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Siren Gold Limited (ASX: SNG) (Siren or the Company) is pleased to announce that it has applied for an exploration permit over the historic Endeavour Antimony mine, located in Marlborough, 120kms east of Sams Creek.
Highlights
- The Endeavour mine was historically New Zealand’s largest antimony producer.
- Around 3,000t of stibnite ore (antimony) was recovered from the Endeavour mine and direct shipped to England in the late 19th Century.
- Stibnite ore was mined along strike for 1,200m and a vertical extent of 400m.
- The antimony mineralisation mined contained approximately 2g/t Au but the gold was not recovered.
- The Endeavour antimony mine is part of a larger shear zone that extends for at least 5-6kms and includes at least two other antimony occurrences.
- The mineralisation and structure at the Endeavour mine look very similar to the Auld Creek mineralisation in Reefton.
- Siren is particularly encouraged by the 400m vertical extent exposed in the old mine workings at Endeavour.
- By comparison, only a 150m vertical extent has been tested by drilling at Auld Creek, which contains an inferred mineral resource estimate of 105koz at 3.9g/t Au and 14,500t at 1.7% antimony.
- Metallurgical testwork was completed on Endeavour antimony samples (average 18.7% antimony) in 1977. A stibnite concentrate grading 63% antimony and an overall recovery of 90% was obtainable in a two-stage flotation process.
Siren Managing Director and CEO, Victor Rajasooriar commented:
“We are quite thrilled to have applied for the exploration permit over the historic Endeavour Antimony mine. Our geological team has been scouting for Antimony projects to build scale to our existing Antimony / Gold projects and a successful application would be a welcome addition to the portfolio. Antimony is one of the few elements classified as a 'critical' or 'strategic' mineral by countries including the United States, China, Australia, Russia, the European Union, and more recently New Zealand, underscoring its special geopolitical value. The price of Antimony currently trading at US$25,000/t, supply forecast to drop due to lower grade / old mines coming to an end and the recent decision by China to stop exporting Antimony to other countries, all point to a very positive environment for Siren to explore and grow the Antimony and Gold business in New Zealand”.
Queen Charlotte Exploration Permit Application
Sams Creek Gold Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Siren, has applied for the Queen Charlotte exploration permit that contains the historic Endeavour antimony mine (Figure 1). In 1873 mineralisation containing 60% antimony was discovered in a landslide near the saddle between Endeavour Inlet and Port Gore within a line of mineralisation running from Titirangi Bay through the Endeavour Inlet to Resolution Bay. This mine was the largest antimony mine in New Zealand, producing over 3,000t of stibnite (antimony) ore that was direct shipped to England between 1870 and 1890 (Figures 1 and 2). The high-grade ore was sorted by hand and exported untreated, while the lower grade ore was for a period treated at a smelter adjacent to the mine (MacDonnell 1993).
The historic workings penetrated less than 100m deep into a mineralised system that is 1-2kms long and has a surface exposure extending more than 400m vertically. In addition to the antimony, this mineralised system contains significant gold, but it was not recovered.
Figure 1. Antimony Mine, Endeavour Inlet. Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection: 181917.
Figure 2. Stibnite Sheds, Endeavour Inlet. Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection: 179109.
Detailed records and mapping of the Endeavour Inlet mineralised system are very sparse and fragmented. A comprehensive overview of this mineralised system was largely developed by geologist Franco Pirajno (Pirajno 1979) and is the basis for the current understanding of the system. He proposed that there may be three parallel major shear zones that strike NNW-SSE, one of which passes through the Endeavour Inlet mineralised zone (Figure 3).
The known part of the Endeavour mineralised zone is about 1,200m long (Figure 4). The Endeavor mineralisation may connect with the East Endeavour Inlet and the Resolution Bay mineralisation along strike to the SE which would increase the strike length to 5-6kms (Figure 3). The known vertical extent of the Endeavour mine exceeds 400m, but the total vertical extent could be significantly greater (Figure 5).
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Siren Gold
Overview
Siren Gold (ASX:SNG) is an exploration and development company focusing on gold assets at its 1,100-square-kilometer tenement package located on the historic, high-grade Reefton, Lyell and Sams Creek goldfields in New Zealand.
Reefton Goldfield was first discovered in 1866 with total current recorded production of 11 million ounces (Moz) of gold, consisting of 2 Moz @ 16 grams per ton (g/t) gold from underground, 0.7 Moz from open pit and ~8 Moz gold from alluvial mining.
Mining and the local communities thrived in the region during the early 1900s, but most of the 94 underground mines closed by 1942 during WWII, and the Blackwater mine, which produced 740 koz @ 19 g/t down to more than 700 meters below the surface, finally shut down in 1951 bringing the entire field to a close. The gold price in 1951 was US$35 per ounce.
Fast forward to 2023, mining analysts believe current gold prices are only the beginning of a large upward trend, with gold prices reaching the $2,000 mark in the last quarter of 2023. What we know is clear: Gold has outperformed the S&P 500 over the past 20 years, as production from gold mines runs low without enough new projects to replace them.
Siren’s gold projects present an opportunity for new supply sources to emerge. The Reefton Goldfield is a high-grade mining district located on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand.
Siren’s global mineral resource currently sits at 1.33 million ounces at 3.3 grams per ton (g/t) AuEq (gold equivalent), from Sams Creek, Alexander River, Big River, Supreme and Auld Creek.
The district is widely known for producing gold, antimony and coal. A crucial aspect of the Reefton Goldfield is the significant occurrence of antimony, a rare thermal-resistant metal and a poor conductor of electricity. These attributes make it ideal for flame retardants, paints and various industrial applications to improve thermal tolerance. Additionally, antimony is a critical element in lithium-ion batteries and next-generation liquid metal batteries utilized for energy storage systems. The presence of antimony in the goldfield creates additional value for Siren’s projects as exploration continues.
Siren currently has seven projects, many of which were active sites that were closed during WWII despite encouraging exploration or production. Now, the company has built an expansive portfolio of projects and will undergo systematic exploration of its assets using leading-edge technologies and techniques.
With seven projects under its belt, Siren is primarily focused on Sams Creek, Alexander River, Big River and Auld Creek. These four projects are slated for future exploration and potential development to improve the assets’ value.
A skilled management team leads the company towards fully exploring its promising portfolio, with diverse expertise in geology, corporate administration and finance.
Company Highlights
- Siren Gold is an exploration and development company focusing on gold assets in the high-grade, historic Reefton Goldfield and Sams Creek in New Zealand.
- Siren owns seven highly prospective projects throughout the region, each with the potential for gold and antimony, a rare metal used in various thermal-resistant applications.
- The company’s global mineral resource is currently at 1.33 million ounces at 3.3 g/t AuEq (gold equivalent), with significant potential to increase as exploration continues.
- The Reefton Goldfield historically produced over 11 million ounces of gold before the entire field closed after WWII.
- Siren’s assets within the Reefton Goldfield are highly prospective but have yet to be fully explored through modern exploration techniques, creating significant blue-sky potential.
- A management team with a range of expertise in the natural resources industry leads the company towards fully realizing the potential of its highly prospective portfolio.
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Exploring Highly Prospective Gold Assets in A Historic New Zealand Mining District
