Paterson Resources (ASX:PSL) plans to restart drilling at the Grace Gold-Copper Project in Western Australia’s Paterson Province early 2023, after amalgamating 5 prospecting licences in the region.
The company today (23 December) updated the market on exploration activities at its Grace Projectand Burraga Copper-Gold Project located in the prospective Lachlan Fold Belt in New South Wales.
The company has successfully amalgamated 5 prospecting licences P45/2905 to P45/2909 that encompass the Grace gold-copper project into E45/4524 upon signing of a Heritage Agreement with the Jamukurnu-Yapalikurnu Aboriginal Corporation.
Paterson reports it remains committed to advancing its Grace deposit with planning underway to restart drilling at the project within the first quarter of 2023 following a successful field season where reverse circulation (RC) drilling discovered ‘high-grade’ gold mineralisation in PRC0024 and PRC0025 including:
- 15m @ 4.03g/t Au from 77m including 6m @ 9.3g/t Au from 79m.
- 31m @ 3.13g/t Au from 145m including 7m @ 11.0g/t Au from 148m.
- 19m @ 1.23g/t Au from 104m including 2m @ 5.9g/t Au from 106m.
Paterson Resources Non-Executive Chairman Johansen says: “I would like to thank the Martu traditional owners for working with us in executing the Heritage Agreement. The signing of the Heritage Agreement underpins the amalgamation process and secures the company’s tenure over the Grace project along with providing a clear framework for us to operate on their traditional lands.
“The signing of the Heritage Agreement underpins the amalgamation process”
In New South Wales, we are highly encouraged by the support of the NSW Resources Regulator in granting us an additional 6 years to the licence 6463, which encompasses the Lloyds copper resource providing us with an extended window to explore for the critical metal.”
Paterson has been granted a 6-year extension on exploration licence 6463 which encompasses the historic Lloyds copper mine that has a current JORC (2012) compliant resource of 1.68Mt grading at 0.9% copper for a total of 15,120 tonnes of contained copper.
The Lloyds copper mine produced 19,443 tonnes of copper between 1880 and 1920, then intermittently up to 1961. The tenure also hosts the historic Lucky Draw gold mine where Renison Goldfields Consolidated mined 1.41 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 4.2g/t gold in the early 1990s.
The Burraga project is located within the prospective Lachlan Fold Belt which hosts the 2Moz McPhillamy’s gold deposit only 50km to the north of the project area.
Paterson plans to undertake field mapping and drill targeting for the first quarter of 2023.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: Paterson Resources Ltd
