Siren lights up historic NZ antimony field with gold hits

Siren Gold has wasted little time making its mark at the Queen Charlotte antimony-gold project in New Zealand, jagging a suite of high-grade gold and antimony results from its first round of fieldwork.

Portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) readings from surface channel and rock chip sampling have delivered encouraging numbers across several historic reef systems within the Marlborough District project area. While laboratory assays are still pending, the early results point to a robust mineralised system with significant upside.

At the Maria Reef, channel sampling returned 2.9 grams per tonne gold (g/t) and 1 per cent antimony over 6 metres, including a standout 1m interval grading 2.2g/t gold and a hefty 12.4 per cent antimony. Similar grades emerged at the Skyline Reef, where samples delivered 1.2m running at 1.5g/t gold and 18.5 per cent antimony, along with a 1.6-metre hit going 1.6g/t gold and 9.7 per cent antimony.

Rock chip sampling also impressed, producing values of up to 4.6g/t gold and 26.2 per cent antimony across the three main prospects, reinforcing the scale and consistency of mineralisation at surface.

The 118.7-square-kilometre Queen Charlotte project, in the Marlborough region of New Zealand's South Island, hosts high-grade gold-antimony mineralisation within shear zones and quartz reef systems. The ground also hosts the historic Endeavour antimony mine - New Zealand’s largest producer in the late 1800s - adding a layer of historical credibility to Siren’s modern exploration results.

The quartz reefs occur as sub-parallel, lenticular veins that generally strike north-northwest and dip steeply east. They sit within the Endeavour Shear Zone, a major regional structure mapped over more than 12 kilometres. Mineralisation is hosted in steeply dipping quartz veins, breccias and sheared schists.

Stibnite, the primary antimony mineral, has commonly formed massive veins in the shallow portions of historic workings, filling open spaces in the rock. Previous sampling across the shear zones returned gold grades of up to 5.4g/t, with historic rock chips assaying between 1g/t and 4g/t gold.

Three historic mining centres, Endeavour Inlet, Endeavour East and Resolution Bay, lie along the shear zone. Endeavour Inlet alone was mined over a 1,200m strike length and 400m vertical extent, producing more than 3000 tonnes of stibnite ore between 1870 and 1890.

At Endeavour East, stibnite and arsenopyrite-bearing quartz from mullock heaps previously returned antimony grades of up to 21.6 per cent, albeit with lower gold content. The mineralisation style is considered similar to the famous Reefton Goldfield, one of New Zealand’s most prolific historic gold camps.

Siren Gold chief executive officer Zane Padman said: “We’ve been able to confirm his historic small-scale mine workings along a 1500 m strike and down to 400 m depth, highlighting the significant potential of the historic Endeavour Inlet area. Assay results from our latest channel and rock chip sampling have been very encouraging, and we’ve uncovered additional outcrops and workings in the field.”

The company will now focus on regional soil geochemistry and detailed mapping over the full five-kilometre gap between historic mines to refine drill targets ahead of a maiden drilling program, slated for later this year.

In a market hungry for both gold and critical minerals, Queen Charlotte is shaping up as far more than a history lesson. With standout surface grades, proven metallurgy and a shear system with plenty of room to run in a stable, mining-friendly jurisdiction, Siren appears to have the ingredients to turn a forgotten antimony camp into a modern, drill-driven growth story.

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