Gold Mountain (ASX:GMN) reports exploration will restart following a detailed review of all the exploration data at the ‘highly prospective’ Mt Wipi target, as part of its Wabag Project in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
The company will aim to define high confidence drill targets at the project, specifically at the Kandum and Pully prospects, where trenching in late 2021 and early 2022 defined ‘strong’ copper (and gold) anomalies.
Gold Mountain notes the elevated copper, gold, and molybdenum geochemistry in trenches MWTR008, 009, AND 011 occurs above the vertical projection of an intense magnetic low feature, with mineralisation yet to be closed off and strike extensions of the trenches yet to be tested.
Exploration teams are currently being mobilised with exploration activities planned to commence in the second week of March 2023. Exploration will comprise extending trenches, additional mapping, and rock chip sampling in order to better understand the geology and geochemistry of the prospect and identify high confidence drill targets.
Addressing the restart of exploration, Gold Mountain Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director Tim Cameron says: “I am pleased to inform our shareholders that on-ground exploration activity is resuming at our Wabag Project in PNG. Over the last 8 months, on-ground exploration activities at PNG have been impacted, first by the PNG elections, then due to the onset of the wet season.
“The concentration of copper-gold and molybdenum mineralisation intersected in the trenches excavated at Mt Wipi’s Pully prospect I find particularly exciting, and it reconfirms that the Pully area is highly prospective for porphyry style mineralisation”
During this time our team has been re-evaluating the Mt Wipi data and have come up with five targets which require immediate follow up work. The concentration of copper-gold and molybdenum mineralisation intersected in the trenches excavated at Mt Wipi’s Pully prospect I find particularly exciting, and it reconfirms that the Pully area is highly prospective for porphyry style mineralisation. Our team will be focused on further defining the extent of the mineralisation at Pully to identify high confidence drill targets in the coming months.”
The company also notes other additional targets include 2 adjacent +1,000 parts per million (ppm) copper in soil samples at the Kandum prospect, which are on a pronounced ridge line and associated with an ‘intense’ magnetic high, as well as an area northwest of MWD001 where rock chips samples assayed over 2,000ppm copper (Cu) within an area of thick vegetation and poor exposure.
Geochemical modelling from this area also identified that this area is prospective for porphyry mineralisation.
Gold Mountain is an ASX-listed diversified mineral exploration company with a portfolio of projects scattered across Brazil and PNG. These assets are considered ‘highly prospective’ for a range of metals including lithium, copper, and gold and are actively being explored. The company’s Mt Wipi project represents one of 3 ‘high-calibre’ targets situated within the greater Wabag Project, with all 3 targets being previously covered by BHP (ASX:BHP) tenement applications.
The project covers a total landholding about 950km-square of ‘highly prospective’ exploration ground in the Papuan Mobile belt.
Images: Gold Mountain Ltd
