Great Southern jags second large-scale Queensland | Australian Markets

Intensive geophysical exploration work has paid off for Nice Southern Mining and Gold Fields Restricted after the duo of firms picked up sturdy alerts of a second large-scale induced polarisation (IP) goal at their collectively owned Edinburgh Park gold and copper project in northern Queensland.

The latest goal, dubbed Mt Dillon, follows an earlier discovery of an IP anomaly measuring more than 2 kilometres extensive at Leichhardt Creek, which sits 10km to the northwest of the latest discover.

The early identifiers are additionally virtually equivalent to the Leichhardt Creek “tells” and, in accordance with management, have boosted the possibilities of making large-scale intrusive-related discoveries throughout the lease.

Nice Southern says Mt Dillon bears all of the hallmarks of an intrusive-related anomaly with sturdy geochemical indicators, promising structural formations, close by gold-bearing breccia pipes and floor alterations.

The new goal lies beneath a huge silicified lithocap masking a number of sq. kilometres, primarily made up of quartz and different silica-type minerals, making it proof against erosion.

It additionally has widespread argillic alteration – a course of the place the first minerals in rock are changed by clay minerals corresponding to kaolinite, illite and montmorillonite – which is one other traditional indicator of an acidic, fluid-saturated system.

Including to the intriguing goal, the IP survey lit up with chargeability alerts at depths of 200 metres to 300m, hinting on the presence of a sulphide-rich, well-preserved porphyry system ready to be uncovered.

With two important targets now underneath its belt, the three way partnership is planning to deliver out a truth-telling rig for a drilling program set to start out within the second quarter of the 12 months after it completes the required heritage and environmental surveys and northern Queensland’s moist season slows down.

Till then, geophysical surveys, on-ground mapping and helicopter-borne aeromagnetic research will proceed their work to uncover new targets that gentle up with the identical alerts as Mt Dillon and Leichhardt Creek.

It’s thrilling to see giant IP anomalies immediately beneath two of probably the most favoured targets within the Edinburgh Park project, particularly Mt Dillon and Leichhardt Creek.

The early discovery of two massive intrusive-related anomalies is precisely what Gold Fields hoped for when it signed up to go elephant searching at Edinburgh Park.

The project spans a huge space of 1750 sq. kilometres and encompasses a belt-scale porphyry play. It was all the time going to be too massive for Nice Southern to discover single-handedly, however it’s precisely the kind of exploration grounds that a deep-pocketed miner, corresponding to Gold Fields, may get its tooth caught into.

After a rigorous due diligence course of and offering the best deal in a aggressive tender, Gold Fields sealed its three way partnership settlement in late 2023. The deal grants the mining giant the option to earn a 75 per cent stake within the project by spending $15 million in exploration over six years.

As half of its dedication, Gold Fields has to spend at the least $2.5m within the primary two years, making certain an aggressive early exploration push. Nice Southern retains a 25pc free carried curiosity till the $15m is spent.

The Edinburgh Park project is strategically positioned on the northern finish of the confirmed New England Orogeny and is about 100km southeast of Townsville. The area hosts a number of world-class deposits, together with the revered 16.6m-ounce Charters Towers mine, the two.3m-ounce Pajingo gold mine, the 10m-ounce Ravenswood gold mine and the now depleted 9m-ounce Mt Morgan gold mine.

Some of Nice Southern’s Edinburgh Park wrap round Navarre Minerals’ 2m-ounce high-sulphuric epithermal Mt Carlton gold-silver-copper mine.

Now that Gold Fields is accountable for exploration funding and chasing huge exploration targets, Nice Southern seems nicely positioned to leverage itself into what could possibly be a main copper-gold discovery.

With a number of large-scale targets now outlined, the upcoming drilling program on this underexplored area could possibly be the catalyst the company wants to remodel itself from mining junior to a key participant within the Queensland mining sector.

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