Corazon Mining has commenced its maiden drill program at the Mt Gilmore cobalt-copper-gold project in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia.

Drilling will focus predominantly on the advanced, high cobalt grade Cobalt Ridge prospect. The drill program will comprise approximately 2,000 metres of Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling to depths of about 150 metres.

The program is designed to confirm the continuity and extents of high-grade mineralisation within the prospect area, identified from previous drilling.

Previous drilling depths at Cobalt Ridge average less than 100 metres and identified multiple parallel sub-vertical Co-Cu-Au sulphide lodes over a strike length of 300 metres, with overall widths of between 50 metres and 120 metres.

The cobalt mineralisation is considered high-grade; with previous individual 1 metre drill results including grades up to 3.38% cobalt, 3.18% copper and 4.92 g/t gold. Mineralisation at Cobalt Ridge remains open along strike and at depth.

In addition to the Cobalt Ridge prospect, the Project includes multiple promising, newly defined cobalt targets over a strike of approximately 11 kilometres. Fieldwork to test new areas for cobalt-copper-gold mineralisation within the wider Mt Gilmore project area is ongoing.

The Iron Mountain and Hassan’s Creek prospects have both returned positive cobalt results from recent rock-chip and soil sampling programs. These are priority targets for follow-up work and as such three drill holes are proposed for the Iron Mountain prospect, following the completion of drilling at Cobalt Ridge.

Drilling at Cobalt Ridge is expected to be completed over the next three weeks. As with previous work, this drilling will undoubtedly intersect visible signs of mineralisation. The tenor of the cobalt mineralisation cannot be determined without Laboratory testing, which typically takes three to four weeks.

Mt Gilmore Project Overview
The Mt Gilmore Project is located only 35 km from the major centre of Grafton in north-eastern New South Wales. Corazon has an exclusive right to earn up to an 80% interest in the Project through payment of cash and shares, plus the expenditure of $2.2 million in-ground (ASX announcements 16 June 2016 and 4 July 2016).

The Project is located in the New England Orogen, a significant mineral province in Eastern Australia with a gold endowment of more the 35M ounces and the potential to host large copper-gold systems.

This region hosts deposits such as the Mount Morgan Cu-Au Mine (+50Mt @ 5.9 g/t Au and 0.7% Cu) and Mt Rawdon Gold Mine (50Mt @ 0.71 g/t Au).

Within the Project, a prospective 18 km trend (the Mt Gilmore Trend) has been identified, including:
? More than 25 historic copper, gold, cobalt and iron workings, including significant shafts, adits and drives with high-grade copper and gold mineralisation (rock chips up to grades of 26.8%Cu and 9.2 g/t Au)
? Five large scale Cu-Au targets defined to date

Although mapping indicates extensive hydrothermal alteration and copper-gold mineralisation at surface, very little modern exploration has been undertaken. Aside from small-scale historic copper-gold and iron mines, previous exploration has predominantly been restricted to general prospecting/ mapping, rock-chip/ grab sampling, with drilling completed at only one of the targets (the Pulganbar – Cobalt Ridge area).

The Cobalt Ridge Prospect
The high-grade nature of this cobalt mineralisation is published in historical records from shallow mining (maximum shaft depth 36.5 metres), reporting a maximum of 14.7% cobalt (Co), 14.9% copper (Cu) and up to 1.7 oz/ ton gold (Au). The richer mineralisation seemingly occurs in small lenses or pods within a broader zone of lower-grade mineralisation.

Modern exploration within the Project commenced in the 1980’s; PanContinental completed ground IP and magnetic geophysical surveys, gridded soil geochemistry for Cu, Au and Co, 25 trenches (1,518.5 metres) and 17 RC drill holes (for 1,020.82 metres).

Between 2006 and 2008, Central West Gold N.L. drilled 25 holes for 2,880 metres, including 21 holes for 2,604 metres at Cobalt Ridge. This work defined multiple parallel sub-vertical Co-Cu-Au sulphide lodes over a strike of 300 metres and width of between 50 metres and 120 metres. Maximum individual one (1) metre drill results include 3.38% Co, 3.18% Co and 4.92 g/t Au.

The Cobalt Ridge Prospect represents an advanced cobalt play with shallowly drilled Co-Cu-Au lodes that remain open along strike and at depth.

Numerous undrilled regional cobalt prospects exist, including several defined by soil geochemistry and geophysics close to Cobalt Ridge. This style of mineralisation (Co-Cu-Au sulphides) is typically responsive to geophysics, with the Cobalt Ridge mineralisation being traced for at least an additional 100m to 200m under cover outside of existing drilling.