Novo adding more nuggets to Pilbara conglomerate play

Novo Resources is rapidly getting the full picture of its nuggety conglomerate Pilbara gold deposit after tabling some positive results that will assist the TSX-listed company to squeeze every last skerrick of gold from the ground.  The company has identified new areas of gold-bearing terraces at the South Egina and Paradise targets and it is rapidly gaining an understanding of the nuggety gold distribution in the conglomerate-hosted ores and how to recover it.

Field teams have been uncovering an Aladins Cave worth of fine gold and gold nuggets from prospect trench sampling, metal detecting and “mini-bulk” sampling in new target areas. The new results are the first of their kind to come from outside of the main focus area to date.

Efforts will now focus on intensive field activities over the coming months with the company aiming to define prospective areas that are amenable to bulk trenching and sampling.

Recently about 5 tonnes of Egina gravels were separated into three smaller size fractions, 18-50 mm, 6-18 mm and less than 6 mm. These samples were processed via mechanical sorting and Novo identified that an astounding 100% recovery of all the fine gold particles could be achieved.

As part of this gold sorting testwork, the company has also been evaluating the recovery of “very fine” gold dust from Egina and it has successfully recovered particles less than 1mm in size. Further analysis is ongoing to recover the fine gold that cannot even be seen with the naked eye.

Management said there is a consistent background sub-1mm gold within the Egina deposit. Fine gold accounted for approximately 15% of the total gold recovered from ten bulk samples collected from “swale” and its margins.

Gold sits in a few different mineralised settings at Egina, with the “terrace lag gravels” being the most significant, according to the company. The terrace gravels at Egina appear to host gravels with appreciable gold from areas such as the swale and its margins. The terraces are step-like landforms and a swale is a broad topographic depression.

The bulk sampling across the deposit is aimed at establishing a means of delineating mineral resources across the defined and targeted gold-bearing gravel terraces located throughout Novo’s conglomerate gold play.

The company is now looking at rotary air concentrators as a potential traditional means of recovering these sub 1 mm gold from the gravels.

Novo is rapidly gaining credibility as an industry-leading conglomerate innovator as it looks to add a veritable smorgasbord of ore sorting mechanisms designed to process the different styles of mineralisation at its Pilbara gold project.

Quinton Hennigh, President and Chairman of Novo Resources Corp said:…“We recently commenced broad scale exploration activities with the aim of identifying at least five new areas of highly prospective gold-bearing gravels.”

“Our first two targets, South Egina and Paradise, have yielded early, but very promising indications of appreciable gold in terrace gravels. With recent heritage surveys now complete, we are in an excellent position to test yet further targets over the next few months.”

“On top of these critical advancements in exploration, our initial results from mechanical sorting tests of Egina gravels show excellent promise for high recovery of gold into very small mass concentrates. Given most Egina gold appears to be of size that can be sorted, such processing will likely prove the critical advancement that unlocks this vast gold project.”

Is your ASX listed company doing something interesting ? Contact : matt.birney@businessnews.com.au