공시 • Dec 02
Anax Metals Limited Announces the Gold Exploration Commences At the Whim Creek Project Joint Venture
Anax Metals Limited to announced that gold exploration has commenced at the Whim Creek Project Joint Venture following the handover of site operations from Venturex Resources Limited on 30 October 2020. Anax has entered the initial Earn In phase of the Whim Creek transaction to acquire up to an 80% interest in the Project from Venturex Resources Ltd. In parallel with Anax's volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) copper-zinc resource development, gold exploration is a core priority for the Company at Whim Creek. The Project encompasses the width of the Whim Creek Greenstone Belt and is located adjacent to De Grey MiningLimited's Mallina Project, in the West Pilbara mineral district. The initial phase of gold-focused exploration will target multiple, regionally significant, northeast-trending structures over a total strike length of more than 51 kilometres within the Whim Creek tenure. The program will include the re-interpretation of existing geophysical data which will commence immediately, along with geological and structural reconnaissance and a surface geophysics programme, designed to define initial drill targets. Detailed soil sampling programmes will also be undertaken, which will target geophysical and structural anomalies along the western boundary of the Project - accessible directly from the North West Coastal Highway - and other priority targets including historical gold-in-soil anomalies at the Rushalls and Ridgeback Prospects in the east of the tenure. Standard soil sampling will be carried out to enable a comparison with historical records, and UltraFine+TM soil sampling will be used to optimise the definition of gold and base metals anomalism where geology is obscured by alluvial cover. This newly proven soil sampling method targets gold and other metals adhering to clay particles (<2µm), thereby avoiding the common problem of spikey gold-in-soil results (known as the "nugget" effect). This sampling method is being applied by gold explorers across the region, contributing to a region-wide study, in which Anax will take part. The target areas for this exploration program have been defined from the interpretation of results from multiple, historical geochemical soil sampling programs, which have generated numerous gold anomalies, and a detailed aeromagnetic survey, which generated magnetic anomalies associated with major structures. The magnetic highs and lows were generated from Total Magnetic Intensity (TMI) imagery from Straits Resources' aeromagnetic survey of 2007. These highs, lows and dipoles, in particular, conform well with the north-east trending regional structures that define the Whim Creek Greenstone Belt. Magnetic dipoles are of interest, especially where they coincide with structural intersections, as they belie fluid pathways with potential for mineralisation. An example lies 1.5km to the south of the Mons Cupri pit, coincident with low grade gold anomalism. Copper mineralisation was intersected in deep (+200m downhole) historical drilling at Mons Cupri South, but no drilling has directly targeted the area of the magnetic dipole/structural intersection. The Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetic (VTEM) Survey conducted by Straits Resources in 2007 (not shown) also highlighted this location, and complex geology strongly suggests further work is required. Planned work will consist of geological and structural reconnaissance and surface geophysics to define drill targets, which will be scheduled following the forthcoming cyclone season. Reinterpretation of historical geophysics will commence shortly to define targets. Other magnetic dipoles that coincide with major structures are evident across the Project area and some of these coincide with gold-in-soil anomalies while others remain unexplored. For example, the north western boundary of the main Whim Creek tenure is the faulted contact between the Archean- age Whim Creek Greenstone Belt and the Caines Well Batholith granitic intrusive over a 16km strike. Here geologically recent cover obscures the complex relationship between granites, greenstones and structures at Kent Well. The proposed exploration field work in this area will consist of soil grids over these anomalies, accessible directly from the North West Coastal Highway. Standard soil sampling will enable comparison with historical records, while UltraFine+TM soil sampling will avoid the "nugget" effect and optimise the definition of gold and base metals anomalism where geology is obscured by alluvial cover. The well-maintained infrastructure on site will enable this soil sampling survey to go ahead during the cyclone season, which usually falls between December and April. Historical soil sampling surveys, particularly those that include gold analysis, have targeted specific locations and/or geology, but these do not extend across the entire Whim Creek tenure. Widely spaced reconnaissance soil grids have nevertheless defined gold anomalies along the south eastern edge of the Whim Creek Greenstone Belt, where Loudens Volcanics are intermittently magnetic and confined between major structures over 13km (Loudens Fault is gold mineralised along strike). Closely spaced soil grids were previously conducted to follow up anomalies at the Rushalls Prospect, due east of the Mons Cupri Pit, and the results of this work generated cohesive, low-grade anomalism and isolated spikey gold, along east-west grid lines, potentially parallel to an undefined structure. Further soil sampling and UltraFine+TM follow-up work is proposed here. Located across the Balla Balla Creek from the main site infrastructure, this prospect has limited access until after the cyclone season. Loudens Fault separates the Archean-aged Whim Creek Greenstone Belt and the adjacent Mallina Basin, differentiated spatially for classification purposes but essentially composed of related Archean rock successions. Large tracts of the Mallina Basin are currently being explored by De Grey, Kairos and Novo on neighbouring tenements to the Whim Creek and Loudens Patch Projects.