Siren Gold Limited (ASX: SNG) has confirmed that exceptional high-grade gold-antimony mineralisation has been intersected in trenches and historical drillholes in the Fraternal zone on its Auld Creek Prospect in New Zealand.
Highlights
o Sirens Auld Creek epizonal deposit at Reefton New Zealand, contains high grade gold and massive stibnite veins similar to the Costerfield and Fosterville mines in Victoria, Eastern Australia.
o The Auld Creek mineralisation lies between the Crushington (515koz @ 16.3g/t Au) and Globe Progress (418koz @ 12.2g/t Au) historic mines.
New trench intersections include:
o 2m @ 14.0g/t Au, 13.0% Sb for 34.6g/t AuEq, and 8.8m @ 2.8g/t Au, 0.24% Sb for 3.3g/t AuEq in the Fraternal Shoot.
o 1.7m @ 3.6g/t Au, 0.1% Sb for 3.6g/t AuEq in the Fraternal North Shoot.
o 14.0m @ 2.0g/t Au, 0.8% Sb for 3.3g/t AuEq including a higher-grade section that assayed 6.0m @ 2.5g/t Au, 1.6% Sb for 5.0g/t AuEq in the Bonanza Shoot.
o 2.7m @ 2.9g/t Au, 0.15% Sb for 3.1g/t AuEq in the Bonanza West Shoot.
Background
The Auld Creek Prospect is contained within Siren’s Golden Point exploration permit and is situated between the highly productive Globe Progress mine, which historically produced 418koz @ 12.2g/t Au, and the Crushington group of mines that produced 515koz @ 16.3 g/t Au.
More recently OceanaGold Limited (OGL) mined an open pit and extracted an additional 600koz of gold from lower grade remnant mineralisation around the historic Globe Progress mine.
The Auld Creek mineralisation extends for over two km and appears to represent a block that was potentially offset to the west, along NE-SE trending faults between Globe Progress and Crushington.
There is no record of gold production at Auld Creek.
Recent Exploration by Siren
As previously reported, Siren has completed infill soil sampling to better define the soil anomalies. The arsenic soil anomaly now extends for over 700m along strike and clearly defines the Fraternal and Bonanza mineralisation.
The Fraternal zone has been subdivided into the Fraternal and Fraternal North zones and Bonanza into Bonanza and Bonanza West zones.
Siren has excavated four trenches across the Fraternal mineralised Shoot (FTTR001, FTTT002, FTTR003 and FTTR005), two trenches across the Fraternal North Shoot (FTTR004 and FTTR006) and one trench across the Bonanza Shoot (BZTR001) and Bonanza West Shoot (BZTR002).
Two trenches were excavated between the Fraternal and Fraternal North Shoots (FTTR007 and FTTR008) and one trench 100m further to the north FTTR009.
Results were previously reported for the Fraternal North Shoot (FTTR001: 6m @ 8.9g/t Au and 4.4% Sb for 15.8 g/t AuEq and FTTR002: 1.5m @ 17.1g/t Au and 9% Sb for 31.3g/t AuEq). The western end (hangingwall end) of FTTR001 ended in 17.9g/t Au, 4.5% Sb for 25g/t AuEq. This trench has now been extended and intersected an additional 2.0m of mineralisation including a 0.5m rich stibnite zone, extending the intersection to around 8.0m with assay results awaited.
Assay results have now been received for FTTR003 at the north end of the shoot, which intersected 2.0m @ 14.2g/t Au, 13% Sb for 34.6g/t AuEq and FTTR005 at the southern end of the shoot, which intersected 8.8m @ 2.82g/t Au, 0.24% Sb for a 3.21g/t AuEq.
The Fraternal North Shoot has now been intersected by four trenches and four drillholes and is open to the south and down plunge.
The Fraternal North Shoot has now been intersected in two trenches. Previously reported FTTR004, which intersected 4m @ 4.2 g/t Au, 0.36% Sb for 4.4g/t Au Eq and a new trench FTTR006, which intersected 1.7m @ 3.63g/t AuEq.
FTTR004 has since been extended with an additional few metres of mineralisation intersected, and results awaited. The Fraternal North Shoot is not well defined at this stage.
Exploration – Next Steps
Field exploration will continue over the next quarter with additional mapping soil sampling and trenching followed by diamond drilling in Q1 2023 subject to Department of Conservation (DoC) access.
Soil Sampling
Infill soil sampling will be extended to the north and south of the Fraternal – Bonanza area.
Trenching
Trenching will continue, targeting 100m spacing along the Fraternal, Fraternal North and Bonanza mineralised zones.
Diamond drilling
A DoC Access agreement is being prepared which will allow drilling of the Fraternal, Fraternal North and Bonanza Shoots, initially down to around 300m. The Energetic mine to the north was mined to around 600m below surface and the Globe Progress mine to the south was mined to 420m, where the mineralisation was offset by the Chemist Shop Fault. The mineralisation on the other side of the fault has not been found.
Subject to additional trench results, the initial drilling will focus on defining the extent (height) and plunge of the Fraternal, Fraternal North and Bonanza Shoots.
For further information please visit: https://www.sirengold.com.au/
