Askari Metals has unearthed a suite of minerals from reconnaissance field work at its Springdale project in NSW including rock samples showing grades of up to an ounce to the tonne gold.
The company has also identified the potential for rare earths and base metals mineralisation in addition to significant levels of cobalt and manganese near historical workings at the site.
Springdale is situated in the Lachlan Fold Belt near the town of Temora along strike from DevEx Resources’ Junee copper-gold porphyry project whilst Sandfire Resources holds the Temora copper-gold deposits to the west.
Askari says the project covers a strike of more than 30km in an area of fertile volcanic and sedimentary stratigraphy with limited modern exploration.
The gold potential of Springdale has been known for some time with more than 30 separate historical workings and artisanal mines having been identified across the project area.
The fieldwork and sampling program aimed to investigate all the historical gold workings at the site in addition to high-priority targets identified from geological data with a total of 116 samples assayed.
The highest gold result of 31.7 g/t came from the company’s Kangaroo Mine prospect where samples also recorded copper levels of 1100 parts-per-million. Another sample from Kangaroo Mine returned results of 2370 ppm zinc and 5830 ppm lead.
The company also recorded total rare earth oxide levels of up to 1222 ppm whilst a peak cobalt result of 1090 ppm was also tabled. High levels of manganese were identified with five samples recording more than 10,000 ppm including one sample at an impressive 17700 ppm.
Askari Metals Exploration and Geology Vice President, John Lambrechts said: “The Gundagai-Temora area is also known to have copper associated with its gold mineralisation and results including 31.7g/t gold with 1100ppm copper is a very exciting start to the company’s exploration activities on Springdale. The elevated zinc, lead, manganese, cobalt and rare earth values are further cause for excitement and the company will design its future exploration activities with these additional metals in mind.”
Historical gold workings within the exploration licence area follow north-south structural trends at an angle to the Springdale fault zone that the company says is generally hosted by sediments associated with mafic intrusives or structurally controlled by quartz veining in sediments.
Askari is currently reviewing each suite of minerals identified during the preliminary fieldwork to tailor future exploration at high-priority target areas including high gold levels at the Kangaroo Mine, Fiddlers Hill and Elmore West prospects. The Specimen Hill, Blackwall South and Little Wonder gold workings will also be a major focus.
The company says additional field work and mapping will be used to highlight additional multi-mineral targets with a drill campaign on the horizon. Whilst gold appears to be the main focus for Askari, the high levels of additional minerals show real potential for future exploration.
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By Matt Birney
