Liontown Resources Limited (ASX: LTR) has announced encouraging results from the combined gravity survey and auger sampling program at its Moora Project in Western Australia.
The company reported that extensive areas of strong gold anomalism (up to 613ppb Au), with coincident elevated values of palladium, platinum, nickel, and copper, were defined by wide-spaced (400mx400m) auger sampling.
LTR said that the main geochemical anomaly is up to 3.5km long, 2km wide, and spatially associated with large, coincident gravity and magnetic highs indicative of a mafic/ultramafic intrusive body immediately below the surface.
The company noted that the results validate the prospectivity of the Moora project.
Moora project
The Moora Nickel-Copper-PGE project is located ~150km north-northeast of Perth in Western Australia in an emerging precious and base metal province.
Liontown secured the Project in 2018 as part of its generative exploration strategy for battery metals, after recognising the potential of this region to host magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE massive sulphides. The Moora Project comprises 3 granted exploration licences (E70/5217, E70/5286, and E70/5287).
The Project is located within the Western Gneiss Terrain of the Archaean Yilgarn Craton of south-west Western Australia and the prospective mafic/ultramafic bodies lie within the highly deformed Jimperding Metamorphic Belt, which also comprises high-grade metamorphic rocks of quartz feldspar composition with some amphibolite schist and minor banded iron formation.
The Belt is up to 70km wide and bounded to the west by the Darling Fault (and Perth Basin) and to the east by younger Archaean rocks. Bedrock geology is often obscured by lateritic duricrust and deep saprolitic weathering.
Same terrain as Julimar
Moora is located in the same geological terrain as the Julimar discovery, 95km to the south, where Chalice Gold Mines recently announced a significant Ni-PGE discovery hosted within a mafic-ultramafic intrusion.
Historical exploration
Previous exploration for magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE sulphide mineralisation was carried out over the central part of the Moora Project area by Poseidon NL (1968), Palladium Resources (1999 – 2001) and Washington Resources (2004 – 2009). This work included geophysical surveys, surface geochemistry, and shallow drilling.
Historical surface sampling and shallow drilling within Liontown’s central tenement had defined strong Ni+Cu+PGE+Au anomalism; however, no deeper drill testing of the fresh bedrock was undertaken. There has been no prior effective exploration across Liontown’s western tenement.
Field work had commenced at Moora following the completion of resource definition drilling at the Company’s flagship, world-class Kathleen Valley Lithium-Tantalum Project.
Combined gravity/auger program
The company had recently commenced a combined gravity/auger sampling program at the Moora project over two areas. This was done to determine whether these techniques could effectively assess the larger Project area for intrusive mafic/ultramafic bodies that may be prospective for precious and base metal mineralisation.
The company said that the gravity survey defined a number of dense, discrete bodies spatially associated with magnetic highs, with the results indicating the presence of mafic/ultramafic intrusions significantly larger than indicated by the surface geology, which is typically obscured by strong weathering or transported cover.
Strong multi-element anomalism returned from Moora
LTR said that the auger sampling defined a number of strong multi-element (Au+Pd+Pt+Ni+Cu) anomalies in the western area which overlie, or are adjacent to, gravity and/or magnetic highs.
Liontown announced that the geochemical anomalies are defined by multiple sample points with values peaking at 613ppb gold, 50ppb palladium, 30ppb platinum, 492ppm nickel, and 280ppm copper.
The company said that the high Platinum Group Element (PGE) and copper values are interpreted to be indicative of possible sulphide-related mineralisation at depth.
LTR reported that highly elevated nickel values (>1,000ppm) were also recorded in the eastern sampling area coincident with mapped mafic/ultramafic outcrops.
The company said that the historic nickel/copper anomalies defined by previous explorers have not yet been assessed by Liontown’s field activities.
Next steps
Given the success of the initial field program, Liontown announced that it will extend the 400m x 400m gravity surveying and auger sampling to the remainder of the Project area.
The Company reported that it will also undertake in-fill auger sampling across the recently defined geochemical anomalies, with the results to be used to design Moving Loop Electromagnetic (MLEM) Surveys that can detect conductive sulphide-rich zones beneath the weathered regolith.
LTR said that the timing of the next phase of work will be partially dependent on local cropping activities, which have recently begun on the underlying farms, and the negotiation of access agreements.
LTR announced that further work would include infill auger sampling, extending regional gravity surveying and first pass auger sampling, and ongoing access negotiations with land owners.