Legacy Minerals (ASX:LGM) reports it has defined multiple large epithermal gold‐silver drill targets following its geochemistry campaign across the Bauloora low-sulphidation epithermal-style gold-silver Project.
The company says it is now focused on preparations for the upcoming drill campaign at Bauloora to begin testing a number of the ‘high conviction’ targets that have been generated from the systematic sampling work to date.
Anomalous soil results in locations where no historical work has occurred will be followed up by a field reconnaissance, mapping, and rock chip sampling.
The company is also undertaking an independent technical review was the engagement of Cobre Nuevo Consulting (CNE) to complete a third-party report on the exploration potential and targeting strategy at Bauloora.
CNE was formed in 2019 by Rod Davies, Mike Rennison and David Burt who were key members of the exploration team that discovered the giant Onto Cu-Au deposit in Indonesia in 2014 (1.1Bt 0.96% Cu and 0.58 g/t Au and a total Inferred mineral resource of about 1 billion tonnes @ 0.7% Cu and 0.4 g/t Au).
Addressing the results, Legacy Minerals Managing Director, Christopher Byrne said: “With Legacy Minerals focused on the Bauloora Project we continue to rapidly advance the system scale and prospectivity. These soil sampling results add to the growing body of evidence which supports our view of the widespread prospectivity for the Bauloora Project to host a significant low sulphidation epithermal-style gold-silver deposit.
Every phase of exploration work is delivering strong results and strengthens our confidence in these targets and importantly, has defined a pipeline of high conviction drill-ready targets across the project area.
“Every phase of exploration work is delivering strong results and strengthens our confidence in these targets”
The results very clearly define low sulphidation epithermal gold-silver targets at the Mee Mar, Thunderbolt, and Moonlite Prospects with many more drill ready targets now highlighted across the project. Also highlighted are significant anomalies that have never had any previous exploration work conducted across them. We are excited to be the first company to drill these targets with the knowledge we now have of their extent, widths and anomalism.”
The Legacy Minerals field team has completed a large-scale geochemical survey consisting of 2,714 soil samples across the newly defined vein trends and wider known epithermal vein field. The soil sampling program was completed across 13km2 of the project on a 50m x 100m grid with localised areas infilled to 25m x 50m.
Most samples are interpreted as representing residual soils and were nominally collected from the B soil horizon at depths between 0.1m and 0.4m. These soil samples were taken as part of the follow up work to the Gradient Array Induced Polarisation (GA-IP) survey that identified numerous zones of elevated resistivity suggestive of quartz veins and to systematically assess the potential of historic geological mapped quartz veins and recently discovered mineralised veins.
Legacy notes that the purpose of this work was to assist in vectoring in toward potential ore shoots that sit within known mineralised vein trends for future drill testing and to assess the broader tenement area for previously unrecognised anomalies and potential low sulphidation epithermal-style gold-silver bearing veins.
Laboratory assays completed through ALS Orange and Brisbane were analysed for 49 elements. Low sulphidation epithermal-style gold-silver deposits typically have distinct geochemical pathfinder element signatures that provide insight to the depth of erosion and preservation level of the system.
The soil sampling results have delineated extensive anomalies in Au and Ag as well as other pathfinder elements including Sb, As, Pb, Zn, Cu, Mo, and Bi with peak soil results of 668ppb Au, 11.2ppm Ag, 409ppm As, 299ppm Cu, 9.47ppm Mo, 1450ppm Pb, 75.2ppm Sb, 15.4ppm W and 945ppm Zn.
The results returned 10 areas of anomalous Au-Ag and/or pathfinder element associations interpreted to reflect low sulphidation epithermal-style mineralised veins and alteration. The anomalous results indicate the epithermal system remains open in all directions.
Legacy Minerals has progressively developed the Bauloora Project through systematic exploration work including geological mapping, rock chip sampling, gradient array IP surveying, detailed ground magnetic surveying, ASTER data acquisition/interpretation to determine alteration minerals, and now widespread soil sampling.
The assay results from this work strongly supports the previous assessments that there is significant potential for a major low sulphidation epithermal-style gold-silver deposit at the Bauloora Project.
Legacy notes that encouragingly the soil results also show that the new Clancy, Hall and Pigeon prospects have element associations that may reflect Intrusion Related Gold System (IRGS) type mineralisation.
The potential for this new style of mineralisation at the Bauloora Project has not been previously recognised and will be considered in conjunction with the company’s datasets for future exploration targeting.
IRGS have a range of mineralisation styles that can be characterised by sheeted veins, stock work veins, breccias, disseminated mineralisation and distal base metal bearing fissure vein among others. Alteration associated with known deposits is often variably developed sericite alteration and magnetite destructive. This may result in deposits exhibiting subtle or complicated magnetic signatures that present poor contrasts to the background features of the host rocks. Gold anomalism in surface soil samples may be subtle due to the strong vertical metal zonation patterns common to IRGS systems.
The company says it is important therefore to consider the patterns and associations with known pathfinder elements such as Au-Ag-As-Sb-Cu-Zn-Pb-Bi-Te (+/- Mo, W).
The Bauloora Project is located in the Central Lachlan Fold Belt NSW, which is host to world class copper-gold orebodies including the Cadia-Ridgeway, Northparkes, and Cowal Mines.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: Legacy Minerals Ltd
