Multiple Cohesive Platinum And Nickel-Cobalt Anomalies Generated By Whim Creek Soil Sampling
Anax Metals Limited (ASX: ANX) has defined multiple, cohesive Platinum, Nickel-Copper and Gold anomalies at the Whim Creek Project, in the West Pilbara Mineral District in Western Australia.
The Whim Creek Project is owned by Anax Metals Limited (80%) and Venturex Resources Limited (ASX: VXR) (20%) and encompasses the width of the Whim Creek Archean Greenstone Belt.
The Project’s geology is similar to that of neighbouring De Grey Mining Limited’s Mallina Project in the Archean Mallina Basin.
Anax has compiled geological mapping, along with geophysical and geochemical surveys historically conducted at Whim Creek. This work highlighted data gaps and anomalies warranting further exploration.
Field work, consisting of an initial 3,500 Ultrafine+ soil samples, commenced in February 2021 and is now more than 50% complete. The ongoing soil sampling programme has been highly successful and results have generated new nickel-cobalt and platinum anomalies coincident with mapped Archean layered mafic intrusives, as well as defining new gold anomalies and confirming historical gold-in-soils.
The soil sampling programme commenced along the north-western boundary of the Whim Creek tenure at the Kent Well and Mays Find North Prospects, where no previous sampling had been done.
Anax has also focused on verifying “spikey” gold anomalies defined by historical soil sampling along the south-western tenement border, such as at Rushalls Prospect, and this work is ongoing.
Soil Sampling Programme Results
The Kent Well Prospect has not been historically explored despite coincident geological and aeromagnetic anomalies often associated with hydrothermal gold mineralisation. Extensive, variably magnetic mafic-to-ultramafic units were noted during soil sampling, which the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) has mapped over 13.5km along the north-western tenement boundary with a width of ~1.5km, namely the Sherlock and Opaline Well layered mafic intrusions.
Outcrop coincides with a cohesive new nickel-cobalt anomaly up to 736ppm Ni and 96ppm Co trending north-east adjacent to a major fault. To the south, at Mays Find Prospect, new nickel-cobalt anomalies of 1530ppm Ni and 198ppm Co and 40ppb (Pt) platinum are separated by a throughgoing fault.
To the north, at the Whim Creek Airstrip, two new platinum anomalies up to 43ppb Pt and 56ppb Pt respectively are confined by major intersecting structures, suggesting that the layered mafic intrusion has been disrupted by regional faulting. Infill soil sample analysis results are pending and are expected to better define these anomalies.
Rushalls Prospect: Pulps remaining from historical soil sampling were reprocessed using the UltraFine+™ method. The results have confirmed historical gold-in-soil anomalies up to 28ppb Au (against a background of 0.5ppb Au) and new infill sampling results are pending.
The UltraFine+ suite included nickel, cobalt and platinum, and defined a new, extensive platinum anomaly up to 52ppb Pt, over 2km in a magnesium-rich (5% Mg) mafic unit of the Louden Volcanics. This unit is offset by faulting to the north, suggesting potential for extensions along strike.
The Ridgeback Prospect marks the intersection of multiple structures obscured by surface cover, where historical 400m-spaced soil lines generated consecutive anomalies on 5 lines (i.e. >2km strike). Ultrafine+™ analysis has verified low level gold of 10ppb Au (against a background of 0.5ppb Au) and coincident 56ppm (As) arsenic anomalism. Infill soil sampling at 100m spacing is currently underway.
HLF Prospect: Along strike from Ridgeback, near the heap leach facility (HLF), a new, coherent gold-in-soil anomaly up to 58.4ppb Au coincides with GSWA-defined structural intersections where the Cooya Pooya Dolerite adjoins felsic intrusives of the Bookingarra Group4 . The HLF gold anomaly is associated with arsenic (458ppm As) and is unrelated to any copper contamination that may have originated from the heap. Arsenic is an indicator of gold mineralisation in felsic intrusives at De Grey’s Hemi Deposit.
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