Argent Minerals Limited (asx:ard) Diamond Drilling Results in Major Breakthrough At Kempfield

Argent Minerals Limited (ASX:ARD) (Argent, or the Company) is pleased to report exploration results for the 2016 diamond drilling program completed at the Company's flagship project at Kempfield, NSW.

Highlights:

- Major breakthrough - VHMS host horizons identified at the Kempfield deposit, leading to efficient drill targeting of high grade precious and base metals.

- Significant potential mineralised extensions identified.

- High grade gold trend geometry identified and confirmed as a later stage orogenic overprint related to the Trunkey-Kings Plain gold system.

- High grade VHMS precious and base metal discovery potential enhanced by identification of key elements characterising Kempfield:

-- Primary feeder zone defined by analysis that vectors to an untested area with a coincident high magnetic signature to the south of the known deposit;

-- Secondary feeder zones located in Kempfield North and Quarries Zone; and

-- Potential mineralised extensions of the newly identified VHMS host horizons into substantial untested areas to the northwest and southeast of the known deposit.

- Massive sulphide intersections in proximity to known intrusive confirm Kempfield North as a high-ranking target area.

- Proven continuity of mineralisation along strike and at depth in Kempfield North.

- Design of follow-up drill testing program underway.

Strategically designed to test the Kempfield stratigraphy, the 11 hole diamond drilling program produced 3,167 metres of drill core containing vast amounts of information that is significant to understanding the Kempfield deposit for further exploration success. Intensive detailed analyses have been performed on the entire drill core, and will continue, with the results at this juncture representing a significant milestone in the exploration of the Kempfield VHMS system.

The significant advances reported in this announcement have taken the understanding of the deposit to a new, far more detailed, higher level than that afforded by the minimal information made available by historical RC drilling.

VHMS HOST HORIZONS IDENTIFIED FOR KEMPFIELD DEPOSIT

Vital to the exploration of volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) systems is the identification of the specific host rock horizons or geological features that control mineralisation, and their arrangement.

The litho-stratigraphy has now been defined at the Kempfield deposit and four key host horizons have been identified. Horizons A, B, C and D have been identified within stratigraphy that dips approximately 700-800 to the west and youngs to the east.

The identification of the lithology and host horizons represents a major breakthrough for the project, leading to highly efficient drill targeting of high grade precious and base metals at Kempfield.

Figure 1 (refer to link below) is a simplified geological plan view illustrating the dominant lithology and identified VHMS host horizons projected to surface, together with outlines of the three mineralisation zones of the known deposit and the 11 recently drilled holes.

LARGE POTENTIAL MINERALISED EXTENSIONS

Diamond drill core analyses provide a leap forward in the understanding of the deposit structure

Historical interpretation of the Kempfield deposit had been limited by the minimal available information from reverse circulation (RC) drilling. The new information provided by the recent diamond drilling program, however, has resulted in a leap forward in understanding the structure and architecture of the Kempfield deposit.

Diamond drilling provides a substantial level of detail that is missed by RC drilling, including bedding angles and thicknesses of the stratigraphy, as well as subtleties in host rock composition and mineralisation - details that are essential for constructing a 3D model of the VHMS deposit in preparation for drill targeting precious and base metals.

Vital information revealed - mineralisation offset by transverse faults

A key result of the detailed diamond drill core assessment is the identification of preferentially mineralised horizons that had been offset by numerous transverse faults, especially the main central fault labelled X-X in Figure 1.

Sinistral strike-slip movement associated with this fault had previously given the impression that mineralisation was homogenous along mineralised zones but in fact was not. Whereas these movements may have historically been apparent as contradictions in the data, this new level of detail provides fresh understanding and clarity.

Figure 1 shows that Zone 1, for example, is in reality composed of mineralisation from D Horizon in Kempfield North (north of the X-X transverse fault), and C Horizon from Kempfield South (south of the fault line). This is in direct contrast to the historical interpretation that...