Porphyry deposits can often comprise bulk-scale operations with huge tonnage, low-grade, easy-to-mine deposits, which can stretch from surface to deep underground.
A review last year by renowned porphyry expert David Cooke of the potential for intrusive bodies across the wider Rogozna project reported a significantly improved technical understanding of Jezerska Reka’s porphyry potential.
Cooke’s review suggested the skarn deposits and epithermal veins previously found at Jezerska could belong to a bigger system and may provide the opportunity for porphyry-style mineralisation at depth.
Skarn-hosted systems as big as Rogozna are extremely rare and are often linked to giant porphyry copper-gold deposits, much like McMoRan’s Grasberg-Ertsberg monster deposit in Indonesia.
As part of the hunt for additional porphyry targets, Strickland will also kick off greenfield exploration in the central Rogozna corridor, where younger volcanic cover may be masking other major systems.
Early-stage exploration is also planned at the company’s Kotlovi prospect, 350m southwest of Medenovac. A standout hit lit the match last year with a 12m intercept grading 5.7g/t gold, within a larger section of 40.3m running at 2.6g/t gold from 558m.
Strickland will now plunge five holes totalling 4000m into the prospect to scope out both strike and dip extensions. The gap between Kotlovi and Medenovac will also get a solid test.
The company intends to round off its drill program with a thorough investigation of three further mostly untested targets.
At Obradov Potok, a massive 2-square-kilometre anomaly will be hit with five holes, while Red Creek, just 500m from Shanac, is set for 1500m of drill testing to target strong multi-element signals and historic workings. At Cesme, one deep 800m hole aims to extend a juicy previous 125m skarn hit grading 2.1g/t gold equivalent.
To cope with the massive uplift in workload from the 50,000m program, the company has employed a further 10 technical and support staff in Serbia.
Sitting on $40M in the bank, which was recently topped up with a $5M placement to Chinese heavyweight Zijin Mining, Strickland’s latest drilling blitz at Rogozna is firmly locked and loaded.
With more than 100 diamond holes on the menu, the company’s news flow is likely to come thick and fast, keeping the punters focused as its Serbian juggernaut starts to roll.
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