Minotaur to trial new geophysical survey

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Minotaur Exploration has received a grant of $62,500 under the South Australian Government’s PACE 2020 Initiative.

The company will use the funding from the grant to undertake an innovative 3-dimensional magnetotelluric (MT) survey at its Aphrodite iron oxide copper-gold target in South Australia.

The Aphrodite target is located 34 kilometres southeast of Olympic Dam within the eastern Gawler Craton.

The Galer Craton is a region that is renowned for its iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) style mineralisation hosting globally-significant mineralising centres at Olympic Dam, Prominent Hill and Carrapateena, and other prospects nearby at Acropolis, Wirrda Well and Emmie Bluff.

 

Location of Minotaur’s tenement (red area) 30 km south of
Olympic Dam, within the Gawler Craton. Source: Company announcement

 “Despite its remarkable mineralised endowment, the discovery rate for IOCG-style deposits in the region remains low, largely due to a very thick sedimentary cover sequence,” Minotaur Exploration said in its announcement to the ASX.

“Magnetics and gravity are the dominant geophysical techniques utilised to date, with innovative geophysical methods such as 3D MT not yet routinely applied.”

Minotaur first identified the Aphrodite IOCG target in 2008.

According to the company the target is coherent and of significant size measuring around four kilometres by two kilometres.

Initial drilling at Aphrodite intersected hematite-altered basement cut by a number of late stage hematite-chalcopyrite veins and calcite-dolomite-bornite veins, which the company considers to be suggestive of an IOCG mineralised system in the vicinity.

A second hole conducted by Minotaur in 2010 however, did not resolve the target, and the nature of source rocks causing the positive gravity anomaly remains enigmatic.
“Magnetotelluric (MT) is a passive surface geophysical technique used to determine electrical conductance of the subsurface to great depth,” the company explained.

“An initial MT survey line across the Aphrodite target indicates good bedrock response and resolution.”

Minotaur said it will undertake a 3D MT survey that will incorporate an area of nine square kilometres around the previous drillholes in order to map deep bedrock conductance and test the effectiveness of the MT methodology for exploration for concealed IOCG-style mineralisation.

The total budget for the program is $167,000.