Reedy South Gold Project (100%)
Highlights
- The “Reedy South” Gold Project is located in the Cue Goldfields of Western Australia, along the high-grade and prolific Reedy Shear Zone (RSZ)
- The RSZ hosts the South Emu-Triton Underground Mine and Paddy’s Flat Underground Mine, operated by Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX).
- Historical drilling (1984-2015) at the Reedy South Gold Project has returned numerous high-grade intercepts from Pegasus and King Cole Prospects, including:
- 12m @ 5.26g/t from 34m (PGRC10016)
- 7m @ 10.86g/t from 30m (PGRC10036)
- 4m @ 7.68g/t from 36m (PGRC10015)
- 5m @ 6.41g/t from 34m (PGRC10018)1
- The Reedy South Gold Project hosts a mineral resource estimate (MRE) of 779,000 tonnes at 1.7 g/t Au for 42,400 ounces, including 6,600 ounces of Indicated Resources and 35,800 ounces of Inferred Resources.
- Reedy Shear Zone hosts numerous high-grade gold mines, with vertical plunging mineralisation extending to depths of 500m+.
- The Reedy South Gold Project is located within trucking distance of multiple operating gold mines and mills, nearby to Great Northern Highway and is only 600m south of South Emu-Triton Underground Mine.
The Reedy South Gold Project Location
Project Overview
The Project covers 272km2 of the highly prospective Cue goldfields, centred on the southern portion of the prolific Reedy Shear Zone, within the Meekatharra-Wydgee greenstone belt. The Project comprises one granted mining lease (M20/446) covering the historic underground workings of Pegasus and King Cole, a granted exploration and prospecting license (E20/938 & P20/2289) and four exploration license applications (E20/969, E20/971, E20/972 & E20/974). Reedy South is situated 40km north of Cue, via the Great Northern Highway and is 80km south of Meekatharra..
The Project is situated within the prolific Cue-Meekatharra gold district, home to Reedys (1.6moz) and Day Dawn (2.6moz) gold deposits, with two mills operating within 60km of the Project.
There were two underground workings at M20/446, accessed via the Pegasus and King Cole shafts, however there is no official gold production recorded from the historical underground production. An RC drilling program undertaken in 2015 by the project owner focused on the Pegasus prospect consisting of 42 holes for 1,820m.
On 29 October 2020, the Company announced a maiden JORC mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Reedy South Gold Project. The maiden MRE consisted of 779,000 tonnes at 1.7 g/t Au for 42,400 ounces, including:
o 6,600 ounces of Indicated Resources; and
o 35,800 ounces of Inferred Resources
Given the average depth of drilling to date is ~60m, this warrants immediate drilling to test depth and strike extensions of the current prospects on completion of the maiden MRE.
Project Background
Tenement History
Tenement M 20/446 was granted on 17th August 2000. Tenement P 20/2289 was granted 2 June 2017, E 20/938 was granted 22 May 2019. Tenements E 20/969, E 20/971, E 20/972 and E 20/974 are currently in application. Covering 272km2, the tenements overlie prospective geology and structural features that have been identified in regional magnetics and from GSWA mapping, with next stage work programs looking at further mapping and geochemical sampling programs.
Table 1: Tenement Details
Tenement ID |
Grant |
Expiry |
Area |
Area km2 |
M 20/446 |
17/10/2000 |
19/10/2021 |
29ha |
0.29 |
E 20/938 |
22/05/2019 |
21/05/2024 |
6 blocks |
16.05 |
E 20/2289 |
02/06/2017 |
01/06/2021 |
19.53ha |
0.20 |
E 20/969 |
Application |
– |
9 blocks |
27.5 |
E 20/971 |
Application |
– |
15 Blocks |
45.79 |
E 20/972 |
Application |
– |
27 Blocks |
82.49 |
Historic Drilling
Key companies which have managed the tenement since 1984 include Homestake Australia Ltd, St Barbara Mines Ltd and Wakeford Holdings PL. The majority of drill holes (Table 2) have been RAB and RC by Homestake and St Barbara, exploring for gold. The tenement has been held in private hands since.
During 2015, 42 angled RC holes (PGRC10001 – 10042) to infill existing historic holes, on 10m spaced drill lines along a strike length of 120m, were completed over the Pegasus workings.
The holes were designed to define the footwall and hanging wall contacts on both sides of the shear zone which averaged 20m in true width. The drilling confirmed the historic high grades associated with the Pegasus deposit, but did not test mineralisation below 60 metres.
Table 2: Historic Drilling Summary at M 20/446
Drilling Type |
Number of Holes |
Average Depth |
Total Metres |
Air Core |
8 |
45 |
363 |
Rotary Percussion |
43 |
44 |
1,877 |
Reverse Circulation |
117 |
61 |
7,182 |
Total |
168 |
9,422 |
Geology and Mineralisation
Regional Geology
The Reedy gold deposits occur within a north-south trending greenstone belt, two to five km wide, composed of volcano-sedimentary sequences and separated multiphase pre to syn-tectonic granitoid complexes. Structurally controlled, the gold occurs at the sheared contacts of dolerite, basalt, ultramafic schist, quartz-feldspar porphyry and shale. The Reedy gold deposits occur within a major lineaments or structural corridors that corresponds to the RSZ along which gold mineralisation extends over 15km.
The RSZ zone is located on the western side of the Culculli Granitoid complex. Mineralisation along the RSZ has long been recognised as the most economically important. Two main mining centres are located along the RSZ: a northern centre including the Kurara and the Boomerang deposits and a southern centre hosting mineralisation at Jack Ryan, Missing Link, Rand, Triton and South Emu. The Reedy South Gold Project area is approximately 600m south of the Triton-South Emu Mine currently in operation for Westgold.
Figure 2. Location of tenement M20/446 in relation to South Emu/Triton and showing the RSZ trend
Figure 3: Reedy South tenement showing drill collar locations and location of cross-section views
Figure 4: Plan view at 450mRL showing domains
Local Geology
Mineralisation in the Mining Lease is hosted by the Reedy Shear Zone (RSZ) a localised dis-conformable contact between two greenstone groups. Anastomosing structures develop within the RSZ that focus fluid migration and gold mineralisation. Strong potassic-silicic-pyritic alteration is associated with gold mineralisation and localised within the footwall and hanging contacts of the 20m wide sub-vertical RSZ. Linear zones of more intense deformation appear to be important in the localisation of gold mineralisation within ultramafic zones often adjacent to mineralisation. Minor bucky quartz veining intrudes the shear and appears to run parallel to the shear zone.
JORC Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE)
On 29 October 2020, the Company announced a maiden JORC mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Reedy South Gold Project. The MRE will feed into the design of the Company’s first pass drilling program at the Pegasus and King Cole prospects, which will consist of an initial ~2,000m of RC drilling (with potential diamond tails). Concurrently, with the drilling program, the Company’s geologists will conduct an initial geological mapping program across E20/969, E 20/971, E 20/972 and E 20/974.
The MRE has been estimated using RC drilling. A total of 117 RC holes for 7,182m has been drilled since 1984. Drilling programs have been conducted by Homestake Australia from 1984 to 1987 (21 holes for 1,345m), Churchill Resources NL in 1988 (2 holes for 174m), St Barbara Mines Ltd from 2001 to 2002 (48 holes for 3,670m), Wakeford Holdings in 2010 (4 holes for 173m) and Murchison Mining in 2015 (42 holes for 1,820m). Only RC holes have been used in the resource estimation. RAB and air-core holes and trenches have been used to guide the geological interpretation where appropriate but the gold grades from these have not been used
Table 3: Reedy South Mineral Resource Estimate 0.5g/t cut-off grade
Classification | Tonnes | Grade | Ounces |
Indicated | 123,000 | 1.7g/t | 6,600 |
Inferred | 655,000 | 1.7g/t | 35,800 |
TOTAL | 779,000 | 1.7g/t | 42,400 |