Strickland Metals has begun an induced-polarisation (IP) survey at its Great Western project, about 85km north-east of Wiluna in Western Australia, to explore a promising, but untested coincident magnetic, geochemical and gravity anomaly.
The company says the structural setting at the site, that sits 5km west of its Horse Well resource in its Yandal gold project area, is considered favourable for large, high-grade orogenic gold deposits. It says the target is masked by transported cover and no drilling is known to have taken place near the magnetic feature.
The survey is being undertaken with a single IP line over 2km across a well-defined 1.5km diameter magnetic feature that was identified by a recent airborne magnetic survey. Management interprets a coincident gravity low feature as a zone of structural weakness and hence a potential mineralisation pathway, with the magnetic high mapping out the influence of late-stage potentially mineralised hydrothermal fluids.
Strickland says the only other surface sampling to date was lag sampling conducted by previous management, where analytical results outlined distinct and coherent geochemical anomalism over 2.4km in gold, silver, sulphur, arsenic, tellurium, molybdenum, antimony and copper geochemical. It says it mirrors the strike of the 1.5km diameter magnetic anomaly.
In addition, the company’s recent follow-up field mapping last month sampled several in-situ gossans near the coincident anomalism, which returned anomalous peak values of 640 parts per million copper and 420ppm molybdenum directly on top of the coincident magnetic high and lag geochemical anomalies. It considers the anomalism regionally-significant for the type of mineralisation it is targeting.
Management also concludes that Great Western represents a compelling and entirely-untested potential gold prospect in a favourable structural flexure-style setting for large, high-grade orogenic gold deposits. It is preparing to drill the anomaly once it receives heritage clearance and subject to results of the IP survey, which it expects within a fortnight.
Further IP surveys are expected to start soon at the company’s Iroquois and Rabbit Well prospects in the Earaheedy Basin. Strickland recently identified Rabbit Well on its 100 per cent-owned ground in the Earaheedy Basin as a zinc prospect and proposes reverse-circulation (RC) drilling once heritage approvals are in place, with the objective of following up zinc anomalism in previous shallow holes.
Rabbit Well sits directly along strike from Iroquois and is defined by a 2.7km-long gravity anomaly, with coincident base metal anomalism. Strickland believes Rabbit Well has the potential to be a much bigger and more coherent target, compared with its nearby Iroquois base metal prospect.
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By Doug Bright
