A small area located outside of and adjacent to the northern boundary of the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA) Continuous Use Zone (Red Zone) has been explored for possible buried IOCG mineralisation that might be associated with the flanks of a major...
A small area located outside of and adjacent to the northern boundary of the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA) Continuous Use Zone (Red Zone) has been explored for possible buried IOCG mineralisation that might be associated with the flanks of a major regional gravity high, most of which sits inside the Zone. This odd licensing situation came about because, on 1/11/2011, Golden Cross had been notified by DSD that 97% of the original 926 square km application area, i.e. that part located inside the WPA Red Zone, would be excised, leaving just 24 square km available for grant. During the first licence year, Golden Cross commissioned Adelaide Mining Geophysics to do modelling of available regional geophysical data to evaluate the prospectivity of the licence area. The public's access to new regional gravity data being generated through the SA Government's PACE 2020 Initiative, via an infill gravity survey undertaken during March-June 2013 at 1 km station spacing, was keenly awaited, because most of the subject licence did not have detailed gravity coverage. A 5 years duration Deed of Access for entry onto the WPA Defence Periodic Use Zone 1 to do mineral exploration work was granted to the licensee by the Commonwealth Government on 18/12/2012. During licence Year 2, with the aid of the PACE semi-regional gravity data released to open file by DSD in December 2013, further evaluation of the exploration viability of EL 4930 was undertaken. This bore out to Golden Cross that the only areas of interest that it had for IOCG targeting remained firmly locked away inside of the Woomera Red Zone, with access to them unlikely to be achieved for some considerable time. Logistical and scheduling issues which now arose, in respect of accessing the small tenement by requiring on-ground passage through other surrounding active licences, worked against the company's wish to independently acquire additional closer-spaced infill gravity data, and consequently participation in EL 4930 was offered to adjoining explorers, including BHP Billiton, FMG Ltd and the Monax/Antafagusta Alliance, to try to achieve synergies with their larger exploration programs. But these negotiations did not progress to a joint venture signing, and therefore tenure of the licence was allowed to lapse at its expiry.
More +