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LAKE EVERARD (Tunkillia) GOLD |
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The Lake Everard (Tunkillia) Gold Project is located 700 kilometres north west of Adelaide in South Australia's Gawler Craton. The project comprises 3,250 square kilometres of tenements prospective for gold, uranium and copper-gold mineralisation. Helix acquired the project in 1996 to explore in the highly prospective Mesoproterozoic geological setting. The Tunkillia gold discovery was announced in late 1996 and was one of the first gold discoveries in the Gawler Craton. The 20 square kilometre gold-in-calcrete anomaly at the Tunkillia Prospect remains the largest robust calcrete anomaly in the region. The project spent 4 years in joint venture with Acacia (Subsequently taken by AngloGold) before being returned to Helix on 2001. In June 2003, with gold prices starting to climb off depressing lows, an in-house review of the Project, a subsequent independent resource assessment and preliminary economic evaluation by Snowden Mining Industry Consultants Pty Ltd was completed. Helix committed to a $1.5 million drilling program in parallel with metallurgical test-work, geotechnical studies and hydrological studies, this additional data resulted in the first JORC compliant resource for the Project being calculated by AMC Consultants Pty Ltd in early 2004. An inferred and indicated resource of 10.5Mt @ 2.2g/t Au for 730,000 oz gold was announced. Additional drilling was carried out in 2004 with regional targets tested and a gradient IP survey carried out. Although encouraging results were forthcoming, Helix’s board of directors concluded that the company would be better placed if it spread the risk on the project with a partner on the project. A Joint Venture with Minotaur Exploration Ltd (“Minotaur”) over the Lake Everard Project was entered into in early 2005 whereby Minotaur could earn a 51% interest in all tenements by spending $5.0 million over four years. Under a proposed generative alliance between Minotaur and Oxiana Limited, Minotaur may introduce Oxiana to the project. Should Oxiana contribute to the joint venture, then Minotaur/Oxiana can earn an additional 24.5% (total 75.5%) equity by completing a pre-feasibility study on a project containing an Indicated Resource of at least 1 million ounces gold, in an additional 2 years. Minotaur has completed a campaign of 16 diamond drillholes, 42 RC holes and 100+ aircore/slim-line RC holes as part of their earning in commitment on the Tunkillia JV Gold Project. Recent high-grade results from shallow oxide drilling outside the known resource, but proximal to the ore-body has encouraged Minotaur to carry out metallurgical test-work and re-assess the projects economics, this work is ongoing. Minotaur is also continuing its exploration concentrating on near-resource structural targets as well as testing a series of regional targets, including an Iron Oxide Copper Gold target on the adjoining Lake Everard West tenement (EL 2854). Geology and mineralisationThe Lake Everard Project is located within the central part of the Gawler Craton along the western margin of the Gawler Range Volcanic Province. The Gawler Craton is broadly divided into three main geological units, Archaean crystalline basement, highly deformed Palaeoproterozoic metasediments and granites, and less deformed Mesoproterozoic volcanics, clastic sediments and granite. Almost all gold and copper mineralisation found in the Gawler Craton is directly associated with Mesoproterozoic magmatism, which explains Helix’s original focus on exploration within this geological environment. Basement rocks within the Lake Everard tenement rarely outcrop; they have been intensely weathered and are overlain by a thin veneer of sediments, representing a significant challenge to explorers. Only the use of modern aeromagnetic techniques and the skilful interpretation of data revealed the potential to exploration companies since the region was opened up to exploration in the early 1990s. To date, Helix and its joint venture partners have amassed an impressive geological database on the Lake Everard Project comprising than 11,000 surface geochemical samples, gravity, radiometrics and magnetic surveys, as well as 160,000 metres of RAB/Aircore, 70,000 metres of RC and 5,000 metres of diamond drilling. Significant gold mineralisation has been intersected in a number of areas, with the bulk of previous drilling focused on Area 223, within the western demagnetised zone, and Area 191,within the eastern demagnetised zone. The mineralisation at Area 223, the original discovery zone, comprises a series of up to six steeply dipping primary ore shoots trending sub-parallel to the regional shear trend. The host rock is a sericite+silica+/-sulphide altered gneiss with the higher-grade gold associated with quartz veining. The Area 223 mineralisation, which is contained within three main mineralised zones (North Central and South), extends along strike for at least 2 kilometres. |