Two separate small areas located just north of Comet Outstation, that were originally taken up to explore for possible diamonds and Triassic-Jurassic kimberlite intrusions that could be associated with intensely faulted shallow basement, have also...
Two separate small areas located just north of Comet Outstation, that were originally taken up to explore for possible diamonds and Triassic-Jurassic kimberlite intrusions that could be associated with intensely faulted shallow basement, have also been explored for possible economic gold that might be hosted within the local buried Archaean basement rocks, as well as for secondary uranium mineralisation that could have become trapped in buried Tertiary palaeochannel sediments. During the first licence year, work undertaken by Tasman included making a literature review and open file data synthesis and evaluation, reprocessing SAEI and other open file airborne magnetic survey data to assist with interpretation of kimberlitic diamond targets, the collection in June 2006 and assaying of 13 soil calcrete samples, exploratory shallow RAB drilling during September 2006 of 14 vertical open holes with a total penetration of 822 m, and the acquisition of part of a multi-licence flown airborne EM (TEMPEST) survey (subset of coverage 190 line km) that aimed to better delineate the buried Garford Palaeochannel. The TEMPEST survey was flown during August 2006 across two main blocks designated Garford East and Garford West, along north-south flight lines spaced 1 km apart while using a sensor 120 m nominal terrain clearance, and the data acquisition in total covered 1456.8 line km. Preliminary results from it suggested that a previously unknown branch of the Tertiary Garford Palaeochannel is present within the northern portion of EL 3423. Tasman's research of open file exploration data highlighted the known Birdie and Skye gold prospects as being of further interest, so the RAB drilling was designed to test around previously identified supergene and primary bedrock gold anomalies found by past drilling done in 1999. The 7 RAB holes put in at Birdie encountered only weak gold dispersions. The best gold assay value obtained was 1.5 g/t Au in a 4-metre composite drill cuttings sample from 40-44 m, which is part of a 16 m wide zone from 40 to 56 m averaging 0.47 g/t Au. The 7 RAB holes put in at Skye intersected an interpreted south-eastwards dipping zone of >0.1 g/t Au assays which is up to 15 m wide, yet had essentially been missed by previous drilling. The best result here was a 4-metre composite sample from 56 to 60 m assaying 2.6 g/t Au, with an adjacent 1.02 g/t Au from 52 to 56 m, which probably represents a plunging higher grade shoot within a broader low grade mineralised envelope. 21 small, isolated short wavelength magnetic anomalies were discerned by a consultant from amongst the reprocessed regional aeromagnetic data, of which 3 were recommended as having likely kimberlite traits. During licence Year 2, processing and interpretation of the TEMPEST survey data delineated what may be a tributary of the Garford Palaeochannel trending WNW across the northern part of EL 3423. The survey also outlined deeper palaeochannels, to a maximum depth of ~140 m, which based on evidence from limited past stratigraphic drilling, are likely to be Mesozoic to Permian in age. Remnants of one of these older palaeodrainage channels possibly underlie the younger Garford Palaeochannel tributary feature. Tasman resampled the retained drill cuttings of hole SKRB06-002 at the Skye prospect over narrower, 1-metre intervals from 56 to 64 m. This returned a maximum gold assay value of 8.3 g/t Au from 60 to 61 m, and gave an average grade, using a 1 g/t grade cut-off, of 2.9 g/t Au over 6 m downhole from 58 to 64 m. Petrographic examinations of three of the mineralised samples identified the host rock at Skye as a migmatitic quartz-oligoclase-biotite-muscovite gneiss. During licence Year 3, Tasman undertook soil calcrete geochemical sampling for low-level gold, with 35 reconnaissance samples collected at 1600 m by 1200 m spacing over the entire southern sub-block of the tenement. No significant gold was detected, the highest assay value being 3.6 ppb Au which is associated with one of the higher Ca assays of 9.2%. By an agreement it made with Tasman, Flinders Mines Limited carried out over most of Tasman’s Central Gawler Project tenements, including the subject EL 3423, processing and interpretation of the most recent SAEI - flown 400 m line spaced and 80 m sensor height airborne magnetic survey data, and identified 45 anomalies as potential kimberlitic diamond targets. These were followed up in April 2008 by the conduct of 37 helicopter-borne “postage stamp” magnetic surveys on anomaly grids that were approximately 1500 m x 1500 m in size, using a 50 m flight line spacing and 30 m magnetometer ground clearance. Later on, in May 2008, ground follow-up loam sampling for detrital kimberlite indicator minerals was conducted by Flinders Mines to confirm the anomalies' prospectivity prior to making plans to do test drilling. During licence Years 4 through 10, no field work was performed on the tenement because doing mineral exploration there had now become banned by the Commonwealth Government's Department of Defence. Tasman eventually made application on 18/12/2014 to fully surrender rather than renew the subject EL 5151, which was due to expire on 13/1/2015.
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