Godolphin Resources has dated the mineralisation at its Turrawonga prospect within its Copper Hill East project in NSW which it says is remarkably similar to the massive Cadia and Boda copper-gold discoveries in the region. The company believes its porphyry intrusions date back to the Ordovician age, the same age as many major discoveries that hug the lucrative Molong Volcanic Belt in NSW.
It says the dating of the rocks gives it a better understanding of the geology and will allow it to “vector in” on the core of the system, where it says more intense copper mineralisation should occur.
The company completed petrographic analyses and age dating at Copper Hill East and the results confirm the Turrawonga prospect area is part of the Molong Volcanic Belt original mineralising event and importantly, shows the Turrawonga intrusion was emplaced during the same crustal event that generated the revered Cadia gold-copper porphyry system.
The age dating work was based on samples from four reverse circulation drill holes and two diamond tails completed at the Turrawonga Prospect back in 2020, with two holes returning significant results, one of which was 32m at 0.29 grams per tonne gold and 0.13 per cent copper.
Another 30m intersection came in at 0.64 g/t gold and 0.04 per cent copper from 178m and included 18m at 1.0 g/t gold, which in turn included a 2m section going at an eye-catching 6.9 g/t.
The holes intersected multiple intrusive rocks and volcanic breccias, some with low intensity “propylitic” alteration assemblages that occur around porphyry deposits and samples from these holes were chosen for the age dating.
The mineral dating was conducted at the Centre for Ore Deposits and Earth Sciences, or “CODES” at the University of Tasmania. Samples were chosen from two key drill holes and although in one sample no zircons were recovered, which are the traditional mineral for isotopic dating, the minerals apatite and titanite from that sample were dated and produced similar ages within acceptable error margins as the zircon-based ages from the second drill hole.
Prior petrographic analysis of these rocks confirmed multiple intrusions at Turrawonga. The rock that hosts the copper minerals is described as an altered micro-monzonite porphyry with quartz veins within. It was noted in thin section to contain the fine-grained copper sulphide phases bornite and chalcopyrite. A low temperature of formation is suggested from quartz vein textures.
Godolphin Resources Managing Director Jeneta Owens said: “This recent age dating and petrographic analysis is incredibly important and will assist us in better understanding the Turrawonga Prospect and the Copper Hill East Project as a whole. These findings provide us with an exceptional insight into the potential of the project, as we progress exploration efforts in the most logical and scientifically backed manner. We look forward to providing updates as to the progress in the coming months.”
Godolphin’s tenements are sandwiched between Cadia’s Ridgeway copper-gold mine - one of Australia’s largest and lowest cost gold mines and Alkane’s exciting Boda copper-gold porphyry discovery to the north. The company’s 100 per cent owned Copper Hill East project is located 35 km north of Orange in the highly prospective Molong Volcanic Belt and significantly, the company says it has potential to host various types of mineral deposits including porphyry gold-copper of the Cadia and Boda style and orogenic gold of the McPhillamy’s style.
The 2019 Boda porphyry gold-copper discovery by Alkane is located only 60km to the north and highlights the exceptional potential of the area. Newcrest’s giant Cadia-Ridgeway operation is located approximately 55 km to the south, which makes it elephant country by any measure.
Interestingly, Godolphin’s Copper Hill East Project has a long history of minor scale historical workings, mainly focussed on the southeast corner of the tenement. Most of the workings were concentrated on the margins of the Mullion Range Volcanics and the Barnaby Hill Shale.
Godolphin says the mineral dates are significant as they show the intrusive rocks at its 100 per cent owned Turrawonga prospect fall within a compatible age range to large, high-grade porphyry deposits along strike, both north and south in the Molong Volcanic Belt, within the Lachlan Fold Belt. The company believes this may indicate the intrusions at Turrawonga have potential for large tonnage porphyry style mineralisation and strongly supports systematic focused exploration using the Cadia/Boda model.
Things could get interesting for Godolphin this year as it utilises this new data in its exploration strategy for porphyry deposits at Copper Hill East.
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