Greatland
Gold plc (AM: GGP)
E: info@greatlandgold.com
W: https://greatlandgold.com
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twitter.com/greatlandgold
NEWS RELEASE
| 23 May
2024
Mt Egerton grant of
Exploration Licence
Greatland exploration portfolio enhanced by new
Mt Egerton gold-copper project
Greatland Gold plc (AIM:GGP) (Greatland or the Company) is pleased to announce that it
has been granted a new Exploration Licence E52/4342 (Woodlands) covering 134km2
as the inaugural tenement in the Mt Egerton Project (Mt Egerton).
Highlights
§ Exciting
new gold-copper exploration project established in the Gascoyne
region, located 230km north of the Meekatharra gold camp
§ Greatland
targeted the region as potentially having mantle tapping
structures, an essential ingredient in large scale gold and copper
systems
§ Woodlands
tenement includes a 25km strike length in a structurally complex
geological setting which is potentially a very favourable
mineralisation trap site
§ The
tenement is significantly under-explored, with open file data
recording very limited drilling and soil sampling, none of which
was assayed for gold
§ Indigenous
Land Use Agreement already in place provides expedited pathway to
on-ground exploration work
Greatland Managing Director, Shaun Day,
commented:
"We are delighted by the grant of the Woodlands tenement at
our new Mt Egerton gold-copper project, which further enhances our
excellent exploration portfolio with a new front in a highly
prospective region of Western Australia.
Our exploration team identified Mt Egerton as an excellent
regional and local geological setting for the discovery of major
gold and copper deposits. With the successful grant of our first
tenement, we will now work to compile and interpret available data
to plan systematic, targeted exploration on the ground in the near
future.
We
are proud of Greatland's proven track record of discovery and
exploration success, and Mt Egerton presents a further opportunity
to put our advanced exploration techniques to work in an
under-explored region in pursuit of tier-one gold and copper
deposits."
Native title and land access
The newly granted Woodlands tenement
is within the Nharnuwangga Wajarri and Ngarlawangga (NWN) native
title determination and is covered by an existing Indigenous Land
Use Agreement (ILUA) signed between the Government of WA and the
Jidi Jidi Aboriginal Corporation (JJAC). The ILUA applies to
any tenure within the area by the tenement holder entering into a
prescribed form heritage agreement with JJAC, which Greatland has
requested. This is expected to provide a significantly expedited
pathway to on-ground exploration activities at
Woodlands.
Geological setting
The Mt Egerton Project lies within
an east west trending wedge of folded Proterozoic metasediments
developed in the Edmund Basin (Figure
1), wedged between the northern margin of
the Archean Yilgarn craton and the southern margin of the Pilbara
Craton to the north. This is a major deep seated structural
boundary which is interpreted as a likely conduit region for metals
from the mantle, and a highly prospective setting for the discovery
of gold and base metals deposits.
Figure 1: Mt Egerton Project location on Geoscience Australia Archean
and Proterozoic geological provinces.
Local geology
Within the Woodlands tenement, the
geology is dominated by west-north-west trending isoclinal folding,
creating domal anticline and syncline pairs, including the Lyons
River Anticline within Proterozoic basin fill sediments
(Figure 2). These
sediments include reactive calcareous units within the Devil Creek,
Ullawarra, Irregully and Discovery formations, which can act as
chemical traps for mineralisation.
The regional scale Quartzite Well
Fault (Figure 1 and Figure 2)
bisects the tenure and truncates the folded stratigraphy. Second
order splays off this deep seated fault structure have been
confirmed in drilling (25-75km) to the east to have elevated gold
values, increasing the prospectivity of similar untested fault
splays within Woodlands.
Figure 2: 1:100,000 scale state interpreted bedrock geology and
previous work.
Historical work
Woodlands is historically
underexplored, with only a single line of 6
reverse circulation (RC) drillholes (Figure
2) completed by
Western Mining Corporation (1993) in the south of the tenement,
according to the Geological Survey of WA (GSWA) open file data.
Only a limited suite of elements were assayed for, and
critically none of the samples were tested for gold. The
cover depth in drilling is inferred to be approximately 60 metres
and increasing to approximately 100 metres in faulted ground. The
depth of cover is interpreted to shallow towards the west where it
outcrops in the Lyons River Anticline and in the north of the
tenement.
Historical surface sampling
programmes carried out by Western Mining (1992) and Abra Mining
(2008-2011) included 559
samples completed along the North and East parts of the tenement
(Figure 2). As with the historical
drilling, gold was not assayed for. Weak copper anomalism
appears to be associated with particular lithological units and is
likely in the sediments at the time they were laid down, rather
than an indicator for mineralisation, post
deposition.
Prospectivity
The exploration model targeting gold
and copper mineralisation at Woodlands is that movement on a
regional scale fault causes partial melting of the mantle at depth
(Figure 3). These hot metal rich fluids migrate to the surface
preferentially utilising second order faults. Impermeable units in
anticlines act like an overturned bowl trapping the rising fluid
and pooling it beneath them. Calcareous units react with this
cooling fluid and at the same time dissolving creating open space.
This effect changes the fluid chemistry and creates a pressure drop
forcing the metals to drop out of solution and deposit.
The Woodlands tenement shows
evidence of all of the above requirements for gold mineralisation,
including a major regional fault, mineralised splays, anticlines
and reactive rocks. The lack of outcrop has meant that the
area has remained untested, with no historical gold assays
completed on the tenement. Greatland considers the Woodlands tenure
to be highly prospective for gold and copper
mineralisation.
Figure 3: Illustrative mineralisation model.
Planned work
Work at Mt Egerton has commenced and
is focused on:
§ Signing
the ILUA prescribed form heritage agreement
§ Completing
a desktop review to refine the geological model at Woodlands to
determine the most prospective locations for possible chemical and
physical trapsites
§ Defining
programmes to effectively test the main structural "plumbing"
within the tenure for mineralisation and follow these to the trap
sites
§ Field
reconnaissance
Contact
For further information, please
contact:
Greatland Gold plc
Shaun Day, Managing Director
| info@greatlandgold.com
Nominated Advisor
SPARK Advisory Partners
Andrew Emmott / James Keeshan / Neil
Baldwin | +44 203 368 3550
Corporate Brokers
Berenberg | Matthew
Armitt / Jennifer Lee | +44 203 368 3550
Canaccord Genuity |
James Asensio / George Grainger | +44 207 523 8000
SI Capital Limited |
Nick Emerson / Sam Lomanto | +44 148 341
3500
Media Relations
UK - Gracechurch Group | Harry
Chathli / Alexis Gore / Henry Gamble | +44 204 582
3500
Australia - Fivemark Partners
| Michael Vaughan | +61 422 602 720
About Greatland
Greatland is a mining development
and exploration company focused primarily on precious and base
metals.
The Company's flagship asset is the
world-class Havieron gold-copper project in the Paterson
Province of Western Australia, discovered by Greatland and
presently under development in joint venture with world gold
major, Newmont Corporation.
Havieron is located approximately
45km east of Newmont's existing Telfer gold mine. The box cut and
decline to the Havieron orebody commenced in February 2021.
Total development now exceeds 3,060m including over 2,110m of
advance in the main access decline (as at 31 March
2024). Subject to a positive feasibility study and Decision
to Mine, Havieron is intended to leverage the existing Telfer
infrastructure and processing plant. Access to Telfer would
de-risk the development and reduces capital expenditure.
Greatland has a proven track record
of discovery and exploration success and is pursuing the next
generation of tier-one mineral deposits by applying advanced
exploration techniques in under-explored regions. Greatland has a
number of exploration projects across Western Australia and in
parallel to the development of Havieron is focused on becoming a
multi-commodity miner of significant scale.
Competent Persons Statement
Information in this announcement pertaining to
Reporting of Exploration Results has been reviewed and approved by
Mr Damien Stephens, a Member of the AusIMM, who has more than 30
years relevant industry experience. Mr Stephens is a
full-time employee of the Company and has a financial interest in
Greatland. Mr Stephens has sufficient experience relevant to
the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under
consideration, and to the activity which he is undertaking to
qualify as a Competent Person as defined by the 2012 Edition of the
Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral
Resources and Ore Reserves (the JORC Code) and under the AIM Rules
- Note for Mining and Oil and Gas Companies, which outline
standards of disclosure for mineral projects. Mr Stephens
consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the matters based
on this information in the form and context in which it
appears. Mr Stephens confirms that the Company is not aware
of any new information or data that materially affects the
information included in the historical market announcements, and
that the form and context in which the information has been
presented has not been materially modified.