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Miramar Resources Limited (ASX:M2R, “Miramar” or “the Company”) is pleased to provide a summary of activities completed during the Quarter ending 30 September 2023.
Highlights
- Initial EIS co-funded diamond drilling at Whaleshark intersects copper sulphide mineralisation and IOCG pathfinders
- POW approved for drill testing at Mt Vernon Ni-Cu-PGE project
- Lithium potential identified at Randalls
- $1.7 million Capital Raising completed
During the Quarter, the Company focused on completion of the first diamond drilling campaign at the Whaleshark IOCG Project in the Ashburton region of WA.
GASCOYNE REGION PROJECTS
Miramar has two projects within the Proterozoic Capricorn Orogen of WA comprising several granted and pending Exploration Licenses.
Whaleshark IOCG Project
The Whaleshark Project is located approximately 40km east of Onslow, in the Ashburton region of Western Australia, and is characterised by a large folded Proterozoic banded iron formation and granite complex under approximately 100m of Cretaceous Carnarvon Basin sediments (Figure 2).
The Company believes there is potential for discovery of a large IOCG deposit at Whaleshark.
Figure 2. Whaleshark magnetic image showing targets in the neck of the granite.
During the Quarter, Miramar completed an initial 3-hole diamond drilling campaign that was co-funded under the WA government’s “Exploration Incentive Scheme” (EIS).
The drilling targeted a discrete gravity anomaly within the Whaleshark granite which is crosscut by a NW- trending structure and located beneath coincident MMI soil anomalism and strongly anomalous “interface” aircore results up to 435ppm Cu, 889ppm Co and 7.7g/t Ag.
WSDD001 targeted the southern part of the gravity anomaly, whilst WSDD002 and WSDD003 targeted the 4 km long NW-trending structure itself (Figure 3).
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This article includes content from Miramar Resources Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
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Miramar Resources
Overview
With the explosive growth of the electric vehicle market and the global push for sustainability, demand for battery metals is skyrocketing. This has created significant upside potential for exploration, particularly where copper and nickel are concerned.
Miramar Resources (ASX:M2R) intends to leverage that potential to the fullest. Led by an experienced board with a proven track record of successful exploration, discovery, development and production, the company has acquired multiple projects with the potential to host world-class mineral deposits. These discovery opportunities lie in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields and Gascoyne regions, including the Capricorn Orogen, a rapidly emerging yet largely underexplored mineral province.
Proterozoic orogens are well-established as hosting major mineral deposits. Capricorn is no exception. It's highly prospective for multiple commodities and deposit types.
Recognizing this opportunity, Miramar has acquired two large and highly prospective landholdings within the Capricorn Orogen: the Whaleshark copper-gold project and the Bangemall nickel-copper-PGE projects. In addition to these, Miramar maintains two gold projects in the Eastern Goldfields, one of which — Gidji JV — has the potential to become a new gold camp in the region.
Miramar's strategy is simple — to create shareholder value through the discovery of world-class mineral deposits. It's well-positioned to do exactly that, with active exploration programs, a tight share register and low enterprise value.
Company Highlights
- Australian exploration company Miramar Resources is well-positioned to take advantage of the battery metals opportunity.
- The current focus on battery metals creates significant upside opportunities for exploration, particularly on copper and nickel.
- Led by an experienced board with a track record of successful discovery, development and production, Miramar has acquired multiple projects with the potential to host world-class deposits, including:
- Large, shallow copper-gold targets at Whaleshark
- Multiple nickel-copper-PGE targets at Bangemall
- Multiple strategic Eastern Goldfields projects, including one with the potential to become a new gold camp
- Miramar is an active explorer with regular news flow, a tight share register and low enterprise value.
Key Assets
Whaleshark (Ashburton)
Located roughly 40 kilometres east of Onslow in the Ashburton region of Western Australia, Whaleshark. It was acquired by Miramar as part of its initial public offering in 2020.
Miramar secured $180,000 under the Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS) funding program from the Western Australia Government to fund diamond drilling and project development at Whaleshark. Assay results from the diamond drilling confirmed the presence of bedrock copper sulphide mineralisation at Whaleshark and the company also identified the potential for very large magnetite iron deposits near existing infrastructure.
Project Highlights:
- Prospectivity: Whaleshark displays all the necessary characteristics for the presence of a large copper-gold deposit, including:
- Proterozoic granite with nearby iron-rich rocks
- Overlapping magnetic anomalism and gravity
- Strong anomalous “interface” geochemistry
- Sodic and potassic alteration
- High-priority Drilling: Miramar has identified multiple high-priority bedrock drill targets which comprise overlapping:
- Mobile metal iron (MMI) surface geochemical anomalism over roughly 1.2 square kilometers
- Gravity anomalism crosscut by a northwest-trending structure
- Strongly elevated copper, cobalt, gold and silver results gathered from “interface” aircore drilling
- Advantageous Geology: Whaleshark’s geology is similar to the large Ernest Henry IOCG deposit in Queensland, including the scale, suite and magnitude of elements. However, Whaleshark also displays shallower cover compared to Ernest Henry.
- Bedrock copper sulphide confirmed: Results from the completed diamond drill program confirmed the presence of bedrock copper sulphide mineralisation within the project. Multi-element assays subsequently also confirmed the presence of anomalous copper, gold, silver, molybdenum and tungsten throughout the Whaleshark granodiorite.
- Large Magnetite Iron Opportunities: The drill program, coupled with analysis and comparisons to historical data and magnetic anomalies also indicate potential for a large shallow magnetite iron deposit at Whaleshark in close proximity to significant infrastructure.
Bangemall/Mount Vernon (Gascoyne)
Miramar has several granted and pending exploration licences in its district-scale Bangemall project which are prospective for Proterozoic magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE mineralisation associated with 1070Ma Kulkatharra Dolerite sills which are the same age as the Giles Complex, host to the large Nebo and Babel Ni-Cu deposits in the West Musgraves of WA.
Both the Geological Survey of Western Australia and Geoscience Australia have identified the area as being highly prospective for numerous types of mineral deposits.
Since 2020, Miramar has built a strategic land position in the Bangemall region, focusing on areas containing key ingredients and/or regional-scale indicators for Norilsk-style Ni-Cu-PGE mineralisation:
- Kulkatharra Dolerite sills – source of Ni, Cu +/- PGE’s
- Proximity to major crustal-scale faults (+/- cross faults) - potential plumbing systems +/- traps
- Sulphidic sediments - potential sulphur source
- Regional-scale geochemical anomalism (GSWA regional geochemistry)
- Regional-scale EM anomalism (2013 Capricorn AEM Survey)
The company’s Mount Vernon project is a high priority. In early 2022, Miramar flew a detailed magnetic and electromagnetic survey over the Mount Vernon project, identifying multiple late-time anomalies potentially related to nickel-copper-PGE sulphide mineralisation. A ground EM is underway and RC drilling is planned for Mount Vernon targets.
Project Highlights:
- Mount Vernon potential: Miramar's VTEM survey at Mount Vernon confirms historic exploration at the project, which identified:
- Nickel, copper and platinum group elements soil anomalies
- Significant nickel-copper in rock chips
- Drilling intersected elevated nickel-copper-PGEs in dolerite
- 50 rock chip samples taken, with several containing course-grained pyrite in fine grained chill margin and coarser grained gabbro in the centre of the sill
- Current Work: Geophysical contractors have commenced a fixed loop electromagnetic survey to refine targets for future drill testing
- Expansion of Bangemall Project: In early 2024, Miramar announced the grant of the Trouble Bore Exploration Licence, adjacent to Mount Vernon, where historic EM surveys had identified a strong late-time EM anomaly that could be representative of buried Ni-Cu-PGE mineralisation.
Gidji JV Project (Eastern Goldfields)
Located roughly 15 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie, Gidji is a highly prospective yet underexplored gold project with potential nickel mineralisation. Miramar has been actively exploring the project since October 2020, resulting in the identification of several new targets and outlining large aircore gold anomalies at Marylebone, Blackfriars and Highway/Piccadilly, each of which could host a significant gold discovery. The Marylebone target is the highest priority target as it has the same geology, structural setting and scale as the 4-Moz Paddington gold deposit which is also located in the ‘Boorara Shear Zone’ to the north and where Miramar discovered high-grade gold in a quartz vein. At the Marylebone target alone, Miramar has outlined a large shallow gold “exploration target” of 1.4 to 3.2 million tons (Mt) @ 1.2 to 1.5 grams per ton (g/t) gold. The company believes Gidji has the potential to become a new gold camp.
Highlights:
- Multiple High-potential Gold Targets: Potential mineralisation at Marylebone ranges from 1.4 to 3.2 Mt @ 1.2 to 1.5 g/t gold. Other gold anomaly targets include Blackfriars, Highway-Piccadilly and Railway. Miramar is currently refining bedrock targets for further deep drilling.
- Potential Nickel Sulphide Mineralisation: Through re-analysis of multiple aircore holes, Miramar has produced significant platinum and palladium assays commonly associated with high nickel and copper results.
Glandore (Eastern Goldfields)
Situated 40 kilometres east of the Kalgoorlie Gold Field, Miramar's 100-percent-owned Glandore project displays the potential for significant high-grade gold mineralisation. Previous exploration of the project area identified a large aircore gold footprint along with significant gold anomalism. Diamond drilling in 2005 returned results that included 4 metres @ 44.3 g/t gold.
In 2022, Miramar completed a diamond drilling program at the high-grade “Glandore East’ target, at the edge of the salt lake, with results returning high-grade gold mineralisation and visible gold. Multiple parallel mineralised structures have been outlined beneath a very large aircore gold footprint and bedrock gold mineralisation is present over 600 metres of strike and open. A UAV magnetic survey identified multiple northeast-trending structures. More surveys are planned to further refine and assist in targeting.
Management Team
Allan Kelly - Executive Chair
Allan Kelly is a geologist and manager with over 30 years’ experience in mineral exploration, development and production throughout Australia and the Americas. Kelly graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science (with honors) in applied geology from Curtin University. He has been involved in targeting early-stage exploration of gold, nickel and copper deposits in Australia, Alaska and Canada, and has previously held senior exploration positions at Western Mining Corporation and Avoca Resources.
In 2009, he founded Doray Minerals, which was listed on the ASX in early 2010. Under Kelly's management, Doray discovered the high-grade Wilber Lode gold deposit within the Andy Well Project in the Murchison Region of Western Australia, which moved from discovery to production within three and a half years. He subsequently funded, constructed and commissioned the Deflector gold-copper project within 14 months of completing the takeover of Mutiny Gold in 2014.
In 2014, Kelly was awarded the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) ‘Prospector Award’, along with Doray’s co-founder Heath Hellewell, for the discovery of the Wilber Lode and Andy Well gold deposits. He is a fellow and former councilor of the Association of Applied Geochemistry (AAG), a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG), and a member of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD).
Marion Bush - Technical Director
Marion Bush is a geologist with over 25 years’ experience in senior management, directorship, commercial management, analyst and marketing roles within the UK, Australia, Africa and South America. She was the former CEO of TSX-V listed Cassidy Gold and a former mining analyst.
Bush holds a Bachelor of Science (geology) from Curtin University, a Master of Science (mineral project appraisal) from the University of London (Imperial College) and is a member of the AIG.
Terry Gadenne - Non-executive Director
Terry Gadenne has over 30 years’ experience in military and civilian aviation, agriculture and mining management. He was the chief pilot of Mackay Helicopters and managing director of Mining Logic, located in Queensland. Throughout his career, Gadenne has had various board positions in not-for-profit organisations.
He holds a Bachelor of Aviation Studies (management) from the University of Western Sydney, completed the Company Directors Course with AICD and was a former army and navy pilot.
Mindy Ku - Company Secretary
Mindy Ku has over 15 years' international experience in financial analysis, financial reporting, management accounting, compliance reporting, board reporting, company secretarial services and office management across multiple jurisdictions (Australia, Malaysia, UK, Sweden and Norway) including ASX-listed public and private companies.
Ku holds a Bachelor of Science in computing from the University of Greenwich, United Kingdom, is a member of Certified Practising Accountant Australia and a fellow member of the Governance Institute of Australia.
Jeffreys Find Gold Mine Toll Milling of 150,000 Tonnes Commenced, Second 2024 Campaign
HIGHLIGHTS
- Processing of 150,000 tonnes commenced at Greenfields Mill.
- 75,600 tonnes on ROM Pad at Greenfields as of 23 July 2024.
- Second campaign expected to finish early September 2024.
- On target to process 300,000 tonnes at Greenfields Mill in 2024/2025.
- BML expects to mine well in excess of 300,000 tonnes in 2024/2025.
- First cash distributions to Auric this quarter.
MANAGEMENT COMMENT
Managing Director, Mark English, said: “We have the good fortune of pouring gold just as the price firms. It happened last year when the price went to $3,000 an ounce, this year it’s around $3,600 an ounce.
“The ever increasing gold price will result in Auric and our joint venture partner generating cash surpluses well in excess of what we had budgeted and anticipated.
“150,000 tonnes is a sizeable parcel of ore for this campaign. While it will take six weeks or so to mill, we expect it to generate well in excess of $25 million through gold sales for the joint venture.
“The mill contract is to process 300,000 tonnes in 2024. This 150,000 tonnes parcel will be the largest for Stage 2 of mining of Jeffreys Find. That leaves an additional 120,000 tonnes for milling at Greenfields towards the end of 2024.
“Jeffreys Find will be a substantial cash producer for Auric in 2024. We are on target to receive our first distribution within about a month.” said Mr English.
The Jeffreys Find Pit as of 16 July 2024
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This article includes content from Auric Mining, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Viani - Low Sulphidation Epithermal Gold Project License Renewed
Highlights
- MRD notified Alice Queen on Friday 19 July 2024 via email that its Viani license (SPL1513) has been renewed for a further three years with effect from Wednesday 3 July 2024.
- Viani, located on the Pacific Rim of Fire on Vanua Levu in Fiji, covers an area greater than 200km2 and is largely under explored (see Figures 1 and 2).
- The Dakuniba prospect within Viani has been previously sampled where epithermal gold mineralisation has been recorded in outcrop samples over a >3km strike length.
- Multiple epithermal veins within the Dakuniba prospect area, 5km by 1.5km surface gold-in- soil geochemical anomaly - the footprint of the epithermal mineralisation is comparable to other economically productive gold epithermal deposits globally.
- Previous drilling by Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 1997 focused on a small, shallow part of the overall system and intersected high grade epithermal gold mineralisation.
- (Hole MJFV-5 (see Figure 3) over 6 vein zones at 50 to 100m below surface with best results, 0.6m @ 27.6 g/t Au & 900 g/t Ag and 0.4m @ 11.7 g/t Au1 and remains open in all directions.
- The JICA drilling was limited to only 600m of strike-length of the 5km long gold-in-soil anomaly (>10ppb Au) supported by epithermal geochemistry i.e., Ag and As.
- Based on discovery knowledge from epithermal systems worldwide, it is apparent the historical drilling was an inadequate test of the Viani gold system.
Alice Queen’s Managing Director, Andrew Buxton said,
We are delighted the SPL1513 license has been renewed for a further three years and look forward to continuing to work alongside the Fiji Mineral Resources Department as we commence our next phase of exploration activities. The Viani Gold Project is a tremendous prospect which has demonstrated it has the potential to become a significant epithermal system. With the license now renewed and the Company fully funded for its Fiji exploration plans, Alice Queen will continue the systematic exploration of the Viani Gold Project with the Company having commenced planning for its upcoming exploration programs.
Viani
Figure 1. Fiji Project locations.
Figure 2. Location of the Dakuniba Prospect in relation with SPL1513.
The Viani project (SPL1513) covers an area greater than 200km2 on the Caukadrove Peninsula on the Pacific Rim of Fire, Vanua Levu, Fiji. It is well serviced from Savu Savu on Vanua Levu and is highly prospective for a high-grade LSE gold system (see ASX releases 2 December 2022, “VIANI UPDATE” and 6 March 2023, “ALICE QUEEN UPGRADES VIANI EPITHERMAL PROJECT”.
Following a renewal process for Viani (SPL1513) which the Company commenced earlier this year (including as announced in the Quarterly Activities Report released to ASX on 23 April 2024), MRD notified Alice Queen on Friday 19 July 2024 that the license had been renewed with effect from Wednesday 3 July 2024 for a further three years. The renewed license includes typical terms for a license of this nature, including minimum work program and expenditure requirements.
Whilst the greater project area remains under explored, extensive sampling, trenching and (historic) limited drilling of the Dakuniba prospect area has been previously completed.
Previous drilling by JICA in 1997 returned multiple epithermal gold intersections in shallow drilling. Hole MJFV-5 (see Figure 2) intersected 6 vein zones at 50 to 100m below surface (best results include 0.6m @ 27.6ppm Au & 900ppm Ag, 0.4m @ 11.7ppm Au & 4.3ppm Ag)1. The JICA drilling was limited to only 600m of strike-length of the 5km long gold-in-soil anomaly (>10ppb Au) supported by epithermal geochemistry i.e., Ag and As.
Further details in relation to upcoming exploration plans at Viani will be announced in due course.
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This article includes content from Alice Queen Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
June 2024 Quarter - Activities Report
Highlights
- Multiple work programs focused on high-value critical minerals – scandium, cobalt, and copper across Rimfire’s NSW projects
- Thick zones of strong scandium anomalism from surface across multiple locations across the 20km² Murga Intrusive Complex;
- 22m @ 273ppm Sc from surface incl 12m @ 353ppm Sc
- 22m @ 172ppm Sc from 2m incl 5m @ 226ppm Sc
- 28m @ 158ppm Sc from 4m incl 6m @ 320ppm Sc
- 25m @ 163ppm Sc from 2m incl 5m @ 242ppm Sc
- 27m @ 162ppm Sc from 3m incl 4m @ 270ppm Sc
- Further Melrose leaching test work generates up to 90% scandium recoveries at atmospheric pressures
- Estimation of a combined JORC Mineral Resource for both Murga North and Melrose Scandium Prospects (Fifield and Avondale Earn-In Projects) underway ahead of completion within the coming weeks subject to receiving outstanding drill assays from the laboratory
- Drilling programs are planned for September 2024 Quarter designed to test copper cobalt targets at Broken Hill and scandium targets at Fifield
- Rimfire completes a placement to raise $1.15M post end of Quarter
Commenting on the Quarterly Activities report, Rimfire’s Managing Director Mr David Hutton said: “Rimfire continues to explore for and discover the critical minerals that are associated with global decarbonisation strategies. We are leveraged to and provide unique ASX investment exposure to scandium – an extremely valuable metal.
Buoyed by the success of our scandium drilling and metallurgical studies carried out during the Quarter we have made the decision to estimate a maiden JORC Mineral Resource for both the Melrose and Murga North Prospects with the work underway.
We expect to announce both resources in the coming weeks with just some Melrose drilling assays awaited on to complete the estimation process.
Looking ahead, the September 2024 Quarter will be pivotal for Rimfire and its shareholders with maiden scandium resources, further scandium drilling and the resumption of copper-cobalt drilling at Broken Hill”.
Introduction and Operational Summary
During the June 2024 Quarter (the “Quarter”), Rimfire’s exploration activities were focused on advancing the Murga and Melrose Scandium Prospects (Fifield and Avondale Earn In Project) with 100 aircore holes (2,664 metres) drilled.
The drilling successfully intersected strongly anomalous scandium at multiple locations across the Murga Intrusive Complex with subsequent re-assaying of anomalous drill samples demonstrating a significant increase in grade.
Buoyed by the success of the drilling, Rimfire has commenced the estimation of a combined JORC Mineral Resource for both the Murga North and Melrose Scandium Prospects.
Also, two further sighter leach tests focused on maximising scandium recovery at atmospheric pressures from Melrose laterite-hosted mineralisation returned recoveries of 62.6% and 90.1% scandium respectively. The latest results represent a significant improvement on previous best scandium recovery of 40% and can be attributed to increased acidity (sulphuric acid) and addition of reagents (NaCl).
To guide the Company’s future metallurgical studies, Rimfire also engaged highly experienced hydrometallugist Mr Boyd Willis as Process Consultant.
The exploration activities at the Fifield and Avondale are funded by Rimfire’s exploration partner
- Golden Plains Resources (GPR) and looking ahead to the September 2024 Quarter, Rimfire will complete the estimate of the combined JORC Mineral Resource for the Murga North and Melrose Scandium Prospects, as well as undertaking further aircore and diamond drilling at Murga to build on the initial resource.
Separately on its 100% - owned projects, Rimfire is preparing to carry out a further round of diamond drilling at its Bald Hill Copper Cobalt prospect commencing in August 2024.
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This article includes content from Rimfire Pacific Mining Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
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