Venture Minerals Limited (ASX: VMS) has announced a highly encouraging update on its Golden Grove North project in Western Australia.
The company announced that a second new Volcanic Massive Sulfide (VMS) target has been discovered along strike of the world class Golden Grove Zinc-Copper-Gold Mine.
Venture Minerals said that the new target, identified within the Golden Grove Mine Sequence, is considered a high priority for follow up exploration.
The company said that the recent examination of historic data unveiled highly anomalous Copper and VMS pathfinder elements intersected in shallow drilling piercing the Mine Sequence.
Venture Minerals announced that a land based Electromagnetic survey using a SQUID sensor will commence next month on both Vulcan and the newly discovered Neptune VMS targets.
Golden Grove North project
The Golden Grove North project covering 374 square kilometers is located about 10 kilometers north of the polymetallic Golden Grove mine in Western Australia.
The Golden Grove North Project consist of Exploration Licences 59/2243, 59/2244, 59/2285 and 59/2288, and Prospecting Licence 59/2116. Exploration Licences 59/2243, 59/2244 and 59/2288, and Prospecting Licence 59/2116 are 100% held by Venture Minerals Ltd, whilst Exploration Licence 59/2285 is 95% held by Venture Z Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Venture Minerals Ltd.
The project has 25 strike kilometres of a largely untested, prospective geological sequence for VMS style mineralisation with early exploration success yielding the Vulcan and Neptune VMS targets.
Historic shallow gold drill intersections including 10 metres @ 1.4g/t gold from 16m, 8 metres @ 2.1g/t gold from 6m, 6 metres @2.3g/t gold from 6 metres and 3 metres @ 3.6g/t gold from 95 metres.
Historic surface rock chip sampling has returned assays including 9.4g/t gold, 7.4g/t gold & 6.6% copper, 6.2g/t gold, 5.7g/t gold, 4.0 g/t gold, 3.8g/t gold & 3.1% lead, 7.6% copper & 0.1% zinc, 8.0% copper, 2.0% copper, 1.8% copper & 3g/t silver.
Golden Grove Camp (Mine)
The Golden Grove Camp, 370 kilometres north-northeast of Perth, is the prime VMS occurrence in the Archean Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia with over twelve deposits discovered over 13 kilometres of strike.
The first significant deposit, Gossan Hill (15.9Mt @ 2.6% Cu, 1.5% Zn, 0.2% Pb, 21 g/t Ag & 0.6 g/t Au) was discovered in 1971, then in 1979 the second substantial find was identified at Scuddles (10.5Mt @ 1.2% Cu, 11.7% Zn, 0.8% Pb, 89 g/t Ag & 1.1 g/t Au).
In 2002, Golden Grove had an endowment (resources and production) of 40.2Mt @ 1.8% Cu, 0.9% Pb, 7.6% Zn, 103 g/t Ag & 0.8 g/t Au and was purchased by EMR Capital in 2017 for $US210M which, as of June 2019, still had >50Mt of resources and reserves for another 12 years of production.
As of June 30th, 2019, Golden Grove global resources consist of 22.2Mt of zinc ore, 29.4Mt of copper ore, and 0.1Mt of Gold Oxide ore.
Exploration of Golden Grove North
The company had commenced a systematic exploration approach, utilising the latest techniques to explore for VMS style mineralisation within the Golden Grove North project.
This work program included a thorough examination of a collated dataset from numerous phases of exploration activity by various companies over the last four decades.
The company announced that this work has yielded a high priority target with highly anomalous copper and VMS pathfinder elements intersected in historic RAB3 (shallow) drilling in an area under alluvial/colluvial cover which has not been targeted with modern day EM technology to detect VMS style deposits.
New VMS target, Neptune
The company announced that a new VMS target has now been yielded from that work program. This second target, called Neptune, is located along strike from the world class Golden Grove VMS Mine.
Neptune is interpreted to sit within the Golden Grove Mine Sequence which hosts all VMS deposits discovered in the Golden Grove Camp (Mine), that make it Western Australia’s premier VMS district.
Venture said that the second substantial find identified at Golden Grove being the Scuddles deposit (10.5Mt @ 1.2% Cu, 11.7% Zn, 0.8% Pb, 89 g/t Ag & 1.1 g/t Au) was discovered by using EM techniques under similar cover after initial RAB drilling was deemed too shallow, Neptune presents a very similar opportunity.
EM testing to commence
The Company announced that it has delineated a Nickel Sulfide target area north of Neptune worthy of Electromagnetic (EM) testing as part of the upcoming survey.
Venture said that the Land based Electromagnetic (EM) survey is planned to conducted using a SQUID sensor (designed to detect massive sulfide deposits beneath conductive clays).
The company said that the EM survey will commence next month on both Vulcan and the newly discovered Neptune VMS targets.
VMS said that the recent mapping and surface rock chip sampling has located siliceous cap rock over ultramafic basement with strongly elevated Nickel with Arsenic suggesting the presence of a buried sulfide zone.
What’s next?
Venture announced that it is planning to conduct a MLEM survey to further define both the Nickel sulfide target and the Neptune VMS target for drill testing.
Buoyed by the new Neptune VMS and Nickel Sulfide discoveries, the Company said that it will look to increase its activity at Golden Grove North, not only working on its current targets but also delineating further VMS and Nickel Sulfide targets within the project area through further cost effective exploration techniques.
Management comments
Venture’s Managing Director said: “Golden Grove North has delivered another two exciting discoveries, with Neptune exhibiting the hallmarks of a potential Scuddles like discovery scenario; whilst an unexpected Nickel Sulfide target has come up in an area never previously explored for Nickel and hence presenting a unique opportunity for the Company.
These recent successes at Golden Grove North along with its proximity to the world class Golden Grove Zinc-Copper-Gold Mine are certainly validating Venture’s belief in the pedigree of this project. We look forward not only to the outcome of the EM surveys but to the drilling of the priority targets generated by it.”