Aruma Resources (ASX:AAJ) plans to define and model geochemical and geophysical targets at its Saltwater Gold Project in Western Australia ahead of a first-phase drilling program planned for 2024.
The company says it has begun a hyperspectral and machine learning study to fast-track modelling and drill targeting in preparation for the planned maiden drilling.
Ground gravity surveys are expected to follow over the coming months to delineate targets at depth.
These works come after Aruma today (28 November) announced it had uncovered a ‘very anomalous’ greenfield gold target at the Terceira prospect within the Saltwater area.
The anomaly was discovered through the company’s latest phase of soil sampling over recent rock-chip anomalies and is interpreted to be coincident with a ‘large’ surface arsenic halo and geophysical magnetic anomaly.
Aruma reports sampling has delivered ‘strong’ gold and polymetallic anomalism across 3 prospects: Terceira, Orichalcum, and Oracle.
Key results from Terceira include sample SWS0180 with 0.38 grams per tonne (g/t) Au and 356 parts per million (ppm) arsenic (As).
Meanwhile, key results from Orichalcum and Oracle include sample SWS0102 with 1.1% manganese (Mn), 612ppm cobalt (Co), 387ppm copper (Cu), 0.37g/t silver (Ag), and 0.19% barium; and sample SWS0094 with 295ppm cerium (Ce), 160ppm lanthanum (La), and 535ppm Ba, respectively.
The company notes heli-mapping and rock chips of the project outcrop features also expand the prospectivity of the Inkwell Ridge prospect and the greater Saltwater Basin Complex.
Together, these results affirm Aruma’s belief that the Saltwater project has the potential to be a multi-commodity mineralised system.
Aruma Resources Managing Director Glenn Grayson says the company will continue to pursue a systematic and targeted exploration approach at Saltwater ahead of drilling in the new year.
Aruma Resources is a minerals explorer focused on the exploration and development of a portfolio of prospective gold and lithium projects in Western Australia.
The company’s Saltwater Project was pegged by Aruma for its gold prospectivity in 2020 and has since emerged as a rare earth element (REE), base metals, gold, and uranium project.
As of 30 September 2023, Aruma Resources had $2.791 million cash and cash equivalents at hand, according to its latest quarterly report.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Aruma Resources
