ASX listed multi-commodity explorer Surefire Resources’ high level geological review of its Kooline project in the Ashburton region of WA, has thrown up extensive untested areas the company says are prospective for lead-silver-copper and gold mineralisation.
Surefire holds 48km of strike within the under-explored Ashburton fold belt, located over numerous, clustered, artisanal and historical high-grade lead-silver-copper workings, about 200km west northwest of Paraburdoo at the Kooline project.
The company has delineated two discrete areas of interest in the remote, structurally complex region, where thin cover has hindered exploration efforts in the past.
In Area 1 to the north, highly anomalous scattered gold results are reported from auger samples and drilling in close proximity to a major northeast bearing structure, which may be the source of the mineralisation noted within the broader Kooline project region.
Area 2 hosts the actual historical Kooline lead-silver-copper workings, plus additional gold anomalies that appear to strike parallel to the main base metals mineralised trends.
Company management said that exploration activity at the project has consisted of two complimentary reviews to better understand the styles of mineralisation present and generate new exploration targets for future programs.
The first review involved a comprehensive due diligence compilation of all existing geochemical and drilling data within Surefire’s ground holdings, which showed that less than half the project area had been tested.
Additionally, less than a quarter of the tenement area has been examined for all relevant mineralisation suites, but where tested, anomalous results are quite common.
The geological model for mineralisation at the Kooline project indicates that the ore deposits are derived from circulating fluids at depth, which includes the iron oxide-copper-gold or “IOCG” style ore systems and Galena Minerals’ Abra lead-copper-gold deposit about 275km to the southeast.
The second review involved a more detailed reconnaissance geological mapping exercise at the Kooline workings in Area 2, which confirmed the potential of the ore system to thicken along strike and remains largely untested at depth.
Shallow mine workings are typically less than 10 metres deep and the few RC drill holes recorded in the area, were largely ineffective at scoping out the potential of the base metals, silver and gold mineralisation.
Previous rock chip sampling around the Kooline workings unearthed some extraordinary results up to 79% lead and 232g/t silver.
Copper potential has not been tested and a single metre section of 1m @ 3.87g/t gold from 25m down-hole was never followed up via coherent exploration programs by previous explorers in the region.
Surefire Chairman Vladimir Nikolaenko said: “Lead-silver have been the historic minerals mined in this area and the short- to mid-term market conditions for lead make this historically mined commodity an interesting proposition to pursue. In addition, the exploration upside to potentially define other base-metals and gold in this area is extremely encouraging.”
The company is planning to test the historical shallow lead-silver-copper workings with drilling at depth, in areas where structural complexity could potentially thicken the mineralisation to economic widths.
In addition, geochemical programmes will be used to evaluate the potential along strike of the known mineralised trends, where no previous work has been undertaken.
Areas with obvious gold potential from historical auger and drilling results will also be followed up by Surefire in the new year.
