Askari Metals’ is poised for follow-up work at its Springdale project in New South Wales after a second reconnaissance rock-sampling program turned up gold grades up to 56.7 grams per tonne, with the top 20 samples averaging 12.34g/t.
The company says the program turned up granite-hosted and structurally-controlled gold mineralisation related to local intrusives, faulting and shearing. The top seven values thrown up in the program are all above 10g/t gold and range between 56.7g/t and 10.4g/t.
The remaining 13 results run from a minimum of 2.52g/t gold to a maximum of 7.99g/t. Management says six of the top 20 gold results it reported are also accompanied by elevated base metal responses with a top of 834 parts per million zinc and 1770ppm lead.
Askari Metals vice president of exploration and geology Johan Lambrechts said: "The Company is encouraged by the results of this second phase of work at its 100%-owned Springdale Project and the number of prospective targets identified so far. We will review the granite-hosted gold mineralisation due to the association with base metals, as well as the sedimentary hosted targets, with both producing strong gold values from this campaign. The presence of pathfinder minerals, such as arsenic, antimony, bismuth, and tellurium, is also positive news, as they can help identify target areas for further exploration. Follow-on exploration activities will be designed at this highly prospective site in New South Wales.”
Management believes the gold results, which are accompanied by higher base metals signatures, may indicate a granite-hosted gold system. The remainder may represent structurally-controlled gold mineralisation hosted by the sedimentary rocks which dominate the tenement.
It is in keeping with the contrast noted in values between samples taken on the margins of granites and diorites, including at its new Trewins prospect, a diorite host and from a granite host at its Colebrook prospect, when compared with those taken in surrounding sediments.
Askari says a third prospect, Kangaroo, shares a similar geochemical signature to the other granite-hosted samples, but carries a lower grade of 4.9g/t gold and is hosted in the sediments on the edge of the granite.
The Springdale project is in the highly-prospective central east Lachlan Fold Belt, about 330km west/south-west of Sydney and 16km west of Temora. The ground embraces myriad splays and north-west/south-east tensional shear structures – most likely responses to Springdale Fault movements – in both the Silurian siltstones, sandstones and shales and in the Ordovician sandstones, shales and cherts.
More than 20 historical gold workings are within the tenement area, which has long been considered prospective for intrusive-related gold mineralisation, on account of the Silurian and Devonian diorites and granitoid intrusives within and beyond it.
Management says it is reviewing its data to determine the direction of its future exploration, which could include reverse-circulation (RC) drilling and potentially high-definition geophysics over specific targets. It has previously revealed it obtained gold up to 31.7g/t in rock samples and also identified significant rare earths signatures up to 1222ppm total rare earth oxides (TREO) at the project.
Askari has jagged some eye-opening gold results in its early-stage reconnaissance at Springdale and time will tell if the rare earths, or either the intrusive diorites or granites or any of the numerous brittle or ductile shears in sediments, have the legs to produce the scale of mineralisation to support a mine.
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By Doug Bright
