Galileo Mining Ltd (ASX: GAL)

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Galileo Mining has provided its investors plenty to smile about of late.

The cashed-up nickel–copper-cobalt play hit its stride at the company’s Fraser Range project in Western Australia.

Galileo – which listed back in May 2018 and is backed by highly successful prospector Mark Creasy who holds a 31 per cent stake – recently wrapped up a maiden drilling campaign at the Fraser Range project – a Joint Venture 67 per cent-owned by Galielo and 33 per cent-owned by Creasy’s private vehicle, Creasy Group.

The Fraser Range – which lies around 250 kilometres from Kalgoorlie – is an emerging nickel province home to two world-class nickel discoveries, the Nova-Bollinger deposit and the Silver Knight deposit.

Independence Group’s (ASX: IOG) Nova project – discovered back in 2012 on ground Creasy first started picking up back in the 1990s – effectively kicked off the ‘nickel rush’ in the Fraser Range region.

In production since July 2017, Nova produced 22,258 tonnes of nickel and 9,545 tonnes of copper in its maiden year of production.

Meanwhile, Creasy Group’s 100 per cent-owned Silver Knight deposit boasts an initial JORC resource of 4.2 million tonnes grading at 0.8 per cent nickel, 0.6 per cent copper and 0.04 per cent cobalt including a higher grade 200,000 tonnes at 3 per cent nickel, 1.9 per cent copper and 0.17 per cent cobalt.

Importantly, Galileo’s exploration team helped discover Silver Knight when they were part of Creasy Group, highlighting the team’s significant exploration success in the region.

Galileo is hoping another Nova or Silver Knight discovery lies on their tenement portfolio covering 492 square kilometres in Fraser Range, a province the company firmly believes has exceptional potential for new discoveries.

Success at Lantern target

In February 2019, Galileo kicked off an aircore drilling campaign at two high priority targets – the Lantern and Nightmarch prospects – the first drilling to occur at either prospect.

Early results were highly encouraging, with Lantern returning anomalous nickel and copper results from the first drilling program completed.

Best assay results included:

27 metres at 0.18 per cent nickel and 0.17 per cent copper from 47m and 8m at 0.21 per cent nickel and 0.03 per cent copper from 45m.

Galileo considered tis result to greatly improve the prospectivity of the area.

This was backed up by final samples from Lantern, which included a best result of 7m at 0.18 per cent nickel from 45m.

The results were music to the ears of investors and management alike with managing director Brad Underwood quick to point out the program had successfully delineated target zones within Lantern of sufficient scale to potentially host significant economic nickel-copper mineralisation.

“We have been fortunate to hit anomalous nickel and copper in the first ever drilling program given the target zone covers over four square kilometres in size,” Underwood told The Resources Roadhouse.

“This drilling has delivered numerous positive indicators with sample results, mineralogy, and rock types, all increasing the prospectivity of the area.”

Galileo has now wrapped up first round drilling at Lantern with 76 drill holes completed for 4,451 metres.

Geochemical, petrographical, and drill hole logging data identified multiple prospective intrusions over a horizon of around seven kilometres length.

Petrography results from Lantern has also confirmed rock types considered to be capable of hosting magmatic nickel mineralisation.

Follow up work included a wide-ranging ground EM survey in May, which was designed to identify electrically conductive signatures that may represent economic sulphide mineralisation.
Empire Rose on the horizon.

At the other end of the Fraser Range belt, approximately 30 kilometres from the Nova mine site, lies Galileo’s Empire Rose prospect where a round of aircore drilling and EM and IP surveys identified a conductive target with potential for sulphide mineralisation at 250m deep.

Drill testing of the prospect is scheduled to start in May with a Reverse Circulation (RC) pre-collar to be followed by a diamond drill tail through the target zone.

Underwood said Galileo had now received drilling approvals for the prospect with drilling scheduled in May.

“The upcoming work at Empire Rose will be the first time Galileo has conducted deep drilling in the Fraser Range,” he said.

“Empire Rose is a stand-out target and it is an exciting time for the company as we prepare for drill testing.”

 

Email: info@galileomining.com.au
Web: www.galileomining.com.au

Directors: Simon Jenkins, Brad Underwood, Noel O’Brien

 

Corazon Mining Limited (ASX: CZN)

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Corazon Mining is a base metals explorer exploring two projects, one in each global hemisphere.

Overseas it envelops the entire Lynn Lake nickel-copper-cobalt mining centre in Canada.

Domestically it has the Mt Gilmore project in New South Wales that hosts the Cobalt Ridge deposit.

Corazon owns 100 per cent of the Lynn Lake Mining Centre located in Manitoba – historically one of Canada’s most prolific nickel producing regions.

Lynn Lake is a historical mining centre that was mined continuously for 24 years prior to closure in 1976.

In 2015, Corazon consolidated the Lynn Lake mineral field for the first time since mine closure and in doing so created an important nickel-copper asset.

Corazon recently announced information and results from initial metallurgical testwork carried out at the Lynn Lake nickel copper-cobalt sulphide project in Canada.

The company has declared its initial results from a metallurgical testwork program at Lynn Lake as exceptional having, for the first time, delivered separate high-value nickel and copper concentrates.

The results include the production of a new nickel concentrate with a grade of 26 per cent nickel with recoveries of 71 per cent and a new copper concentrate with a grade of 27 per cent copper with recoveries of 77 per cent.

These results are yet to be fully optimised, however Corazon expects on-going work will deliver further improvements.

This technical breakthrough represents an important step forward in Corazon’s development pathway for Lynn Lake as it supports the production and dispatch of separate copper and nickel concentrates from site to smelters and removes the need for potentially costly secondary processing from a bulk (nickel-copper) concentrate onsite.

Operations and metallurgical testwork completed since the mine closed were unable to achieve the nickel grades observed in this current testwork, or produce separate nickel and copper concentrates with the purity of this testwork.

The company has testwork underway that is focused on ore characterisation, flotation and product definition for down-stream processing, and is designed to provide key data for future mining and development studies for the possible re-commencement of mining at Lynn Lake.

Corazon has approximately 500 kilograms of fresh broken, mineralised fist-sized pieces of rock sample transported from site to Australia for analysis.

The sample was delivered to ALS Metallurgy in Western Australia, and internationally recognised metallurgical consultants, METS Engineering, managed the testwork.

The testwork included an initial flotation process to concentrate the copper and a subsequent flotation process to concentrate the nickel and cobalt.

Modern advances in processing technologies and reagents have delivered substantial benefits and efficiencies with respect to metal recoveries and product quality, which may in turn deliver significant reductions in both operating and capital costs associated with any future development of Lynn Lake.

Corazon holds the right to earn up to 80 per cent of the Mount Gilmore cobalt-copper-gold project that hosts the rare, cobalt dominant sulphide Cobalt Ridge deposit, claimed by the company to be one of the highest-grade cobalt deposits in Australia.

The company recently announced the discovery of a major copper-cobalt-silver-gold trend at the Mt Gilmore project, after its exploration activities discovered multiple, large (plus-one kilometre) priority targets within a major copper-cobalt-silver-gold feature of more than 11 kilometres in strike length, which forms part of the currently defined 22 kilometre-long, mineralised Mt Gilmore Trend.

Corazon considers this newly identified Mt Gilmore geochemical trend to represent a district-scale exploration play for large intrusive-related copper-cobalt-gold deposits that provides the company with a unique early-stage copper-driven opportunity in eastern Australia.

The region has been subject to little or no modern exploration activities or drill testing within the priority areas Corazon has defined.

The geochemical anomalies were identified from surface sampling the company carried out at Mt Gilmore in 2018.

This was part of a program that also included 3,893 soil samples and 230 rock-chip samples.

The results provided compelling evidence of an extensive hydrothermal event within the project, containing metal associations indicative of large intrusive related copper-gold systems.

Rock chip and grab sampling within these soil anomalies has returned high tenor copper (up to 21.6 per cent), cobalt, silver and gold.

This sampling tested what Corazon has interpreted as being high-grade ‘leakage structures’ extending from much larger, concealed, copper sulphide-rich hydrothermal centres.

These structures, in isolation, also provide prospective targets for further exploration and drilling.

Corazon’s assessment that the numerous occurrences of copper-cobalt-gold mineralisation identified in late-1800s/early-1900s small scale mining operations may in fact be part of a much larger system, represents a great advancement for the project, substantially increasing it’s potential.

 

Email: info@corazon.com.au
Web: www.corazon.com.au

Directors: Clive Jones, Brett Smith, Jonathan Downes, Dr. Mark Yumin Qiu

 

Cassini Resources Limited (ASX: CZI)

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Cassini Resources punches well above its weight divisions for a junior exploration company.

Cassini Resources is developing a project with potential to become a low cost (first quartile) nickel/copper operation with an anticipated initial mine life of over 15 years with a Joint Venture partner with industry pedigree.

Cassini Resources acquired the Wets Musgrave Project (WMP) from BHP Billiton in 2014 from when it progressed the project by conducting regional exploration, in-fill drilling and further geological activities.

The company’s initial work quickly confirmed the economic viability of the Nebo-Babel deposits, attracting the attention of industry heavyweight, OZ Minerals (ASX: OZL).

In 2016 the two parties executed a Joint Venture Agreement to fast track development of the WMP, located in Western Australia.

Besides the already established Nebo-Babel nickel and copper sulphide deposit, the projet also entails the emerging Succoth copper deposit.

Under the agreement, OZL is funding a minimum of $36 million of development and exploration expenditure, including completion of a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS), for a 70 per cent interest in the project.

The agreement includes a minimum $28 million funding for continued studies on Nebo-Babel to progress it to a Decision to Mine, as well as a minimum regional exploration spend of $8 million to assist in identifying additional value adding opportunities.

Cassini has taken that $8 million ball and run with it hard, and although it remains focused on the WMP, the company has its eyes on numerous regional opportunities it expects could provide exploration success.

The company has an option to earn 80 per cent of the Yarawindah Brook nickel-copper-cobalt project northeast of Perth, near New Norcia.

The project has had limited nickel, copper and cobalt exploration, despite a favourable regional setting, prospective geology and near-surface occurrences of nickel and copper mineralisation.

Historic exploration has focussed primarily on a small platinum and palladium (PGE’s) resource which the Company views as a “path-finder” anomaly for massive nickel – copper – cobalt sulphides.

An airborne electromagnetic survey in 2018 identified conductors worthy of further investigation, followed by a surface fixed loop electromagnetic (FLEM) survey over higher priority AEM anomalies in order to confirm and better constrain the conductors prior to drilling.

Cassini was encouraged enough by its exploration results to add additional tenements along strike, taking its total land position to146 square kilometres.

The 100 per cent-owned Mount Squires project lies adjacent to the WMP but does not form part of the Joint Venture with OZ Minerals.

Gold mineralisation was first identified at Mount Squires by Western Mining Corporation (WMC) during geochemical surveying in the late 1990s.

Now in the 2010s, Cassini has spent the past two years developing the project by consolidating tenements with prospective gold targets that were defined through historical drilling and geochemical data compilation.

The current healthy Australian Dollar gold price has given impetus for Cassini to pay more attention to Mount Squires during the 2019 field season.

Historical results from two targets, the Handpump and Centrifical prospects, have whetted Cassini’s interest.

Previous drilling at the Handpump prospect returned gold intercepts including: 15 metres at 2.3 grams per tonne gold from 31m down hole.

It is thought gold mineralisation at Handpump may represent more distal mineralisation that has leaked north-westwards along the major structure.

The Centrifical prospect is most prominent soil geochemical anomaly with a zoned molybdenum-lead-zinc anomaly at the intersection of prominent northwest and northeast striking structures that may represent the heart of an epithermal mineralised setting.

The company believes further desk top work may enhance these targets for drill testing and it recently acquired new remote sensed datasets to help map surface geology and provide better context for soil geochemical anomalies.

At the 100 per cent-owned West Arunta zinc project in the Amadeus Basin, Cassini has been targeting sedimentary zinc targets since 2014.

These targets have been developed over time through airborne electromagnetic, soil geochemistry, aeromagnetic and gravity surveys and a 10-hole RC drill program was carried out in 2018.

Logistics meant results of this drilling were delayed, however, a preliminary analysis of results has now been completed showing anomalous values of zinc, lead, copper and silver were intersected in several holes with a best result of:

WAC0022
5m at 0.15 per cent zinc and 2g/t silver from 97m.

Cassini was still working its way through these results at the time of writing but indicated that one it has completed a full analysis it will then consider its approach to further exploration at the project.

 

Email: admin@cassiniresources.com.au
Web: www.cassiniresources.com.au

Directors: Mike Young, Richard Bevan, Greg Miles, Jon Hronsky, Phil Warren

 

Carawine Resources Limited (ASX: CWX)

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Carawine Resources has a portfolio of four exploration projects, three Western Australia and the fourth in Victoria, each targeted for their potential high-value deposit styles and commodity groups.

The company’s chief focus is the 100 per cent-owned Jamieson project, located near the township of Jamieson in the north-eastern Victorian Goldfields.

The project comprises granted exploration licence EL5523 and holds the advanced Hill 800 gold and Rhyolite Creek zinc-gold-silver prospects.

Hill 800 was discovered by New Holland Mining in 1994.

Fast forward to 2018 when Carawine carried out its maiden diamond drilling program of 14 holes, exceeding the company’s expectations regarding both the width and grade of gold mineralisation.

The maiden program allowed Carawine to re-interpret the geometry and orientation of the mineralised system as it identified multiple new mineralised zones.

Buoyed by the results, Carawine wasted little time in hitting the ground again for a second phase of diamond drilling at Hill 800 late in November 2018 that has continued into 2019.

Carawine recently announced some of the highest gold grades to be returned to date from its diamond drilling program at Hill 800, which achieved an increase in both the strike and width of the Stringer Zone mineralisation.

Assay results from the extension of hole H8DD004 that targeted strike extensions to gold and copper mineralisation in the Stringer and 650 Zones, produced intervals of:

Stringer and 650 Zones (combined interval)
67m at 2.13 grams per tonne gold, 0.1 per cent copper from 143m (0.3g/t Au cut-off).

Stringer Zone
49m at 2.54g/t gold, 0.2 per cent copper from 143m (0.3g/t gold cut-off), including:
17m at 6.62g/t gold, 0.3 per cent copper from 157m (1g/t gold cut-off), including:
1.1m at 10.3g/t gold, 1.0 per cent copper from 162m (10g/t gold cut-off); and

1m at 20.2g/t gold, 0.2 per cent copper from 166m (10g/t gold cut-off); and

2m at 37.5g/t gold, 0.3 per cent copper from 172m (10g/t gold cut-off)

650 Zone
14m at 1.28g/t gold from 196m (0.3g/t gold cut-off), including: 7m at 2.27g/t gold from 203m (1g/t gold cut-off)

“We recognised the importance of the Stringer Zone with our first drill holes at Hill 800 and these latest results show its potential to become a significant body of high-grade gold and copper mineralisation,” Carawine Resources managing director David Boyd said.

“Each hole we drill gives us a better understanding of its size, orientation and grade, defining a wide mineralised envelope containing numerous extremely high gold grades which together make a very attractive target.

“This is also just our second hole into the recently discovered 650 Zone, with the results showing an increase in gold grade and alteration intensity.

“Both zones remain open, with a drill hole currently in progress targeting the area immediately above these latest, exceptional intersections.”

Carawine is determined to maintain the pace at Hill 800 and already has planning underway for exploration programs that will investigate the potential to grow Hill 800 beyond the current limits of drilling, and other high-priority prospects within the Jamieson project such as Hill 700, Mt Sunday Road and Rhyolite Creek.

Meanwhile, way out west, Carawine has generated six new prospects at the Paterson project, in the eponymous Paterson Province of WA.

Six priority target areas have been identified at the Red Dog and Baton projects from a combination of historic drill and geological data, re-processing of airborne magnetic and electromagnetic (EM) geophysical data.

– Baton Project:
– Javelin and Wheeler prospects: Discrete bullseye magnetic anomalies (analogous to Havieron and Winu discoveries) hosted by the Broadhurst and Isdell Formations.
– Red Dog Project:
– Earl Prospect: discrete magnetic and EM anomalies on the edge of a large interpreted felsic intrusion;
– Leatherneck Prospect: Alteration zone within the Broadhurst Formation (host to the Nifty copper deposit), with associated anomalous zinc (to 2,380ppm) and copper (to 375ppm) in limited drilling;
– Bravo Prospect: discrete EM anomalies within interpreted altered and faulted Nifty host rocks;
– Duke Prospect: discrete bullseye magnetic anomaly and coincident gravity anomaly, magnetite-bearing calc-silicate skarn, around a quartz monzonite intrusive. Anomalous copper (to 965ppm) and tin (indicative of skarn mineralisation) grades in limited drilling.

Carawine is planning to advance these prospects to drill-ready status, while continuing target generation work for other Paterson tenements.

“At Red Dog…we now have access to geophysical datasets which have only recently become available,” Boyd said.

“This combined with our knowledge of mineralisation styles and settings in the region has allowed us to identify…six highly prospective new targets.

“Our focus will now shift to planning the next stage of exploration on these tenements.”

 

Email: info@carawine.com.au
Web: www.carawine.com.au

Directors: Will Burbury, David Boyd, Bruce McQuitty, David Archer

 

Not Just Any Old Iron

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There has been plenty of column space across industry media devoted to the unfortunate tailings dam disaster suffered by Brazilian iron ore giant Vale.

There has also been an equal amount of column space dedicated to how our domestic iron ore titans of BHP, RIO and FMG would be the beneficiaries of the tragedy, given that iron ore customers worldwide would need to tap them to fill the shortfall.

Throw into that mix the affects of a recent cyclone on RIO’s Western Australian operations and the global stockpile just got a touch smaller.

What hasn’t received too much attention, is that there are plenty of junior companies with reserves of iron ore that only need to push a button to get their operations up and running and profitable.

Case in point: Venture Minerals (ASX: VMS) and the company’s Riley DSO iron ore mine in Tasmania.

Venture Minerals launched a review of the Riley mine earlier this year on the back of the recovery in the iron ore price, and after receiving expressions of interest by several third parties in the Riley ore.

Venture has had the Riley iron ore mine on care and maintenance since August 2014, before which the company had completed extensive pre-production work having already put in place all the necessary requirements to commence mining.

This means the Riley was then and, more importantly, is now a ‘quick to market’ opportunity for the company.

The current state of the iron ore market and price metrics are favourable to a start up at Riley and any further increase in the iron ore price and/or a decrease in the AUD/USD exchange rate will only further improve the economics of the project.

A quick, back of the envelope, sketch of the Riley project highlights its potential.

Riley is a fully permitted iron ore mine that is positioned to recommence operations reasonably quickly with approximately 90 per cent of the equipment Venture had previously purchased still on site.

The project hosts Reserves of 1.8 million tonnes at 57 per cent iron with low impurities within a DSO deposit that is situated all at surface and located less than two kilometres from a sealed road that accesses existing rail and port facilities.

“The previous work we carried out at the Riley iron ore mine has placed Venture in a strong position,” Venture Minerals managing director Andrew Radonjic told The Resources Roadhouse.

“Should the market continue to tighten, and the iron ore price continue to improve, that just provides the company the ideal opportunity to commence production with relatively short notice.”

The added benefit of bringing the Riley project on stream is that although it has a short minelife it is anticipated to generate anywhere from $20 million to $40 million, depending how the iron ore price travels.

Such a healthy cash injection will mean that Venture will not need to tap the market for the funds required to conduct development work on its 100 per cent-owned Mount Lindsay tin and tungsten project, also in Tasmania.

Venture rates Lindsay as being one of the world’s largest undeveloped tin projects that is placed to take advantage of the recent rise in both interest and the price of tin.

Tin is a vital element of modern-day technology due to its ability to make lithium-ion batteries last more than three times longer to meet the anticipated demand for better batteries in mobile phones, cameras, iPads and other mobile devices and the feverishly advancing hybrid and all-electric car market.

The 148 square kilometre Mount Lindsay project sits between the world class Renison Bell tin mine, which has produced more than 231,000 tonnes of tin metal since 1968, and the Savage River magnetite mine that has operated for over 50 years and currently produces approximately 2.5 million tonnes per annum of iron pellets.

Since acquiring the project in 2007, Venture has defined high-grade JORC-compliant Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resources of 4.7 million tonnes at 0.4 per cent tin and 0.3 per cent tungsten with over 60 per cent in the Measured and Indicated categories.

Venture Minerals recently engaged UTS Geophysics to conduct a high-resolution Airborne Electromagnetic (EM) survey using its VTEMTM Max system over the entire Mount Lindsay project, with the aim of identifying further high-grade tin targets, especially those with the potential to host Renison Bell style mineralisation.

Venture’s previous exploration at Mount Lindsay has identified potential tin targets located within the carbonate units and potentially the same fault zone (Federal-Basset Fault) that hosts the Renison mine, just 12kms along strike to the southeast.

As Renison is a major Skarn, carbonate replacement, pyrrhotite-cassiterite style deposit, Venture considers the VTEMTM Max system to be the best exploration tool for making discoveries of Renison style tin mineralisation at Mount Lindsay.

The company is hopeful the EM survey will generate drill targets that lead to further tin discoveries.

The company is continuing to advance the recently commissioned Underground Scoping Study at Mount Lindsay.

The study is focusing on the previously reported high-grade Resources of 4.7 million tonnes at 0.4 per cent tin and 0.3 per cent tungsten and will be looking to leverage on the earlier Feasibility Study.

“There has been quite a lot of work carried out to advance the scoping study we have underway at Mount Lindsay,” Radonjic said.

“We could get Mount Lindsay into production reasonably quickly given that much of the work we have used for the scoping study is from the previously completed feasibility study.”

Venture Minerals is considering an underground mining scenario for Mount Lindsay.

The company believes an underground operation would lower its environmental footprint and the associated environmental risk and possibly reduce its capex from around $200 million to closer to $50 million.

The flowsheet changes would include a much smaller and simpler plant, processing a higher-grade primary-source tin ore body.

In other words, a project that is more permittable and more fundable, operating in a more ethical environment than where a large portion of the world’s tin currently comes from.

Although it is currently concentrating on the Tasmanian assets within its portfolio that are more towards near-production, the company’s Thor project is making rumblings as an ideal candidate for a Joint Venture.

The Thor prospect is situated within Venture’s 281 square-kilometre Southwest tenement package in Western Australia.

Venture’s latest drilling at the Thor prospect intersected further massive sulphides with copper and zinc mineralisation.

The company has interpreted results from the last two holes drilled to suggest it is vectoring in towards higher-grade zones within the Thor Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) sequence.

Drilling at Thor remains sparse with only two single drill holes drilled to date targeting two of thirteen priority VMS drill targets delineated around the initial discovery area.

The company hopes further drilling will unlock the potential of Thor’s 20km VMS target zone.

In this second drill campaign, drill hole TOR05 intersected massive sulphide zones of up to 2.4 metres (271.45m to 273.85m) and returned assays of up to 0.8 per cent zinc and 0.5 per cent copper and highly anomalous cobalt of up to 435ppm, confirming the prospect’s VMS style of the mineralisation.

Thor has the same EM and geochemical signature as the adjacent VMS Kingsley discovery of international mining company Teck, which is one of several VMS occurrences in the Archean Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia.

“We have been greatly encouraged by these latest results from our drilling program underway at Thor,” Radonjic said.

“We are really looking forward to unlocking the potential of the VMS project to deliver high-grade mineralisation in the near future.”

 

Email: info@ventureminerals.com.au
Web: www.ventureminerals.com.au

Directors: Mel Ashton, Hamish Halliday, Andrew Radonjic, Dr Stuart Owen

 

Galan Lithium Animates The Life of Brine

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With potential world-class projects in one of the hottest lithium jurisdictions globally, cash in the bank and a handful of exceptional exploration results under its belt, things are certainly looking promising for Galan Lithium Limited (ASX: GLN).

The Argentina, lithium-focused minnow wholly-owns six projects covering around 25,000 hectares, with potential lithium brine coverage conservatively comprising around 7,800 hectares, in South America’s Lithium Triangle on the Hombre Muerto salar in Argentina.

Straddling the northwest corner of Argentina, northern Chile and southwest corner of Bolivia, the Lithium Triangle hosts the world’s largest reserves of lithium and around 60 per cent of world’s annual production of lithium, the bulk of which lies in the Atacama salar in Chile and Hombre Muerto salar in Argentina.

Hombre Muerto – which lies in the northwest corner of Argentina – hosts the highest grade and lowest impurity levels of lithium in the country and is the second best salar in the world globally for lithium brine production after Atacama.

Galan believes its landholding in the Hombre Muerto has the potential to host a substantial lithium deposit.

Its six projects – Rana de Sal, Deceo, Catalina, Peta Pila, Santa Barbara and Candelas – are all strategically located in the salar, boarding some of the biggest names in the lithium brine space globally.

The Sal de Vida project – owned by ASX-listed Galaxy Resources with a market cap of $750 million – is regarded as one of the world’s largest and highest quality undeveloped lithium brine deposits.

Galaxy recently sold off the northern portion of the project to POSCO – market cap $30 billion – for a cool US$280 million.

To the west of Sal de Vida lies recent New York-listed Livent Corporation’s Fenix operation which has been in production for over 27 years.

Importantly, Galan has a wealth of experience on its board: managing director Juan Pablo Vargas de la Vega has over 15 years’ experience in ASX mining companies, stockbroking and private equity firms and was a specialist lithium analyst in Australia.

He also has operated a private copper business in Chile and has worked for BHP, Rio Tinto and Codelco.

Priority target – Candelas

Priority target, Candelas, lies adjacent to Sal de Vida and encompasses an approximately 15km long by 3-5km structurally controlled basin, infilled with sediments hosting the brines.

According to Galan’s interpretation of CSAMT (Controlled Source Audio‐frequency Magnetotellurics) surveys, the project showed “…very conductive and shallow units that are compatible with units being saturated with brine, which constitute a great potential for lithium exploration.”

With the geophysical results defining the brine potential, Galan set about planning a maiden drill program to test the geophysical model as well as detailed data on the stratigraphy within the Candelas channel.

After getting the greenlight from the Argentinean government, Galan kicked off a five-diamond hole program in January to test the 12-15-kilometre extent of the Candelas channel.

Results so far from the program have sent tongues wagging in the minerals investment community.

Living up to the hype

Drilled immediately to the southeast of the Hombre Muertos salar, Galan’s maiden hole (C-01-19) certainly lived up to the company’s expectations.

The hole hit a substantial intercept of brine from depths of approximately 200m metres to the end of the hole (401m).

An exceptional high-grade intercept of 192m at 802mg/I Li was returned.

Importantly impurities (magnesium and sulphate) were very low and similar to those observed nearby at the Fenix and Sal de Vida operations.

The maiden hole results sent Galan’s share price skyrocketing to an all-time high of 68 cents in early March 2019.

With their tails in the air, Galan quickly set about drilling their second hole some 9.5km south of the maiden drillhole and located on geophysical CSAMT line 4.

The hole, unfortunately, didn’t quite live up to its predecessor.

While geology was largely similar to that observed in the maiden drillhole, the tectonic basin in the area was much deeper, perhaps up to around 750m, than in the north where C-01-19 was drilled.

Assay results from the hole confirmed field observations that a lower grade lithium bearing aquifer was intercepted.

The lower values were a result of heavy dilution from hydrothermal waters being sourced from an adjacent deep-seated fault zone.

Nearby fumaroles observed at surface supported this interpretation.

C-02-19 was eventually completed to a depth of 662m with basement encountered at 632m.

Third time’s a charm

Despite this slight setback, Galan remained optimistic that Candelas hosted a large lithium resource.

“Much has been achieved to date in a short time frame,” Vargas de la Vega said.

“We are dealing with a unique geological setting for lithium brines and our knowledge of the region increases with the more work we do.

“The lithium potential remains strong for Candelas as it does for our prospective Western tenements at Hombre Muerto.”

Galan quickly set about drilling its third hole (C-03-19) at Candelas, this time 2.5km south of its highly successful maiden hole.

In what was a great relief for the company, the hole intercepted highly conductive brines over around 154m from 276m to the end of hole (430m).

“The discovery of further brines within the Candelas channel reinforces our view that the project has the very real potential to host a significant lithium resource in one of the world’s premium salars at Hombre Muerto,” Vargas de la Vega said.

Downhole geophysics indicated highly conductive and high Specific Gravity (SG) brine was still being encountered to the bottom of the hole resulting in the hole being further deepened to a final depth of 454m.

Several packer tests were performed using the downhole data as guidance which indicated a preferred section from 313m to 454m with conductivities in excess of 200mS/cm and SG readings approximately 1.19 g/cm3.

The rig has now been moved around 3km south of C‐03‐19 and 5.3km south of drill hole C‐01‐19 on CSMAT Line 3 where it has begun drilling the fourth hole.

Galan is also seeking permits from Catamarcan authorities for further drillholes at Candelas beyond the initial five holes approved.

Cashed-up

Shortly after announcing the positive results from its third drillhole in April, the company set about raising $4 million at 27.5 cents per share to fund its ongoing drill campaign at Candelas and start initial resource work.

The share placement received strong support from Australian and North American professional and sophisticated investors.

“We are pleased to have received such strong support from a range of Australian and North American investors, who now join our existing shareholders in aligning themselves to the success we are looking to achieve through our ongoing exploration at the Hombre Muerto lithium project,” Vargas de la Vega said.

“We have achieved positive results to date, which we plan to expand through well planned exploration activities.”

Looking ahead

With significant results under its belt so far from its maiden drill program at Candelas and a $4 million boost to its coffers, Galan is fast tracking exploration with a potential resource estimate targeted for third quarter 2019.

Lithium demand has jumped since 2015 fuelled by the spike in demand for lithium batteries in electric vehicles with current prices around the $US12,550 per tonne lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE).

This demand is only expected to increase with the number of electric vehicles on the world’s roads set to triple by 2020, placing further upward pressure on prices.

 

Email: admin@galanlithium.com.au
Web: www.galanlithium.com.au

Directors: Nathan McMahon, Christopher Chalwell, Terry Gardiner, Juan Pablo Vargas de lea Vega

 

BC Beckons Blackstone Minerals

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As the snows melt in the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC), Australian exploration play Blackstone Minerals (ASX: BSX) looks to re-commence field activities at the company’s BC cobalt project.

The company’s attention will be focused on the impressive copper, gold and cobalt targets it identified by way of a soil sampling program previously undertaken on the project.

“We will be commencing our northern hemisphere exploration season in May once the snow starts to melt allowing us access to the ground,” Blackstone Minerals managing director Scott Williamson told The Resources Roadhouse.

“We have a good number of targets at the BC cobalt project that we are keen to start testing.

“Besides the Little Gem target we have identified another, sitting between Little Gem and the previously identified Erebor target, that we feel demands attention.

“We have already encountered high-grade gold and cobalt at Little Gem and at Erebor, so we feel the new target is very interesting and well worth a look.

“Besides these, we also have the Jewel prospect, which is a very big target that we consider having a lot of potential.”

Blackstone has not even had to park the drill rig at Jewel for it to be gathering some attention from astute market watchers.

Basically, the company didn’t have to do anything, thanks to the heavy lifting done by industry heavyweight, Newcrest, which recently made news with a $1.14 billion acquisition for a 70 per cent Joint Venture stake in the Red Chris mine of Toronto-listed Imperial Metals Corp.

Newcrest is no stranger to extracting maximum gain from low-grade, porphyry systems, it has been doing it with a fair rate of success for some time at the Cadia mine in New South Wales, one of the world’s biggest gold mines – after copper credits – that has similar low-grade Resources to Red Chris.

Newcrest mines Cadia at a rate of 30 million tonnes per annum, producing 240,000 ounces of gold – just in the December 2018 quarter alone.

Red Chris has Measured and Indicated Resources of 1 billion tonnes at 0.35 per cent copper and 0.35 grams per tonne gold.

These grades are the norm for BC-style porphyries and, although they may seem low-grade, they are akin to what is being mined by Newcrest at Cadia.

Newcrest has gone into the deal, and the district, with eyes wide open, knowing it has the expertise to make such deposits work and providing plenty of encouragement for others to follow suit.

“The Newcrest deal has really changed our view of the Jewel prospect, as we believe it has similar geology to Red Chris,” Williamson said.

“The Jewel target has potential to be associated with a copper-gold porphyry with cobalt.

“That deal has now put British Columbia copper-gold porphyries on the map.

“To establish such a project does require large capex; however, once underway they practically print money over a twenty to thirty-year mine life.

“We don’t know whether we have one…yet, but there is a chance we could have.”

Blackstone’s 2018 field work at the BC cobalt project consisted an extensive soil sampling program that identified several copper-gold-cobalt targets.

The program resulted in the identification of the Jewel copper-gold-cobalt prospect, located 1.1 kilometres north-northeast of the project’s original focus, the Little Gem prospect.

The new soil anomalies are greater than 1.5km long and coincide with IP targets, indicating a possible large sulphide bearing body at depth.

These copper, gold and cobalt soil anomalies are located within a structural setting near the contact between the granodiorite and serpentinite, that Blackstone considers to be analogous in geological setting to the deposits of the Bou-Azzer primary cobalt district in Morocco.

“We consider there to be forty-eight kilometres of that particular geology that delivered the Little Gem target,” Williamson explained.

“We have only tested one target – Little Gem – out of the entire belt at this stage.

“The key target that has now emerged for testing is the Jewel copper-gold-cobalt prospect.”

Surface rock chip samples taken at the Jewel prospect returned grades of up to 5.6 per cent copper and 5.1 per cent copper.

The BC project took further shape with the discovery of the Erebor cobalt-gold discovery, located 900 metres along an interpreted ultramafic trend to the south-west of the historic Little Gem adits.

Results from surface rock chip samples taken from the Erebor discovery returned assays recording grades of up to 2.3 per cent cobalt and 32 grams per tonne gold.

High-grade cobalt assays from surface rock chip samples taken from the Erebor discovery included:

2.3 per cent cobalt, 32 g/t gold and 1.1 per cent nickel;
1 per cent cobalt;
1 per cent cobalt;
0.6 per cent cobalt;
0.6 per cent cobalt;
0.5 per cent cobalt; and
0.4 per cent cobalt.

These were complemented by high-grade gold and copper assays recorded from surface rock chip samples from Erebor, including:

16.7 g/t gold and 1.6 per cent copper;
10.4 g/t gold; and
1.5 per cent copper.

Blackstone claims Erebor as the first discovery of significant cobalt-gold mineralisation in the region since prospectors discovered similar mineralisation at Little Gem in the 1930s.

The company believes the Erebor discovery further suggests the potential for the BC project to host multiple deposits, akin to the Bou-Azzer primary cobalt district in Morocco.

Blackstone remains encouraged by the fact there has been very little modern-day exploration undertaken across the BC cobalt project since the activities carried out by the early prospectors at Little Gem.

Even since then, the main activities have involved airborne geophysical surveys (including magnetic, radiometric and electromagnetic (EM) surveys) in the 1970s and a further two drill holes completed in 1986.

The mineral occurrence at the Jewel prospect supported some gold production from 1938 to 1940.

Although Blackstone Minerals’ southern hemisphere winter focus is on the company’s BC cobalt project, it also has the emerging Silver Swan South gold project, located eight kilometres along strike of the five million-ounce Kanowna Belle gold mine near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

The Silver Swan South project comprises one exploration licence application E27/545 and six granted prospecting licences, P27/2191 – 2196 covering an area of 47.2 square kilometres and are located approximately 40 kilometres northeast of Kalgoorlie.

Results from Blackstone Minerals’ 2018 drilling campaign at the Silver Swan South gold project produced several encouraging results.

The company’s second phase aircore drilling program at Silver Swan South demonstrated its potential as being an emerging gold discovery hosting extensive gold mineralisation and basement geochemical anomalism.

The basement geochemical anomalisms at the Black Eagle deposit as well as at the Black Hawk prospect are located along the interpreted extension of the Fitzroy Shear Zone, which hosts the Kanowna Belle gold mine.

The drilling encountered gold mineralisation and extensive basement geochemical anomalism at the Black Eagle prospect, providing a result of:

SNAC070
10 metres at 3.2 grams per tonne gold from 68m within 15m at 2.2g/t gold from 64m to end-of-hole (EOH).

On the back of this result, Blackstone was able to promote the Black Eagle prospect to priority drill target status.

Blackstone Minerals remains keen to identify the extent and source of the gold mineralisation at Silver Swan South, and to follow-up results of surface sampling of the target ultramafic unit that previously confirmed the presence of nickel sulphides (pentlandite).

“When we originally acquired this ground, we actually did so for its nickel potential,” Williamson said.

“This is the project the company originally listed on, because we liked what we saw in terms of nickel sulphide potential, so we are now going to revisit that nickel sulphide potential.”

Email: admin@blackstoneminerals.com.au
Web: www.blackstoneminerals.com.au

Directors: Hamish Halliday, Scott Williamson, Andrew Radonjic, Steve Parsons, Michael Konnert

 

Full Ownership Provides Advancement Incentive

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Alliance Resources (ASX: AGS) recently moved to 100 per cent-ownership of the company’s Wilcherry project in South Australia and has signalled it intends shifting up a gear in advancing the Weednanna gold deposit.

The company recently moved to 100 per cent-ownership of the Wilcherry project, acquiring the final percentage of the project from Tyranna Resources, greatly improving its ability to advance Weednanna on its own terms.

The deal eliminates the administrative burden and costs associated with operating a joint venture and will streamline the future statutory approvals required at the time Alliance submits a Mining Lease Proposal in respect of the Weednanna gold deposit.

Alliance is the latest in a line of suitors, dating back to the 1970s, eager to explore the project, located within the Gawler Craton, northern Eyre Peninsula, 40 kilometres north of Kimba in SA.

The project’s previous owner was Trafford Resources, which had acquired the project in 2006 from Aquila Resources, which had earlier acquired the project tenements to explore for IOCG deposits like Olympic Dam.

Trafford, along with IronClad Mining Limited, made a substantial investment on the project, however their efforts were mostly aimed at defining iron ore, Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) to be precise, in magnetite skarns, banded iron formations and near surface iron oxide deposits.

Trafford made inroads, establishing Mineral Resources totalling 224 million tonnes at 28.8 per cent iron in seven deposits, with 2.9 million tonnes at 55.5 per cent iron being either DSO or Dry Magnetic Separation product.

With the iron ore price enjoying some time in the limelight at present, it is well worth noting these Resources.

Likewise, the 2012-13, drilling programs carried out by IronClad to test an outcrop of high-grade hematite at the Zealous prospect, 13 kilometres northeast of Wilcherry Hill.

This drilling intersected high-grade tin (cassiterite) – which followers of the current electric vehicle debate would know to be a critical element in the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries.

The best intercepts from these programs returned:

12ZLRC007
7 metres at 3.28 per cent tin from 52m; and

13ZLRC001
5m at 2.29 per cent tin from 128m in.

Alliance Resources has approached Wilcherry from another angle, concentrating on what the company considers to be its substantial gold potential, and to date the company has increased both the project’s known mineralisation and potential.

At the time of writing the company was close to completing a Scoping Study to assess the commercial viability of establishing a standalone mining and processing operation at Weednanna.

In September 2018, Alliance Resources announced a maiden Mineral Resource estimate for the Weednanna gold deposit, part of the Wilcherry project, of 1.097 million tonnes at 5.1 grams per tonne gold for 181,000 ounces.

Alliance has always been confident in there being potential to increase the size of this Mineral Resource with further drilling, given many of the gold shoots comprising this mineral resource are open in at least one direction.

Alliance completed a 23-hole round of reverse circulation (RC) drilling at the Weednanna gold deposit in February this year to test for extensions of gold mineralisation in the southern area of the deposit at Shoots 4, 5E, and 11.

The drilling stayed on script, with results from this drilling program continuing to grow the size of the Weednanna deposit outside of the Maiden Mineral Resource area.

High-grade gold was encountered near the southern end of Shoot 4, returning intersections of:

19WDRC017
2 metres at 46.8 grams per tonne gold from 101m; and

19WDRC020
3m at 9.7g/t gold.

The drilling also continued to provide greater clarity at shoot 5E, returning intersections of:

19WDRC004
3m at 6.9g/t gold from 106m;

19WDRC007
10m at 7.7g/t gold from 117m, including 7m at 10g/t gold from 118m; and

19WDRC010
2m at 19.9g/t gold from 77m.

The gold potential of Shoot 11 was clearly demonstrated by intersections of:

19WDRCC012
3m at 7.3g/t gold from 97m (hangingwall); and
12m at 2.5g/t gold from 108m, including 8m at 3g/t gold from 108m;

19WDRC013
16m at 3.7g/t gold from 134m, including 10m at 4.3g/t gold from 134m;

19WDRC022
1m at 19g/t gold from 77m (hangingwall); and
7m at 4.5g/t gold from 90m.

Alliance originally identified Shoot 11 in 2018 while carrying out 3D modelling of the geology of the Weednanna deposit.

This shoot is positioned near the footwall contact of the Paleo-Proterozoic calc-silicate and magnetite skarn and was initially defined on two 25-metre spaced cross-sections by assay results including:

97WDRC010B
4m at 3.6g/t gold from 102m; and

18WDRC016
9m at 2.3g/t gold from 163m.

During December 2018, Alliance completed the first targeted holes into this shoot that returned:

18WDRC064
11m at 1.3g/t gold from 97m;

18WDRC065
7m at 1.5g/t gold from 112m; and

18WDRC066
2m at 16.1g/t gold from 126m.

The recent drilling program has followed suit by hitting further major gold intersection that not only extended Shoot 11, but identified connection to Shoot 9, which is in the same geological position.

Shoot 9 had also previously come to the company’s attention when it reviewed historic drill intersections that showed results from Shoot 9, included:

98WDDH004
7m at 1.5g/t gold from 163m;

98WDRC022
3m at 1.5g/t gold from 58m; and

98WDRC030
3m at 3.2g/t gold from 188m.

The upshot from the latest drilling results Alliance has received from Weednanna is that they have confirmed that, as evidenced at Shoot 4, substantial gold mineralisation can occur near the footwall contact of the Paleo-Proterozoic calc-silicate and magnetite skarn, and that lower grade gold zones can act as a vector towards higher-grade gold mineralisation.

Historically there has been a limited amount of drilling carried out at the footwall contact of the skarn, meaning it remains poorly tested.

Alliance is of the opinion that there is plenty of potential there to discover further gold in this geological position.

The company has plans to keep the drillbit spinning at Weednanna with ongoing RC drilling programs planned to continue to grow the size of the deposit, kicking off with the next phase of drilling expected to commence during April.

Alliance had prior carried out a Three Dimensional Induced Polarisation (3DIP) survey at the Weednanna gold deposit, to help target further areas of mineralisation.

Results from the 3DIP survey observed gold mineralisation is closely associated with chargeability bodies that exhibit moderate to high chargeability and that these chargeable bodies extend deeper than 200m below the surface.

It also demonstrated there to be a strong correlation between high density, high chargeability and high gold concentrations at Weednanna.

The 3DIP survey defined nine target zones based on where the high chargeability zones correlate with high density zones and are near, or along strike from, known high-grade gold shoots Alliance had delineated through its numerous drilling programs.

Five out of the nine targets are shallow, which the company believes highlights the remaining near-surface potential to substantially grow the mineral resource.

So, what the 3DIP survey produced was a chargeability model that closely correlates with underlying geological detail/mapping and known gold mineralisation at Weednanna.

It deemed that many of the targets appear to correlate with the margins of the known gold shoots and some have clear structural control observed in aeromagnetic and gravity datasets.

The highly chargeable zones from the 3DIP surveys also correlate well with high density zones identified by a detailed 3D gravity inversion model the company had generated in 2018 that suggested, like the recent drilling, there is clear potential for further discoveries at deeper levels than have been currently tested.

 

Email: info@allianceresources.com.au
Web: www.allianceresources.com.au

Directors: Ian Gandel, Tony Lethlean, Steve Johnston

Gilmour Gold on Gold Road Horizon

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THE INSIDE STORY: As the highly-anticipated Gruyere gold mine moves closer to commissioning, Gold Road Resources (ASX: GOR) is making exciting progress at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Gilmour deposit.

Gold Road Resources and its 50:50 Joint Venture partner Gruyere Mining Company Pty Ltd, a member of the Gold Fields Limited group, have made steady progress on construction and commissioning for the Gruyere gold project, located approximately 200 kilometres east of Laverton in Western Australia.

Late last year, the JV announced an updated mine plan for Gruyere based on updates and enhancements to the Feasibility Study (FS) that had been completed by Gold Road back in 2016, before it had struck the JV deal with Gold Fields in November that year.

The new Gruyere mine plan is based on what the JV has learnt while moving the project through the construction stages as it prepares to push the button for a planned safe and efficient start‐up.

The updated mine plan incorporates a new five-staged pit design, which the JV expects to provide lower risk delivery of ore supplies to Gruyere’s processing facilities, while maintaining a similar grade and strip ratio profile identified by the 2016 FS.

The Gruyere JV has invested a substantial amount of time and money into growth projects such as its ongoing exploration on the Gruyere JV tenement areas and pre‐feasibility studies being carried out on the Golden Highway deposits, all located within a 25-kilometre radius from the Gruyere processing facilities.

This has added 3.6 million tonnes at 1.55 grams per tonne gold for 178,500 ounces of Ore Reserves to the mine plan from the Attila and Alaric deposits on the Golden Highway.

The Gruyere JV anticipates its first gold production to come in the June quarter this year, from which it is planning a six to seven‐month ramp‐up to full production.

The forecast life of mine production now averages approximately 300,000 ounces per annum, a substantial increase from an average of 270,000 ounces per annum determined by the FS.

This new forecast is driven by the purchase of larger SAG and Ball Mills, enabling the JV to increase processing throughput to 8.2 million tonnes per annum in fresh rock from 2021, along with slight improvements to expected metallurgical recoveries and the addition of the two Golden Highway deposits.

“With first gold remaining on target for the June 2019 quarter, we have the confidence in Gruyere to be able to provide this update to the life of mine plan for this world‐class project,” Gold Fields executive vice president Australasia Stuart Mathews said.

“The updated mine plan indicates an increase in annual average gold production to 300,000 ounces per annum.

“This update also provides more clarity around Gruyere’s AISC and gold production forecasts.”

Things are definitely taking shape on site with the first ore being mined on schedule in January 2019, a generous amount of which is being stockpiled in order to de-risk the project start-up.

Construction of the Gruyere process plant and infrastructure is progressing at a cracking rate with overall construction at 91.2 per cent as at 18 January 2019.

“It has been an incredible journey for Gold Road, since discovering Gruyere in 2013,” Gold Road managing director and CEO Duncan Gibbs said.

“For Gold Road the updated mine plan means an attributable forecast share of approximately 150,000 ounces of gold on average per annum over the 12-year mine life.

“The cash flow Gruyere will produce from 2019 will be substantial and allow us to deliver tremendous value for shareholders, many of whom have backed us since before we made the discovery.

“Gold Road will continue to work closely with Gold Fields, to safely and successfully conclude construction and commissioning of this world‐class gold operation.”

Exploration remains a strong focus of Gold Road Resources and the company is keen to maintain its reputation as an explorer for, and discoverer of, rich gold deposits.

Gold Road’s Yamarna exploration tenements cover 180 kilometres of greenstone strike, making it one of Australia’s largest greenfields gold exploration projects.

The 100 per cent-owned Northern Project Area that encapsulates the Ibanez (Corkwood) and Bloodwood targets has also demonstrated plenty of potential.

Most recent news has emanated from the 100 per cent-owned Southern Project Area, in particular at the Gilmour Prospect, which is shaping up to be a very interesting discovery in its own right.

The Gilmour prospect has previously exhibited excellent continuity of mineralisation characterised by a consistent and predictable gold-¬bearing quartz vein in most intersections.

Gold Road has focused its efforts at Gilmour on understanding both the geological controls to mineralisation, and the potential economic value of the discovery, from which it has already rapidly advanced the project recording detailed drilling results capable of supporting potential future resource modelling activities.

Gold Road recently completed a round of infill and extensional drilling at the Gilmour deposit that demonstrated exceptional internal consistency and extension to the known high‐grade gold mineralisation.

The most recent intersections from Gilmour include:

18WDDD0031
0.62 metres at 117.78 grams per tonne gold from 340.55m;

18WDDD0026
1.78m at 29.68g/t gold from 290m, including 0.96m at 54.59g/t gold from 290.82m;

18WDRC0193
19m at 2.78g/t gold from 63m, including 6m at 7.08g/t gold from 76m;

18WDRC0210
8m at 6.18g/t gold from 143m, including 2m at 22.27g/t gold from 147m;

18WDRC0199
3m at 13.99g/t gold from 124m, including 1m at 40.01g/t gold from 124m; and

18WDRC0192
3m at 13.84g/t gold from 180m, including 1m at 38.23g/t gold from 180m.

Gold Road remains confident these contiguous high‐grade results provide considerable scope for strike and down‐dip extensions to the known mineralisation at Gilmour.

The drilling program, comprising 11 diamond holes for 3,521m and 22 Reverse Circulation (RC) holes for 3,941m, was designed to infill previously reported high‐grade results.

The RC drilling was completed to an average 50m by 50m spacing to a vertical depth of 150m with the diamond drilling spaced at an average 100m centres from 150m to 300m below surface.

Drilling undertaken on the Gilmour Main Shear defined gold mineralisation over a 500m strike length and a dip extent of 300m.

A further diamond drilling program designed specifically to test the Waters Fault at the north end of the Gilmour deposit, returned high‐grade intersections associated with visible gold in quartz veining observed within the fault zone.

Gold Road interpreted these results to demonstrate additional exploration potential exists in parallel mineralised structures.

“This last round of infill and extensional drilling proved very successful in confirming the high‐grade nature of the mineralisation at Gilmour, with abundant free gold consistently intersected in both diamond and RC drilling,” Gold Road Executive Director ‐ Exploration & Growth Justin Osborne said.

“More importantly, the drilling demonstrated a highly predictable geometry to the main shear zone as well as indications of possible parallel structures which only adds to the upside of this exciting new discovery.

“Our 2019 drilling programs will kick off in February with diamond and RC drilling targeting further extensions to the currently defined Gilmour footprint prior to commencing detailed drilling for resource assessment.”

 

Gold Road Resources (ASX: GOR)
…The Short Story

HEAD OFFICE
Level 2
26 Colin Street
West Perth WA 6005

Ph: +61 8 9200 1600

Email: perth@goldroad.com.au
Website: www.goldroad.com.au

DIRECTORS
Tim Netscher, Duncan Gibbs, Justin Osborne, Sharon Warburton, Brian Levet

 

Cassini Resources Progressing Wide-Ranging Portfolio

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THE INSIDE STORY: Base and precious metals developer and explorer Cassini Resources (ASX: CZI) has a project portfolio boasting an advanced Joint Venture with a major partner and its own prospective exploration plays.

Cassini Resources’ main project is the West Musgrave Joint Venture with OZ Minerals (ASX: OZL) where the JV is working together to develop the West Musgrave nickel-copper project (WMP) in Western Australia.

The latest activities at the WMP have advanced the Nebo-Babel Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) where OZ Minerals recently progressed through the Stage 1 Earn-in requirement by contributing $22 million to acquire a 51 per cent interest in the project.

The PFS is on-track for completion in the second quarter of 2019.

The PFS resource infill drill program was completed late last year comprising approximately 40,000m of RC drilling.

Cassini anticipates the results will improve resource confidence and allow a maiden Ore Reserve estimate being published to coincide with completion of the PFS.

A further 4,000m of RC drilling was completed as part of an additional 23,000m drilling brought forward from the planned Stage 2 Feasibility Study program.

Resource definition drilling is due to re-commence during the March Quarter 2019 and in the meantime a new resource model for Nebo-Babel is being progressed utilising the new infill assay and geological data.

The WMP is the largest undeveloped nickel-copper project in Australia in a new mining camp with three existing nickel and copper sulphide deposits and several other significant regional exploration targets already identified that currently has over one million tonnes of contained nickel and two million tonnes of contained copper in Resource.

The recent PFS work included continued metallurgical testing, focusing on a variability program as well as flowsheet improvement opportunities.

Other work involved process plant and infrastructure engineering and market testing of power solutions.

The objectives of the metallurgy program are to improve concentrate recovery and grades across a representative range of nickel and copper ore-types to be mined from the WMP, particularly focussing on lower grades close to the economic cut-off grade.

Elsewhere on the WMP, 15 kilometres south of Nebo-Babel the JV partners made further progress on the One Tree Hill prospect, an early stage exploration target that was identified as part of a regional exploration strategy.

Although activity at One Tree Hill is relatively new, the prospect has already demonstrated potential to host ore-grade mineralisation with the extent of anomalous copper and PGE mineralisation indicating the possibility of it emerging as a very large mineralised system.

Drilling has encountered extensive and, compared to the rest of the WMP, unusually strong platinum and palladium anomalism throughout the host sequence that the JV has interpreted to possibly represent the halo to a much larger ore-system.

Two recent diamond drill holes targeting moving loop electromagnetic (MLEM) anomalies and extensions to mineralisation encountered by previous drilling (CZD0017) returned:

CZD0083A
24.65 metres at 0.69 per cent copper and 0.44 grams per tonne PGE from 337m with a higher-grade core of 9m at 1.15 per cent copper and 0.64g/t PGE.

The intersection also included a massive sulphide zone of 2.6m at 0.96 per cent copper, 0.48 per cent nickel, 0.1 per cent cobalt and 1g/t PGE.

The results are generally consistent with earlier results that intersected a massive sulphide zone within a broader disseminated zone.

A second diamond drill hole, CZD0087A, sited approximately 100m south of CZD0017, missed the target intrusion because of an apparent fault offset, but did, however, intersect a 40m zone of PGE anomalism towards the bottom of hole, possibly representing the halo of magmatic mineralisation

A down hole electromagnetic survey (DHEM) identified a large off-hole conductor consistent with copper sulphide conductivity that may represent the extension of mineralisation observed in CZD0017, but on a much larger scale.

The JV has identified this new DHEM conductor as a priority target for drill testing when exploration operations resume in 2019.

“The West Musgrave Joint Venture has had several recent successes with new discoveries at Nebo, Babel and Yappsu,” Cassini Resources managing director Richard Bevan told The Resources Roadhouse.

“The Pre-Feasibility Study is well on track and we look at being able to provide further updates on this shortly.

“We are also awaiting drilling results from a program we completed at our 100 per cent-owned West Arunta zinc project, which we think could become a new zinc province in one of the last mineral frontiers in Australia.”

Cassini’s drilling at the West Arunta project followed on from an Airborne Electromagnetic (AEM) survey that delivered a new geological interpretation to assist targeting for the drill program.

The AEM survey mapped stratigraphic horizons within the sedimentary basin and the ‘Dione Horizon’, which the company considers to be a discrete stratigraphic unit that is sulphide or graphite-rich, and perhaps locally mineralised, that sits within the broader Bitter Springs Formation.

These types of horizons are generally favourable targets for base metal mineralisation.

With the addition of the AEM data, the conceptual targets Cassini has previously identified at Mimas and Janus are supported by several anomalous features drawn from independent datasets making them the highest priority targets for the drill program.

The Mimas prospect is a discrete AEM anomaly and the most conductive along the Dione Horizon implying an anomalous local process.

It has given up the strongest magnetic response in the basin coincident with the AEM anomaly and is situated in a favourable position in the axis of the Dione Horizon.

The Janus prospect sits at the peak of a residual gravity anomaly that appears to be structurally controlled, potentially representing a dense sulphide body.

A discrete, isolated AEM anomaly, coincident with a small geochemical anomaly, Janus is within a structurally favourable position of the type often associated with sedimentary mineralisation.

Although the drilling was conducted last year, a laboratory backlog has prevented Cassini from completing evaluation and interpretation of results and geological data, however, results will be released when complete.

On the corporate front Cassini has entered an option agreement to acquire 80 per cent of the Yarawindah Brook project, located 130km northeast of Perth, near the township of New Norcia.

The project has had only limited nickel, copper and cobalt exploration despite a favourable regional setting, prospective geology and near-surface occurrences of nickel and copper.

Historic exploration focussed on a PGE resource, which Cassini views as a ‘path-finder’ anomaly for massive nickel-copper-cobalt sulphides.

Drilling in 2007 targeting surface EM anomalies, returned encouraging results, yet no further follow-up drilling was conducted.

Cassini is seeking an access agreement with local landholders and environmental approvals in preparation for drill testing two electromagnetic anomalies.

Any explorer worth its salt seeks gold at some stage and Cassini is doing so at the 100 per cent-owned Mount Squires project, adjacent to the WMP.

Cassini has been developing the project over the past two years through consolidation of tenements with several prospective gold targets, which includes a range of conceptual to advanced prospects.

Having completed drilling at West Arunta, Cassini has now turned its attention to accelerating exploration at Mount Squires where gold prospects are already defined, and further work is hoped to enhance some of these targets prior to drill testing.

Targeting work is expected to continue through the March Quarter in preparation for drill testing during the upcoming field season.

 

Cassini Resources Limited (ASX: CZI)
…The Short Story

HEAD OFFICE
16 Ord St Street
West Perth WA 6005

Phone: +61 8 6164 8900

Email: admin@cassiniresources.com.au
Web: www.cassiniresources.com.au

DIRECTORS
Mike Young, Richard Bevan, Dr Jon Hronsky, Phil Warren, Greg Miles