ASX-listed explorer Venus Metals Corporation has launched into an air-core drilling campaign at its Henderson gold-nickel project in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia where it is targeting structurally controlled gold associated with two fault zones crossing the tenure. Several historical gold operations near Henderson are believed to be connected to the faults and there is a 322,000-ounce gold resource just 15km away.
Covering some 800 square kilometres, Henderson consists of five exploration licences along the southern part of the Ularring Greenstone Belt about 50km north-west of Menzies.
Venus’s phase-one drilling campaign will focus on a 90 per cent owned concession crossed by the Ida Fault and the Ballard Fault at the southern end of the tenure.
Management believes the two significant fault zones may have been integral to the formation of structurally controlled gold deposits in the region.
About 15km south of Henderson, ASX-listed Ora Banda has delineated a 322,000-ounce gold resource at its producing Riverina open-pit mine.
Near-mine exploration also appears to be bearing fruit with Ora Banda reporting high-grade hits below the pit and along strike including 10m at 10.8 g/t gold from 80m and 14m at 6.6 g/t from 148m.
The historical First Hit mine, just 7km south of Henderson, churned out about 30,000 ounces of gold at an impressive average grade of 7.7 grams per tonne gold before closing in 2002.
About 30km to the north of Henderson, the historical Bottle Creek mine produced nearly 100,000 ounces of gold prior to being shut down in 1983.
Venus has pinpointed drill-targets through a review of past exploration at the concession together with its own geological and geophysical interpretation.
Previously reported targets include the high-priority Snake Hill prospect in the central part of the licence. Snake Hill hosts historical gold workings and is believed to show geological similarities to Bottle Hill. Past sampling of the prospect returned 5.1 g/t gold.
At the Henderson Bore prospect about 3km west of Henderson, a north-trending zone along the eastern edges of the Ullaring Greenstone belt remains untested beneath cover, according to Venus management.
Between Snake Hill and Henderson Bore, the Snake Hill East prospect is said to be structurally favourable for hosting gold mineralisation, whilst some 10km to the south two historical geochemical soil anomalies at the Emerald South 1 and Emerald South 2 prospects have been identified.
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By Matt Birney
