Mineral explorer, Strickland Metals has secured a milestone Native Title Land Access and Mineral Exploration Agreement, or “LAEA”, with the Tarlka Matuwa Parku Aboriginal Corporation, or “TMPAC”, to cover the company’s entire Yandal gold project tenure in Western Australia. Strickland says the agreement will fast-track its exploration efforts at the project that already boasts a resource base of about 600,000 ounces of gold, taking in a touch under 2,000 square kilometres.
TMPAC has executed the agreement with Strickland on behalf of the native title holders at the Yandal project tenure, the Wiluna People.
Strickland says the “landmark” agreement will enable the company to continue its aggressive exploration campaigns which recently saw the launch of two separate drilling programs in the northern parts of the tenure.
The agreement will also provide social, economic and environmental benefits to the broader Wiluna community in which Strickland operates, including annual community benefit payments, community support programs, Aboriginal business development and contracting opportunities and heritage and land management programs.
Strickland Metals Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Bray said:“We have been able to execute an agreement with the Traditional Owners in record pace thanks largely to the collaborative and cooperative approach that both parties brought to the negotiating table.
Importantly for Strickland, execution of the LAEA allows the Company to expedite its ongoing exploration programs. Drilling is proceeding very well – the first batch of assays are expected this week – and having this agreement in place allows the company greater certainty and flexibility when planning follow up drilling.”
In recent months, Strickland has carried out a series of project acquisitions to consolidate the land package that forms its Yandal tenure.
The landholdings cover the north-east flank of the renowned Yandal Greenstone Belt and hosts two core projects – the Horse Well gold project and the Millrose project.
Horse Well takes in a multi-deposit resource of 5.7 million tonnes going 1.4 grams per tonne gold for 257,000 ounces of contained metal, whilst Millrose plays host to a 6Mt resource at 1.8 g/t gold for 346,000 ounces of the precious yellow metal.
Curiously, the under-explored Millrose project hugs the regionally significant Celia shear zone and sits about 30 kilometres east of gold mining heavyweight, Northern Star Resources’ 10-million-ounce-plus Jundee gold operation.
Strickland is already smashing out the metres at its Yandal tenure with a 15,000m aircore drilling campaign at the Horse North prospect looking to add ounces to the existing resources at Horse Well. In parallel, an 8,000m reverse circulation program is currently targeting the Dusk til Dawn gold prospect some 12km north and the nearby Iroquois zinc-lead prospect.
Notably, Iroquois lies directly along strike to the celebrated Chinook-Magazine zinc-lead discovery by ASX-listed explorer, Rumble Resources.
The discovery hole at Chinook-Magazine earlier this year hit 34m at 4.22 per cent zinc and lead, sending Rumble’s share price soaring from about $0.10 to as high as $0.80 after discovery.
Under the LAEA, TMPAC has committed to finalising heritage surveys for both Iroquois and Millrose in the coming weeks.
Strickland is eyeing 30,000m of aircore drilling, 15,000m of reverse circulation drilling and 8,000m of diamond drilling at its maiden Millrose resource expansion program tabled for early next year.
With the LAEA for the Yandal tenure under its belt and the rods set to be turning over the coming months, Strickland now looks primed for a constant supply of assay results for the remainder of the year and beyond.
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By Matt Birney
