Another quarter where TLM royalties cover exploration costs. Some drilling results to come in the current quarter and the auger drilling program starts with initial on site results coming in over the next half. Still some delays due to lab delays and weather. Royalties will be lower going forward as the iron ore price is predicted to be decreasing over the near term.
Drilling commenced on 12 geophysical targets with mixed results. Some with no mineralisation to explain the anomaly others such as the Kaolin Shaft and Durnings prospects, visual base metal sulphides were encountered in all seven drill-holes. Talisman is awaiting assay return for these drill-holes at present, which are expected in May.
Analytical results for geochemical assays experienced extended turnaround times in 2022, with expected six-week assay returns being delayed by 3-4 months.
The auger drilling program is designed to test basement geochemistry across targets generated by regional geophysical surveys and is estimated to take 4-5 months to complete, depending on final hole depths across each program, with analysed samples providing a pipeline of ongoing geochemical anomalies for further work.
To allow for rapid target generation based on auger drilling programs, Talisman has partnered with Portable PPB Pty Ltd, an Australian private company holding the exclusive global licence to the CSIRO developed low-level gold by pXRF technology known as detectORE.
The technology is a fast, simple and robust process to enable the leaching, concentrating and detection of gold from a bulk sample at parts per billion levels with high precision using conventional hand-held XRF instruments, this will allow Talisman to return a fast (less than 12-hour turnaround) on-site preliminary gold and multi-element geochemistry result to guide real-time exploration, while still allowing follow-up geochemical analysis via commercial assay laboratories.
Held in SM and RL