Previous Mining and Exploration
The Project is centred on the southeastern extent of the Ebagoola Goldfield and all of the Yarraden Goldfield and hosts historic gold mines that produced 642.4 kg of gold between 1894 and 1941.
Previous exploration at Ebagoola South was conducted by various companies between 1968 and 2012, including CRA Exploration (1978-1981 and 1991-1994) and Billiton (1985-1986). Ross Mining (1987-1988) and Gulf Mines (1990-1996) did the majority of drilling (Percussion, DD), targeting open-pittable mesothermal quartz fissure lodes and stockworks above the water table. Other exploration activities included mapping, stream, soil and rock chip sampling (RAB), and a high-resolution (100m line spacing) airborne magnetic and radiometric survey.
Historic drilling has shown that many of the mesothermal prospects exhibit mineralised wall rock, sheeted and stockwork veins and breccias adjacent to the historically exploited main lodes, with results over these wider zones including:
Source: Geo Data Pty Ltd, Independent Geologist's ReportFigure 8. Gold Mount (a) geology, historic workings and drillhole locations (b) cross-section of borehole GMP4 (local grid) (Truelove 1986 & Lawton 1987)
Drilling at the IRGS targets was limited to Spion Kop and indicated anomalous gold over wide zones (016 g/t to 0.22 g/t Au over 75 m to 79 m) with best intersections including 10 m @ 1.42 g/t Au from 20 m downhole, including 2 m @ 3.5 g/t Au and 2 m @ 2.5 g/t Au (hole SPK4).
RAB drilling at Lapunya Mount outlined broad Zn-Cu-As anomalism (not assayed for Au) with maximum values of 175 ppm arsenic and 350 ppm copper but was not followed up.
A summary of significant drillhole intersections is presented in section 6.2 of the Independent Geologist Report in Annexure A.
Planned Exploration
The potential for Ebagoola South to host significant IRGS is the most important aspect of the project. Spion Kop, Lapunya Mount and Yarraden are immediate targets that will undergo systematic exploration including geological mapping, soil and rock chip sampling and ground based geophysical surveys (probably IP).
The gold bearing mesothermal quartz vein systems, that have been mined historically, offer additional targets. They have the potential for the discovery of small to medium sized resources, potentially mineable by both open pit and underground methods. Drilling completed on some of these prospects historically, has been by inadequate shallow open hole percussion holes. Gold Mount, Golden King, Golden King North and Savannah are high priority targets for drilling in the short term. Golden King South and Lukin King are moderate priority drill targets. Initially drilling will target high-grade zones and those considered to have significant potential modern mining widths. Drilling by reverse circulation percussion (RC) and diamond drilling methods should overcome the problems associated with the old open hole percussion data. Drilling will be targeted at depths below that of historical mining and below the water table and oxidised zone.
A key focus of the planned program is to use tools such as multi-element geochemistry and vein mineralogy/texture to vector towards potential mineralisation at depth. The IP surveys will be designed to achieve a depth penetration of around 400 m and will be used to create 3D geophysical models of the targets at depth prior to commencement of scout drilling.
