Stavely Minerals is preparing to fast-track follow up testing of its promising discovery of a new style of gold-silver mineralisation system at its flagship Stavely copper-gold project in western Victoria.
The new carbonate-base metal-gold brecia-hosted system has been identified in initial assays from drilling at the two kilometre long S41 prospect at the Stavely project.
Highlight intersections included 1.0m at 2.16 g/t gold and 2.6g/t silver from 282m and 37m at 0.10 g/t gold and 4.8g/t silver from 320m drill depth, including 2.0m at 0.56g/t gold from 320m and 5.0m at 24.3g/t silver from 353m.
While the returns were relatively low-grade, the success of the recently completed S41 diamond drill-hole has already justified a new phase of regional exploration at Stavely.
Planning is currently being undertaken for a programme of additional air-core drilling to further define the geochemical zonation of the S41 breccia pipe. Further additional diamond drilling is also in planning discussions.
Unexpected revelation
The S41 prospect was identified by an extensive review of regional and near-resource discovery opportunities conducted by Stavely Minerals last year.
However, executive chair and managing director, Chris Cairns, said the results have been an unexpected revelation.
“Carbonate-base metal-gold systems are amongst the most prolific styles of gold mineralisation in the South West Pacific.”
“Importantly, the breccia-hosted systems have the potential for scale as they can be large, multi-phase systems.”
“What I like about what I see at the S41 breccia system is that it exhibits the six components required for a well-developed carbonate-base metal-gold mineral system,” he said.
This includes a plumbing system, metal bearing fluids, a history of multiple phases of brecciation and an efficient metal precipitation mechanism.
Challenge
Mr Cairns said the next challenge at S41 will be to map out the chemistry and carbonate distribution of the large hydrothermal system and to identify better-developed gold mineralisation target zones.
“Stavely Minerals has a dominant tenure position in the region and will continue to originate and pursue these large-scale discovery opportunities.”
Stavely’s management is particularly excited by the role its proprietary Falcon Gravity Gradiometer data system played in helping identify the S41 prospect.
A blind discovery, the S41 breccia pipe is located under approximately 60m of tertiary basalt cover.
Mr Cairns said that although assays from the maiden diamond hole has only returned low-level gold-silver mineralisation, previous air-core drilling has identified that the breccia system has strike extent of many kilometres, offering the potential for significant scale.
Big news flow
The new discovery announcement comes just days after Stavely Minerals confirmed it was acquiring a large battery metals project in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia.
The 1,800 sq km Hawkstone Project is described by the company as an exceptional walk-up exploration opportunity.
“The project complements our flagship Stavely copper-gold project in many ways – it conforms to the company’s focus on exploring for the metals required for the transition to a low-carbon future, as well as having a winter field exploration season in the West Kimberley that complements the summer exploration season at the Stavely project in western Victoria, allowing us to maintain year-round exploration activity,” Mr Cairns added.
