders to have patience while we do the work to sort out these locational issues. We are confident we have identified the historic locational issue, and can now move forward with greater certainty.' When the air-core rig arrives on-site, drill holes TGRC109 and TGRC110 will first be twinned to definitively confirm whether they have been mis-located, then the air-core rig will proceed to better define the orientation of the shallow high-grade mineralisation in the eastern zone at the Junction Prospect where we have recently agreed to terms for drill access

The information in this report that relates to Exploration Targets, Exploration Results, Mineral Resources or Ore Reserves is based on information compiled by Mr Chris Cairns, a Competent Person who is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Cairns is a full-time employee of the Company. Mr Cairns is Executive Chair and Managing Director of Stavely Minerals Limited and is a shareholder and option holder of the Company. Mr Cairns has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'.

Mr Cairns consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears. Previously Reported Information: The information in this report that references previously reported exploration results is extracted from the Company's ASX market announcements released on the date noted in the body of the text where that reference appears. The previous market announcements are available to view on the Company's website or on the ASX website (www.asx.com.au). The Company confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in the original market announcements. The Company confirms that the form and context in which the Competent Person's findings are presented have not been materially modified from the original market announcements.

Contact:

Tel: 08 9287 7630

(C) 2024 Electronic News Publishing, source ENP Newswire