Sunshine Gold Limited (ASX:SHN) has commenced aircore drilling at its wholly owned Ravenswood West Project near Townsville in Queensland, Australia, to test a rare earth enriched intrusion identified from stream sediment and soil sampling.
Rare-earth enrichment up to 2.28% total rare earth oxides (TREO) have been identified in stream sediment sampling at Elphinstone Creek. Follow up soil sampling campaigns identified zones of coherent enrichment of > 1,000ppm TREO. Neodymium (Nd2O3) and Praseodymium (Pr6O11) are high value rare earth minerals and comprise ~20% of the rare earths identified in soil sampling at Elphinstone Creek.
Sunshine Gold Managing Director, Damien Keys, said the aircore drilling was a rapid, low-cost technique that would advance the understanding of the rare earths at Elphinstone Creek.
“Elphinstone Creek is like no other prospect in North-East Queensland. The results to date from stream sediment and soil sampling are extremely encouraging,” Dr Keys said.
“The aircore drilling traverse is expected to provide information on the depth of the regolith and the nature of the basement intrusion. The results of the program will shape the style of future drilling campaigns. Drilling will take about one week to complete and results are anticipated to be returned in December 2022.”
Rare earth anomalism has been defined from stream sediment and soil sampling.
Elphinstone Creek is hosted within the Barrabas Adamellite, a quartz monzonite occupying an area of 27 sq. km. The target was initially generated from elevated REE and Au in stream sediment sampling.
The anomalous samples were collected from tributaries to Elphinstone Creek where exploration in 2018 returned significant stream sediment assay results including:
• 6.28 g/t Au & 0.83% TREO including 0.12% Nd2O3, 0.05 % Pr6O11 (SRS13012)
• 1.11 g/t Au & 0.29% TREO including 0.04% Nd2O3, 0.01 % Pr6O11 (SRS10165)
• 2.28% TREO including 0.37% Nd2O3, 0.11 % Pr6O11 (SRS10163)
• 1.63% TREO including 0.26 % Nd2O3, 0.08 % Pr6O11 (SRS10149)
• 1.56% TREO including 0.25 % Nd2O3, 0.08 % Pr6O11 (SRS10160)
• 1.12% TREO including 0.19 % Nd2O3, 0.05 % Pr6O11 (SRS10164)
• 0.83% TREO including 0.12 % Nd2O3, 0.05 % Pr6O11 (SRS10158)
• 0.81% TREO including 0.13 % Nd2O3, 0.04 % Pr6O11 (SRS10150)
Soil sampling at Elphinstone Creek demonstrated that the Barrabas Adamellite is enriched in rare earths, with >90% of the Barrabas Adamellite soil samples grading > 400 ppm TREO. Despite the high overall TREO content of the soil samples over the Barrabas Adamellite, discrete zones of highly anomalous (> 750 ppm TREO) are observed. In general, TREO grades are highest in the west and north-east of the Barrabas Adamellite.
Importantly, the average Neodymium + Praesodymium oxide content of the TREO averages 20.3%. Neodymium + Praesodymium are used in permanent magnets and constitute an estimated 90% of global REE value.
Gold anomalism appears to be focussed on Elphinstone Creek and may be related to drainage from the nearby Ravenswood Gold Mine. Further reconnaissance is required as soils up to 395 ppb Au appear unrelated to drainage and a historic rockchip sample grading 25.0 g/t Au is recorded near a small shaft in the Barrabas Adamellite.
Drilling is anticipated to take up to one week to complete.
An aircore drilling traverse is planned along a fenceline track that extends for ~4.5km. Drill holes will be spaced ~100m apart along the traverse and tightened to ~50m spacing in zones of soil sample delineated higher rare earth content. Aircore drilling is a shallow drilling technique to test enrichment in the soil cover and the top of fresh rock.
For further information please visit: https://shngold.com.au/
