Odessa Minerals Limited (ASX:ODE) (“Odessa” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide an update on its Gascoyne East Project (“Project”) in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia.
Highlights:
- Completion of lithological and structural interpretation from geophysical datasets
- PoW approval for Phase 1 aircore drilling to assist bedrock mapping
- Geophysical interpretation has confirmed drill targets for:
- Intrusion-related porphyry and Iron Oxide Copper-Gold (IOCG) mineralisation
- Magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE mineralisation within a distinct layered mafic intrusion
- Orogenic and intrusion-related gold mineralisation within the Dalgaringa Supersuite and Camel Hills Metamorphics.
- Intrusion-related gold and base metal deposits within the Edmund Basin
- Sedimentary-hosted base metal deposits in the Edmund Basin analogous to the Abra deposit
- At-surface uranium targets identified through airborne radiometric survey data
Exploration Plan
Target Generation
The Gascoyne East Project is one of the most under-explored areas of the emergent Gascoyne Province. Due to being almost entirely concealed under a thin veneer of transported cover, previous explorers have largely overlooked the area encapsulated by Odessa’s Gascoyne East Project, despite multiple mantle-tapping structures transecting the Project along strike from known mineralisation.
Odessa has now completed initial target generation through detailed litho-structural interpretation of the recently acquired airborne gradiometer-magnetic and radiometric data (Figure 1).
Multiple intrusion-related targets have been highlighted across the Project, including a layered mafic intrusive in the south, that is prospective for Ni-Cu-PGE, large-scale intrusions that are prospective for IOCG mineralisation, multiple discrete porphyry Cu-Au targets throughout the region, and base metal targets within the Edmund Basin.
Additionally, several uranium anomalies have been highlighted by radiometric survey data across the Project, coincident with calcrete deposits mantling fault structures, within an outcrop of the Moorarie Supersuite granite, a potential host to uranium and REE carbonatite mineralisation (Figure 2).
Aircore Drilling
With no previous drilling and a lack of exposure, the basement lithologies remain almost entirely inferred from geophysical datasets. As such, a mineral systems-based approach to exploration at the Project is required to build up high-quality regional datasets that can inform targeted and impactful exploration across the highly prospective Project. As the company has now completed acquisition and interpretation of high resolution magnetic and radiometric data, drilling is required to confirm and update current interpretations.
Phase 1 aircore drilling is planned predominantly along existing tracks with hole spacings ranging from 200m to 400m. This round of drilling aims to intercept basement lithologies in fresh rock below the transported cover material to validate the litho-structural basement geology interpretation of geophysical data (Figure 1), as well as test key structural corridors and intrusive target features. Bottom-of-hole core of fresh rock will be collected to conduct petrographical and petrophysical analysis alongside multi-element geochemical characterisation of lithologies.
Upon completion of Phase 1 drilling, the basement geology model will be updated, and targets re-ranked accordingly for follow-up Phase 2 drill testing for mineralisation at depth associated with intrusion-related systems.
The Company has received PoW approval from the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DEMIRS) to conduct air core drilling across the Project as part of the Phase 1 drill campaign scheduled to commence in June 2024.
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