An independent technical review of Gold Mountain’s Wabag project in Papua New Guinea has highlighted its potential for more copper exploration and recommended extra work across several prospective zones.
Management says the comprehensive report’s author, Dr Steve Garwin, has already identified a series of targets using the company’s database for its Wabag tenements. Gold Mountain says Dr Garwin has more than 35 years of experience as an exploration geologist with large and small mining companies and has participated in gold and copper projects for more than 40 clients in 20-plus countries.
His review of the Wabag project found that the Mt Wipi area has several zones characterised by anomalous copper, copper-zinc, molybdenum, molybdenum-manganese, tungsten and bismuth, judging by auger soil results. Trench and rock-chip results at Mt Wipi indicate the anomaly is open to the south-east.
The Pully-Kandum zone was ranked the highest, with six additional areas of interest. Notably, only one of the areas has been partially drill-tested to date. The report recommended a process of geological mapping, ridge and spur geochemical sampling and trenching in order to beef up the prospects of the additional targets, in addition to a number of diamond drillholes.
Gold Mountain is following up on the study by investigating a program of work designed to fill-in the gaps in the current data. It will include infill stream-sediment sampling, rock-float and outcrop sampling, ridge-and-spur soil sampling, geological mapping and trenching, with a diamond drilling campaign dependent on earlier results.
The company has also commissioned 3D geochemical modelling of potential porphyry centres in the Mt Wipi and Monoyal areas of the Wabag project, with the aim of creating targets for a future diamond drill program. The modelling method provides a definition of the porphyry target by length, width and also depth by creating a 3D-view based on detailed geochemical models.
Gold Mountain also plans to employ the successful Anaconda mapping method in future outlining of trenches and outcrops, in addition to the logging of drill core. The Anaconda method involves recording vein mineralogy, vein selvage mineralogy, vein orientation and host-rock alteration of feldspar, mafic and groundmass sites graphically using various colour codes.
Dr Garwin’s report also identified several other targets using the company’s database for its Wabag tenements and a campaign of exploration across those areas is now in the planning process.
Gold Mountain previously turned heads with its plans to turbocharge its exploration efforts at its burgeoning Brazilian lithium hotspot. Management says its exploration to date has identified 250 pegmatites, with multiple soil and rock-chip sample results pending as it eyes a maiden drilling program by year’s end.
However, given the positive endorsement of its Papua New Guinea projects, it is likely to also focus some more of its attention there to see what sort of attention it may be able to gather.
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By Steve Kaless
