Latitude Consolidated Limited (ASX: LCD) has announced a positive update on its early stage Circle Valley Project in WA.
The company reported that the review of previous wide-spaced regional aircore drilling revealed occurrences of primary gold mineralisation.
Significant assays include 10m @ 0.73g/t Au from 66m including 6m @ 1.08g/t Au from 67m, and 5m @ 0.32g/t Au from 76m including 1m @ 0.54g/t Au (EOH).
LCD also said that there were multiple other drill holes with >0.10g/t Au anomalism and associated silicasulphide alteration.
The company reported that the gold occurrences sit adjacent to linear magnetic units & structural corridors that remain unexplored over many kilometres of strike.
LCD said that the project offers prospective under-explored gold terrain adjacent to Yilgarn Block in Western Australia
Circle Valley project
The Circle Valley project is located within the Albany Fraser Mobile Belt (AFMB) and adjacent to the south-eastern margin of the Eastern Goldfields Province of the Yilgarn Craton in Western Australia.
The project was added to Latitude’s gold portfolio following a review of concealed (covered by transported material) greenfield terrains in and around the Archaean Yilgarn Block.
The Circle Valley project was secured via an Exploration Licence Application (ELA, E63/2007) covering 181km2 located 85 km south of Norseman and 95 km north of the port of Esperance.
The nearest defined gold resources are in the ~11Moz Norseman gold camp which is in Archean terrain about 65km north of E63/2007, at the southern extent of the highly productive Norseman-Wiluna greenstone belt.
Gold exploration along the western edge of the Albany Fraser Mobile Belt has met with considerable success as highlighted by the discovery and development of the 7.1Moz Tropicana gold mine of AngloGold Ashanti and IGO Limited Joint Venture and the Nova Ni-Cu-Co Operation (IGO Limited).
These two discoveries have led to the AFMB emerging as a new gold and nickel province in Australia, culminating in an increased amount of exploration within the area.
Earlier exploration of Circle Valley
The company reported that previous exploration within the Circle Valley Project is limited, with earlier exploration focused on uranium and lignite mineralisation within paleochannels, and more recent reconnaissance aircore (AC) drilling programs targeting underlying greenstone terrain for gold mineralisation.
The company said that it was this stage of work that has confirmed the presence of primary gold mineralisation within the Project.
Drilling at Circle Valley
The company announced that an aircore (AC) drilling of 91 holes for 4,651m have been completed to date on the Circle Valley Project.
AC drilling was completed by Pan Australian Exploration Pty Ltd (PanAust) during 1998 (GPAC series); Toro Energy Limited (Toro) during 2008 (G0 series); Spitfire Oil Limited (Spitfire) during 2008 (SOAC series); AngolGold Ashanti Australia Limited (AngloGold) during 2011-2012 (SGA series), face sampling bit of 3.5” diameter; and Terrain Minerals Ltd (Terrain) during 2017 (17GA series)
Drilling at Northern part
The company announced that in the northern part of the Project, AngloGold Ashanti had completed AC drilling along existing tracks to better understand the depth of cover, the regolith environment and to test gold anomalies identified in geochemical sampling.
This initial phase of drilling returned encouraging results at the ‘Fenceline Prospect’ with drill hole SGA253 returning a result of 5m @ 0.32g/t Au from 76m including 1m @ 0.54g/t Au within the final metre of the drill hole.
A subsequent follow-up program encountered 10m @ 0.73g/t Au from 66m including 6m @ 1.08g/t Au from 67m and confirmed the presence of a primary bedrock gold system at this location.
However, despite these promising first indications of bedrock gold mineralisation, no additional drilling was carried out.
Drilling at Western part
LCD said that the western portion of the Project was explored by Terrain Minerals Ltd who completed a shallow AC drilling program over a discrete soil-in-gold anomaly (‘Anomaly A’).
Multiple intersections >0.1g/t Au were encountered over a broad 100m x 100m grid.
The company said that the results were deemed to be encouraging, with silicification and sulphides noted within the anomalous intervals. This supported Terrain’s interpretation that these represented deformed or metamorphosed silica-sericite-pyrite alteration zones. Mineralisation at this location lies within saprolite after gneissic rocks below shallow transported cover.
The Anomaly A Prospect is also adjacent to a magnetic unit traversing the southern boundary of the tenement, with mineralisation remaining open along strike.
Optimism about overall prospectivity of project
The company reported that the compilation and data review exercise has demonstrated that only limited drilling has been carried out to date, and due to widespread transported cover, the project remains at a very early stage of exploration.
LCD said that the presence of gold anomalism and alteration in two widely spaced first-stage drilling grids to be of significant interest and supports the overall prospectivity of the Project.
The company said that the project offers potential for infill RAB, Aircore or RC drilling to upgrade results in the immediate area of observed gold mineralisation, and/or discover additional gold mineralisation in structural & magnetic targets along-strike.
Multiple kilometres of unexplored magnetic features extend from each occurrence, and in the remaining project area.
Latitude said that the Circle Valley Project provides it with an opportunity to explore an area that has seen little effective exploration and is considered prospective for gold mineralisation.
Next steps
The company reported that the Exploration Licence is currently awaiting grant. LCD said that the Project will continue to be reviewed with exploration work programs to be proposed dependent on findings. The company said that the design of next drilling once access and environmental approvals are in place.