West Australian mineral exploration company Metal Hawk (ASX:MHK) has signed a formal option agreement to purchase 100% of the Onslow Base Metals Project tenements from private company Skryne Hill.
The company says the project covers an area of 309km² across 2 tenements (E08/3231 and E08/3232) in the Ashburton region of Western Australia, and is situated near the edge of the Yilgarn Craton, as well as the northwestern end of the Proterozoic Capricorn Orogen.
As part of the agreement, Metal Hawk will pay Skryne Hill $20,000 cash, and 200,000 fully paid shares for a 2-year option. The company will also pay 1.25 million fully paid shares to exercise the option. Both parties have signed a formal option agreement, and Metal Hawk notes it is now preparing to commence exploration on the tenements.
“We believe there is large-scale discovery potential as indicated by the strong geophysical bedrock signatures under cover”
Commenting on the option agreement, Metal Hawk Managing Director Will Belbin says: “We are pleased to have secured this quality project which expands and complements our existing portfolio. We believe there is large-scale discovery potential as indicated by the strong geophysical bedrock signatures under cover.
The Onslow Project tenements are at a geologically favourable position near a major craton boundary, and logistically the project is in an excellent location. We have a number of value-add activities already planned to advance this underexplored project, with the aim to define targets for drilling in 2023.
This work will be carried out in parallel with ongoing activities at our Eastern Goldfields tenements and will more fully utilise the capabilities we have developed since listing.”
Metal Hawk reports the project has potential for mafic-ultramafic intrusive related nickel-copper sulphides, iron oxide copper gold (IOCG), and banded iron formation (BIF)-hosted gold mineralisation. The company also notes the geological setting is characterised by an interpreted intrusive complex under cover of Carnarvon Basin sediments.
No significant work has been completed on the project tenements since the 1990s, where WMC Resources explored the project area for copper-gold deposits within IOCG systems from 1994 to 1997.
Geophysical surveys conducted by WMC identified several ‘high-order’ magnetic anomalies hosted within Proterozoic basement rocks under cover.
Wide spaced reverse circulation (RC) drilling carried out by WMC also identified mafic, and ultramafic intrusive complexes which will be further investigated by Metal Hawk.
More recently, Skryne Hill completed an extensive airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey over the project area and identified several conductive features. These anomalies are being reviewed by Metal Hawk, and will be followed up with more detailed ground EM surveys scheduled for Q2 2023.
Metal Hawk believes that any significant massive sulphide-related mineralisation present within the project is likely to give a strong positive EM response from ground-based surveys.
Metal Hawk is a Western Australian mineral exploration company focused on early-stage discovery of gold and nickel sulphides. The company currently holds a portfolio of projects in the Eastern Goldfields, and the Albany Fraser regions of Western Australia.
These projects include the wholly-owned Berehaven Nickel Project, as well as the Kanowna East, Emu Lake, and Fraser South projects held in a joint venture (JV) with IGO (ASX:IGO), with IGO having the right to earn a 75% interest in the projects.
Falcon Metals (ASX:FAL) also has an earn-in agreement with Metal Hawk for the Viking Gold Project, where it can earn up to 70% of the project.
