Portions of two tenements located to the south and south-east of Coober Pedy were relinquished at the start of 2020, and all mineral exploration data previously acquired by licensee Southern Iron on these tenements and on four others that now...
Portions of two tenements located to the south and south-east of Coober Pedy were relinquished at the start of 2020, and all mineral exploration data previously acquired by licensee Southern Iron on these tenements and on four others that now comprise the Northern Gawler Project have been made open file at that company's request. The Project acreage is considered prospective for haematite and magnetite banded iron formation (BIF) hosted iron deposits, and for iron oxide - associated copper-gold (IOCG) mineralisation plus accessory rare earth elements (REE). In the opinion of Southern Iron, exploration done there previously by CRAE and BHP Minerals Ltd does not appear to have adequately tested identified magnetic and gravity targets. The presence of calc-silicate-magnetite skarns, pegmatite and possible carbonatite at Mount Brady is indicative of the style of hydrothermal activity commonly associated with the formation of economic ore deposits. This alteration is associated with anomalous copper, phosphorous and REE. Bedrock base metal anomalies identified by BHP at the Dingo prospect also remain to be thoroughly tested. The prospectivity of the subject Mount Brady and Windy Valley areas is considered to be enhanced by the presence of interpreted Hiltaba Suite granite just to the west of the Stuart Highway, which occurs at a depth of 128 m in one of only two recorded drill holes on the former area of EL 5567. To the west, cover thins and the ENE-trending magnetic anomaly remains a priority drill target. Jointly reported work completed on ELs 5566, 5567 and 5588 during the initial 2015-2016 reporting period included: - Interpretation of the 2014 ground gravity survey data; - Desktop studies made as part of a regional geological review of all Southern Iron tenements and exploration targets, particularly in the light of the insights gained from the GSSA's recent eastern-central Gawler Craton solid geology interpretation [cf. GDP 00034 released in December 2015]; and - the compilation of a data room and provision of its contents to potential farm-in parties, with on-going discussions underway. In July 2014, Southern Iron had contracted Daishsat Geodetic Surveyors (Daishsat) to carry out a high-resolution gravity survey on EL 5567 and had retained Southern Geoscience Consultants (SGC) to process and interpret the gravity data. Daishsat surveyed 886 gravity stations and SGC completed the data processing and interpretation in December 2014. Arrium used the data together with magnetic data and historical drilling information to plan a reconnaissance aircore/RC basement drilling campaign scheduled to be conducted in February-March 2015 on ELs 5566 and 5567. However, this drilling became deferred, in consequence of the closure of the Peculiar Knob mine and associated facilities. On 10/4/2015, Southern Iron was granted EL 5588 Ingomar, which lies adjacent to EL 5567. No work was done on the Project ground during the 2016-2017 joint reporting period. Southern Iron and other related business entities entered voluntary administration on 7/4/2016, and since then Southern Iron remains subject to a deed of company arrangement with Martin Madden, Cassandra Matthew, Bryan Webster and Mark Mentha acting as Administrators. At separate times during 2016, Southern Iron was granted three additional new licences, ELs 5701, 5775 and 5776, which are all located in the Mount Brady - Leonard Rise region. No work was done on the Project ground during the 2017-2018 joint reporting period. On 27/10/2017, OneSteel Manufacturing Pty Limited (OneSteel) entered into an agency agreement with Southern Iron. OneSteel has been acting on behalf of Southern Iron since this agreement was signed. A budget was set aside to undertake the deferred reconnaissance drilling campaign. It was hoped that any success achieved by it might lead to an extended grid of aircore and/or RC drilling for basement geochemical sampling, to be followed by RC and/or diamond drilling of identified basement targets. During the 2018-2019 joint reporting period, over selected major geophysical anomalies, OneSteel drilled 75 mainly vertical and some inclined RC drillholes for a total penetration of 9910 m on EL 5566 Mount Brady, plus 36 vertical RC drillholes for a total penetration of 4220 m on EL 5567 Windy Valley. Basement was reached in most of the holes and samples of various rock types were submitted for laboratory whole rock analysis and multi-element assaying. The rocks included skarn altered metasedimentary units containing minor amounts of sulphide mineralisation, as well as felsic igneous units interpreted to be of Hiltaba age. During the 2019-2020 joint reporting period, on 31/7/2019, Peak Iron Mines Pty Ltd (Peak) purchased 100% of the outstanding shares in Southern Iron, ending the period of court-enforced company administation. The reconnaissance RC drilling campaign was continued on EL 6486 Mount Brady [North] (formerly EL 5566) in February 2019, with 14 vertical or inclined holes completed for 2882 m. The results of the drilling overall were very encouraging, with multiple thin through to 40 m wide intercepts made of moderate to high grade magnetite skarn carrying elevated copper, cobalt, zinc, nickel and chromium, plus significant REE, that are spatially associated with highly altered diorite, gabbro, felsic and pegmatitic intrusive rocks. The tenor of the intercepts led Peak to prepare an optimistic prospectivity summary for the southern Coober Pedy Domain, noting the widespread subeconomic mineralisation grades and the presence of red rock alteration which could be indicative of the presence of hematite breccias at depth.
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