In 2012, the first year after the project's acquisition, TGL spent A$6.4M on gold exploration and on doing mining feasibility studies. The work program was mainly an ongoing evaluation of development opportunities for the Area 223 gold resource....
In 2012, the first year after the project's acquisition, TGL spent A$6.4M on gold exploration and on doing mining feasibility studies. The work program was mainly an ongoing evaluation of development opportunities for the Area 223 gold resource. Some of the regional gold target evaluation studies were also continued. Specific field activities / studies included: - the conduct of cultural heritage surveys with the Gawler Ranges Native Title Claimant Group; - completion of 1971 m of HQ /PQ diamond core drilling in 43 holes, and 7491 m of RC drilling in 65 holes, to provide data to support mining pre-feasibility studies on the Area 223 gold deposit; - calculation of an updated resource estimate for the Area 223 deposit by H&S Consultants Pty Ltd: currently 26.3 Mt @ 1.04 g/t Au, 3.0 g/t Ag for 878 Koz of gold plus 2.5 Moz of silver; - obtaining an improved outcome from ongoing metallurgical assessment of this orebody, now indicating recoveries of 90% for primary material and 95% for oxide ore types; - performing a geotechnical review of information derived from dedicated diamond drilling and down-hole surveys of historical drill holes; - undertaking hydrogeological studies which have identified potential groundwater supplies at Area 191 and at a “northern borefield” (~20 km north of the resource area); - undertaking waste rock characterisation studies; - undertaking flora and fauna surveys; - undertaking process engineering and infrastructure requirements studies; - examining the deposit's host rock alteration mineral assemblage to better characterise the footprint of the Tunkillia mineralisation event; and - conducting a review of rock alteration patterns using descriptions of drill chips recovered from regional drilling, to assess the potential for a “near miss” scenario to occur in regional exploration. Positive outcomes from the year's work included: - confirmation of favourable metallurgical performance for oxide and primary mineralisation; - improved constraints on geotechnical performance for open-pit design; - confirmation of groundwater supplies, sufficient to support a mining operation; and - conversion of inferred resources to measured / indicated categories in the main resource area. During 2013, TGL's activity was similarly focussed on the ongoing evaluation of development opportunities for the Area 223 resource. Specific field studies / activities included: • geotechnical studies made using information from down-hole surveys conducted in December 2012; • finalisation of reporting by AECOM about the Aboriginal cultural heritage surveys conducted in October 2012 with the Gawler Ranges Native Title Claimant Group; • environmental studies, including - finalisation of reporting of the EBS Ecology Baseline Flora and Fauna Assessment for the September 2012 survey, - a greenhouse gas assessment, - an air quality impact assessment, and - an updated groundwater impact assessment; • prefeasibility mining reviews and infrastructure studies; and • rehabilitation. A prefeasibility assessment was completed for the Tunkillia Gold Project in the March 2013 quarter, which concluded at the time that the project was technically viable if scaled to produce 70-80 koz of gold annually from 1.5–2.0 Mt of processed ore. The proposed development was based on a conventional open pit mine, CIL-based process plant and usual infrastructure appropriate for a remote Australian gold operation. Resulting outcomes and metrics include: • open pit production of 9.6 Mt @ 1.24 g/t Au + 3.26 g/t Ag at a strip ratio of 5.7:1 (waste:ore); the pit has a maximum depth of approximately 190 m and can be staged to minimise pre-stripping required to access mineralisation; • crushing and grinding of mill feed material using a SAG and ball mill to 75 microns (80% passing) followed by gravity concentration and CIL treatment; metallurgical recoveries resulting from testwork undertaken have been very good, with recoveries of 90 and 92% for primary and oxide material respectively assumed as a result; and • Power supply and reticulation assumptions envisaged a peak demand requirement of around 12 MW. Power would likely be sourced from a specialist supplier via 1-2 MW diesel modular units provided on site. Through the course of subsequent quarters in 2013, the reduction of the gold price made an open pit development economically unattractive, and so reserves could not yet be declared. Progress towards a definitive feasibility study was suspended until greater stability and positive sentiment returned to the market. During the 2013 reporting period, Tunkillia Gold and Helix Resources agreed to rationalise the subject project tenement holdings situation by relinquishing ground within the Yellabina Regional Reserve. By the end of the year, ELs 4439 and 4596 had been relinquished, and ELs 4812 and 4495 had been reduced in size to now only lie outside the boundary of the reserve. During the 2014 joint reporting period, the Tunkillia Gold Project went through a major change in ownership. In May 2014, WPG Resources completed the acquisition of TGL from Mungana Goldmines. At the time of acquisition, TGL held a 70% stake in the Tunkillia JV project with Helix Resources and in its Coorita Hill tenement. November 2014 saw a further change in ownership to 100% TGL after WPG's acquisition of the remaining JV stake from Helix Resources. The company undertook a comprehensive review of records of historical exploration activities and of the pre-feasibility study completed by Mungana Goldmines. Nine brownfields gold exploration targets were identified within the Yarlbrinda Shear Zone near Tunkillia that were considered to warrant further calcrete geochemical sampling and possible RC exploratory drilling. During the 2015 joint reporting period, the Tunkillia Gold Project was progressed through the pegging of a mineral claim, MC 4384, over the Area 223 deposit, as well as the commencement of gold exploration on eight newly selected near mine prospects having historical calcrete and RAB drillhole sample anomalism. In September-October 2015, systematic infill to broadly spaced regional calcrete geochemical sampling (total 398 samples) was performed on these prospects, mainly done at 50 m x 100 m sample spacing, to define coherent drillable targets. Two high priority gold anomalous prospects (Area 51 and Tomahawk Extended) were identified and subsequently were scheduled to be RC drilled during March-April 2016. During the 2016 joint reporting period, exploratory inclined RC drilling of 10 open holes for 1641 m was undertaken at the two above-mentioned prospects.The results of the drilling were released to the ASX on 4/5/2016, citing a highest grade/thickness gold intercept of 84 m @ 0.48 g/t Au which was made at Area 51 in hole LRC666. Significant narrower but higher grade other gold and silver - mineralised hits were made in holes LRC 665 and LRC668 located within the same prospect. Magnetic susceptibility measurements were made on 1641 x 1-metre hole depth interval drill cuttings samples recovered from the 10 latest RC holes. The mineral claim that was pegged over the Area 223 deposit in 2015 was allowed to expire on 31/5/2016, without Tunkillia Gold submitting a proposal for grant of a mining lease there. This action was caused by the adoption of a revised company strategy, which is to explore for additional gold resources on the project to de-risk the capital development required for the operation. The other contributing factor was the changed priorities within the WPG Resources group, namely managing the re-start of the Challenger gold mine, and navigating the approvals process for the Tarcoola gold mine start-up. During the 2017 joint reporting period no field work was carried out at the Tunkillia Project. There was a 15% relinquishment of the tenure area as part of the AEA renewal process at the end of 2016, reducing ELs 5670 and 5901 to 77 and 918 km2 respectively, and EL5790 remaining unchanged at 367 km2 for a project total of 1,362 km2. During the 2018 reporting period no field work was carried out, as such no technical report was submitted for the Tunkillia Project. Tunkillia Gold had exploration plans to increase the resource base, ready for implementation, before WPG went into receivership on the 8th August 2018.
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