Barton Gold Holdings Limited (ASX: BGD) has announced that it has been awarded a $300,000 exploration grant by the South Australian government under the Accelerated Discovery Initiative, with funds to be used to complete proof-of-concept exploration at its Tarcoola Project.
The grant provides up to $300,000 of co-funding for an approved program of works at the Company’s Tarcoola Project.
“We are honoured to receive such significant and continued support from the South Australian Government”
Accelerated Discovery Initiative
South Australia’s Accelerated Discovery Initiative (ADI) is described by the state’s government as “embracing innovation, collaboration and capacity building to advance exploration activity in South Australia”.
The Initiative, which will provide up to $10m in state government co-funding over 3 years, is designed to bolster the South Australian Growth Agenda target by supporting the potential discovery of new mineral and groundwater resources, along with driving other other key economic and social benefits including driving aboriginal employment opportunities, development and application of innovative exploration technologies, and generating data to support development of regional communities.
Barton has stated that it plans to use grant proceeds to further investigate regional stratigraphy and structure, with activities including high-resolution gravity surveys, ground penetrating radar, advanced geochemical techniques and drill testing of regional stratigraphy and anomalous targets.
Tarcoola Project
The Tarcoola Project encompasses the site of the brownfields open-pit Perseverance Mine which was in operation between 2017 and 2018.
The project site has been the subject of significant historical interest, with exploration and mining activities recorded back as far at the early 1900s. The use of modern exploration technology was relatively limited until recently, when Barton acquired high-res aeromagnetics and undertook a regional seismic reinterpretation which identified a “highly prospective” system of shears and faults.
Management comments
Barton Gold Managing Director Alexander Scanlon said: “We are honoured to receive such significant and continued support from the South Australian Government in our efforts to reinvigorate gold exploration in the central Gawler Craton.
“The Tarcoola and Tunkillia project areas have been historically under-explored over the last ~20 years. However, our recent work has identified considerable new discovery potential across large-scale structures. This funding will help to further map key structural and stratigraphic controls on mineralisation at the Tarcoola Project, and help to identify priority future drilling targets.”
Images: Barton Gold Holdings Limited