Westar Resources (ASX:WSR) reports it has completed negotiations to enter an option agreement over the Mindoolah Lithium-Gold Project in Western Australia.
The company says the agreement over the Mindoolah tenure located around 70km northwest of Cue, is subject to Westar paying $15,000 in cash for a 4-month period of exclusivity to complete due diligence, and once satisfied it will pay an option fee of $30,000 for a 24 month period to purchase 100% of the tenement.
It has also executed an agreement for the sale of the Gidgee South Project located around 60km north of the town of Sandstone in Western Australia with Aurumin (ASX:AUN).
The company says acquisition of Mindoolah and divestment of Gidgee South are aligned to Westar’s exploration strategy of exploring for ‘company making’ assets in areas of known mineralisation.
Westar Managing Director Karl Jupp said: “The Mindoolah Project is a very exciting acquisition with our initial review identifying multiple mapped outcrops of pegmatites over several kilometres of strike, with no sampling for lithium-caesium-tantalite (LCT) mineralisation.
Separately, the Aurumin all-script transaction for Gidgee South will give Westar continued exposure to this asset alongside the potential of Aurumin’s rapidly developing Sandstone Gold Project”
This will be the immediate focus for initial exploration activities, and in the background, we will refine the potential priority targets for gold exploration. Separately, the Aurumin all-script transaction for Gidgee South will give Westar continued exposure to this asset alongside the potential of Aurumin’s rapidly developing Sandstone Gold Project.”
Westar reports the Mindoolah Project consists of around 100km-square and the tenement lies on the southwestern end of the Weld Range and contains a sequence of felsic volcanics, several mafic units, banded iron formation (BIF) and granite with lenses and dykes of pegmatite, aplite and quartz-feldspar porphyry.
Extensive alluvial and open cut gold occurrences occur in the Mindoolah mining centre and many historic workings are scattered throughout the tenements, with historical exploration mainly targeting gold, with a minor base metal anomalism defined.
The company’s initial due diligence review of the project noted Cougar Metals (ASX:CGM) 1:10,000 scale geological mapping recorded multiple outcropping pegmatites through the current western tenement area.
No sampling of the pegmatites was completed due to the gold focused exploration activities and these areas will form the immediate focus for Westar to concentrate field reconnaissance, including rock chip sampling and assays for LCT potential of the project. A field team is planned to be on site in late November with rock chip assays expected in early Q1 2023.
Westar reports ‘significant’ gold has been produced in the Mindoolah district from both hard-rock (open cut and underground) and eluvial deposits. Historical production of 161kg of gold is recorded at Mindoolah from 7,621 tonnes of ore being treated at an average grade of 21.18g/t Au.
There are no production figures from the mid-1980s onwards, however the company says the scale of operations is likely to have been ‘significant’ from the open pits present in the project, and the areas is regularly prospected with small scale alluvial operators still finding the occasional rich gold bearing reef or gold nuggets.
Recent explorers including Battle Mountain, Placer Exploration and Podium Minerals (ASX:POD) identified ‘significant’ gold anomalous zones through soil geochemistry, however limited follow-up drilling has been completed and Westar considers there is ‘significant’ exploration potential in these less explored and under cover areas.
Westar Resources is a Perth-based mineral exploration company focused on the development of ‘high-quality’ gold and base metal assets Western Australia.
Its assets include the Opaline Well, Mindoolah, Winjangoo, Gidgee North, Mt Finnerty and Parker Dome projects.
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