New Age Exploration Limited (ASX:NAE) has announced that it has completed the purchase of a series of gold-prospective tenements in the northern Pilbara from Monterey Minerals, following a successful phase-1 aircore reconnaissance drill program.
Consideration for the purchase includes:
- upfront payment of 7.5 million NAE shares; plus
- deferred payment of 30 million NAE shares issuable upon NAE delineating a 250koz gold indicated JORC resource on the tenements; and
- a further 30 million shares upon NAE delineating a 500koz gold indicated JORC resource on the tenements
The acquisition, situated within 50km of De Grey Mining’s 6.87Moz Hemi gold discovery, sees NAE expand it’s 100%-owned landholding in the Pilbara to 2,400km².
Map of NAE Pilbara gold tenements showing proximity to Hemi; new acquisitions outlined in whiteExploration tests ‘Hemi-style’ targets
The 37-hole program was carried out for a total of 1,159m over 12 high-priority ‘Hemi-style’ aeromagnetic targets across the northern tenement areas. NAE notes that a majority of the magnetic targets are still untested due to aircore drilling limitations.
Drilling also encountered mafic-ultramafic lithologies, with low-level anomalous gold and base metal encountered in bottom-of-hole samples, across a series of holes.
Indicative results include:
- Hole NACO37: 2m @ 0.41g/t Au (inc 1m @ 0.77g/t Au) from 37m
- Hole NACO21: 2m @ 0.13% Zn, 0.59g/t Ag, 0.12% Pb; (inc 0.14% Zn, 0.55g/t Ag, 0.12% Pb) from 10m
NAE reports that analysis work is underway to refine targets prior to further exploratory drilling, which is expected to commence in during Q3 2021 subject to drill rig availability.
“Our substantial landholding in the Pilbara is now all 100% owned and granted which will underpin an exciting pipeline of exploration opportunity”
Management comments
New Age Exploration Executive Director Joshua Wellisch said: “We are extremely encouraged by the initial drill results received on this reconnaissance drilling programme. Drilling under thick transported cover and exposing previously unrecognised mafic- ultramafic rocks with anomalous Gold and Base Metals is an excellent start.
Our substantial landholding in the Pilbara is now all 100% owned and granted which will underpin an exciting pipeline of exploration opportunity. Further assay results are still pending from recent soil and stream sediment geochemical surveys on the southern tenements which we also look forward to reviewing in preparation for the next drilling programme to follow in 2021.”
Images: New Age Exploration Limited
