Hannan Metals Limited ("Hannan" or the "Company") (TSXV: HAN) (OTCPK: HANNF) is pleased to announce that diamond drilling has commenced at the Kilmurry project within the 100% owned Clare zinc project in Ireland after receipt of final drill permissions from the relevant authorities.
Image: Drill rig sited over drill hole 11-3643-10 and ready to be extended by 200-250 metres to test the mineralized target zone at the base of the Waulsortian limestone. Photo: courtesy of CNW Group/Hannan Metals Ltd.
- Drilling has commenced at the Kilmurry zinc prospect, located 9 kilometres south of Hannan’s Kilbricken zinc-lead-silver resource in Co. Clare, Ireland;
- Hannan’s recent seismic surveys identified the north-dipping Kilmurry synsedimentary relay fault system which exceeds 15 kilometres in length and is up to 2 kilometres wide and demonstrates one of the largest basin-scale displacements (>750 metres) mapped in Ireland;
- The drill program will extend an existing drill hole (11-3643-10) by 200-250 metres to test the mineralization target zone at the base of the Waulsortian limestone (Figure 3) within the hanging wall of the Kilmurry fault. This hole was terminated short of target at 754 metres by earlier explorers;
- Hole 11-3643-10 showed dissolution textures, alteration and mineralization in the upper sequence of the hanging wall, including 0.3m @ 56% zinc + lead at 166m depth and extensive development of fault scarp debris material suggesting the Kilmurry fault was active during sedimentation. The drill hole ended with 3 to 4 times background levels of zinc (>60 ppm) in highly altered limestone.
Michael Hudson, Chairman and CEO states, “The Kilmurry area is highly prospective and demonstrates all the right ingredients for a major base metal system where the scale of the untested fault and host rock point to the potential for a transformative discovery. This target is a direct outcome of the regional target generation work, driven by the seismic surveys completed by Hannan over the last year.”
Drilling has now commenced at Kilmurry, located 9 kilometres south of Hannan’s Kilbricken resource (Figure 1). Kilmurry is a seismic and detailed gravity defined structural and stratigraphic target mapped by Hannan over greater than 15 kilometres strike and 1-2 kilometres width. The mineralized position of the hanging wall of the fault, that is an equivalent setting to all zinc mineralization in the Irish Midlands, has never been drill tested.
Several geological factors make the fault zone a prospective target for zinc-lead-silver mineralization. Firstly, the entire fault zone was active during the formation of the Waulsortian limestone. The individual fault segments are closely spaced and have significant vertical offset, with the maximum mapped offset being one of the largest basin-scale displacements (>750 metres) mapped in Ireland. Closely spaced faults and significant fault offset along a relay fault system have a direct correlation with rock deformation and mineralizing fluid path ways in Irish-style zinc-lead-silver deposits.
Furthermore, historic drilling has identified significant alteration and mineralization immediately south in the footwall of the Kilmurry fault zone. Four historic drill holes that have tested the hanging wall of the fault zone never reached the target depth. The holes were drilled over 3.5 kilometre strike and all encountered geological evidence to support the seismic interpretation of the fault zone. Drill hole 11-3643-10 is the most significant and it intersected structurally hosted massive sulphides at 166m depth (0.3m @ 56% zinc + lead). The drill extension of 11-3643-10 being undertaken by Hannan is the first test of the fault zone. If the extension of 11-3643-10 is successful, shallower ramp zones linking the fault segments will be targeted at Kilmurry.
Source: Company Press Release