Pioneer Minerals (ASX:PMM) has wrapped up an airborne electromagnetic survey at its Springfield Tungsten-Gold-Gallium Project in Idaho, US, ahead of its maiden drilling campaign.
The company engaged Geotech to conduct 87km of versatile time domain electromagnetic (VTEM) surveying across Springfield, achieving 100% of the planned survey design.
The survey aims to identify conductive sulphide zones associated with Pioneer’s previously identified 2.9km magnetic anomaly, which Mitre Geophysics interpreted as representing a large-scale tungsten system in February.
Previous studies by Ore Grade Petrology also established a strong association between scheelite and pyrrhotite mineralisation at Springfield in January.
Pioneer says coincident magnetic and conductive anomalies are considered priority exploration targets for tungsten mineralisation, as pyrrhotite exhibits both magnetic and electrically conductive properties.
CEO Michael Beven says the VTEM survey is one of the company’s most important technical datasets collected to date.
“Over the past 12 months, Pioneer has completed geological mapping, extensive surface geochemistry, airborne magnetic interpretation, independent petrographic studies, metallurgical test work, road rehabilitation, heritage surveys, [US Forest Service] drilling approvals, and now the airborne VTEM survey,” Beven says.
“Collectively, these programs have transformed Springfield from a historic tungsten mine into what we believe may be a large-scale tungsten, gold, and gallium system.”
Surface sampling at Springfield has returned results of up to 2.98% tungsten trioxide, 7.75 grams per tonne gold, and 128.7 parts per million gallium trioxide, confirming Springfield as an emerging multi-commodity critical minerals project.
Mitre Geophysics will now process and interpret the VTEM data, integrating the electromagnetic dataset with existing geological, magnetic, and geochemical datasets to generate priority drill targets.
Pioneer plans to integrate the results with existing datasets, finalise priority drill targets, complete final drill planning, and commence its maiden drilling program once interpretation is complete.
Springfield sits within Pioneer’s North Pine Project, which comprises 212 lode claims physically staked by the company.
The company notes the tenure status remains subject to final confirmation by the Bureau of Land Management under its first-come, first-served system.
Pioneer Minerals is an explorer focused on discovering critical minerals in North America and Namibia, with an emphasis on tungsten, uranium, and lithium.
Write to Paula Fabe at Mining.com.au
Images: Pioneer Minerals
