Exploration of a small licence area located east of Nackara township has targeted possible buried economic stratabound copper deposits in altered Adelaidean metasediments, and also any Telfer-style gold occurrences in these same rocks. Over about...
Exploration of a small licence area located east of Nackara township has targeted possible buried economic stratabound copper deposits in altered Adelaidean metasediments, and also any Telfer-style gold occurrences in these same rocks. Over about half of the tenement, the prospective bedrock is shallowly covered by Recent alluvium. A review of available records of past exploration indicated that, for this particular area, former explorers had not recorded any significant geochemical or geophysical anomalies, nor were there any records of drilling activity. Field work initially undertaken by grant licensee Hesarejo, which also holds ML 5678 over the Mutooroo copper mine elsewhere in the region, comprised only the assaying of rock chip samples obtained during a reconnaissance visit to the subject EL 3315, plus beneficiation trials made on quartz vein ore samples using sulphuric acid leaching. One sample of quartz-ironstone collected from right on the western boundary of the licence close to Nackara returned an assay value of 160 ppm Au, while elevated copper values were found in several outcrops scattered across the area. No work was done by Hesarejo during Licence Year 2, during which time it sought a joint venture partner to fund drilling of an inferred buried gold occurrence. The significance of the sporadic copper anomalism lately detected was regarded as inconclusive. On 6/3/2007 full ownership of the tenement was transferred by Hesarejo to The Colonial Copper Company. A third company, Strzelecki Metals (STZ), which then became the licence's new operator, at that stage held a 50% interest in the tranferee company, with the right to acquire the remaining 50%. STZ made its own inspections of the historic gold workings on the tenement, but concluded that any remaining gold potential would lie under adjacent cover. In January 2008 STZ entered into a joint venture arrangement with Flinders Mines (FMS) whereby STZ assigned its diamond mineral rights in EL 3315 to FMS, while in return FMS agreed to fly a detailed, low-level 100 m flight line spaced helicopter-borne aeromagnetic survey over the entire tenement and make this new magnetic data available to STZ. After the survey was duly acquired, STZ performed an interpretation of the helimag data to try to identify more gold exploration targets on the licence. One interesting magnetic anomaly was recognised in the east, which might have potential for finding Telfer-style structurally enhanced mineralisation associated with concealed basic igneous intrusions and/or metasomatic alteration of the country rocks, similar in part to the setting of the Mount Grainger and Paratoo goldfields located nearby to the west and north-west. For its part, FMS completed ground follow-up of some inferred separate, specific kimberlite - type magnetic features seen in the area, by collecting 27 loam samples to test for kimberlite mineral and chemical indicators. No work was done on EL 3315 by either programme operator during Licence Year 5, at the end of which STZ relinquished its existing interest in licensee The Colonial Copper Company. Tenure of the ground was surrendered shortly afterwards, due to a corporate decision being made to officially wind up the latter company.
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