SAXBY JOINT VENTURE - Queensland
Nickel and Copper-Gold
Falcon 49%, AngloGold Ashanti Australia 51%
The Saxby project is located 150 km northeast of Cloncurry in Northwest Queensland. The Project was acquired under Falcon’s Olympic Dam Initiative and is considered to have good potential for both iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) and Voiseys Bay-style nickel-copper massive sulphide systems.
In August 2009 Anglo American Exploration (Australia) Pty Ltd (AAE) assigned its interest in the Saxby Joint Venture to AngloGold Ashanti Australia Limited (AGAA). AGAA will assume all of AAE’s obligations under the Saxby Joint Venture Agreement by holding a 51% interest (FCN 49%) with the right to earn an additional 19% when total expenditure of AUD$7 million has been incurred on the project area prior to December 20th, 2013.
Under the joint venture with AngloAmerican Exploration (AAE), a low-temperature SQUID electro-magnetic (EM) survey which was completed in 2008 identified several strong bedrock conductors possibly associated with massive sulphides that warranted further drill testing. Seven (7) diamond drill holes (SXDD001-007) were subsequently completed during the year for a total of 5,274 m (Figure 3).
Significant gold mineralisation was intersected in drillhole SXDD005 collared at 7866200N, 488200E as follows:
• 17m @ 6.75g/t gold from 631m to 648m
NOTE: Includes 5m @ 19.30g/t gold from 635m to 640m and 1.3m @ 67.23g/t gold from 636.7 to 638m
(with copper up to 1198ppm)
• 7m @ 1.98g/t gold from 614m to 621m
The gold mineralisation in SXDD005 is associated with pervasive IOCG-style “red rock” potassium feldspar-magnetite-haematite-quartz wallrock alteration in strongly brecciated metasediments and pegmatite sills.
In a regional context the gold mineralisation in SXDD005 lies within an interpreted NE-trending structural corridor and appears associated with a moderate bedrock EM conductor (Figure 3) and an elevated gravity signature. A further 7 km of strike length along the anomalous trend remains to be drill tested.
Figure 1: Saxby Project. bedrock EM (at a depth of 500m-1000m) and interpreted geology.
AGAA is currently preparing follow-up exploration programmes to test for extensions to the mineralisation intersected in SXDD005. Given the inherent risk associated with drilling beneath deep cover sequences, the JV considers it prudent to conduct further detailed SQUID EM and gravity surveys to better define drilling targets and to delineate the orientation and extent of the mineralised bedrock trend.
All available data has been compiled into a seamless 3D database to better integrate and visualise the 3D geophysical data and to accurately target our follow-up drilling.
On the nickel front, previous drilling by Mt Isa Mines targeted a significant gravity anomaly and coincident magnetic high. Three drillholes intersected coarse-grained net-textured olivine gabbro and gabbronorite with varying amounts of sulphide, ranging from background disseminated pyrrhotite and pyrite to narrow intervals of semi-massive magmatic sulphide (pyrrhotite with minor pentlandite and chalcopyrite).
Best results included 10.4m @ 0.25% Ni and 0.28% Cu from 508m in drillhole TT001D (Figure 3). Subsequent drilling by Falcon in 2004 (DDH SD02) and AngloAmerican in 2008 intersected over 300m of sulphide-bearing olivine gabbro from 443m (beginning of basement) with sub-economic Ni-Cu sulphides (up to 0.38% Ni) supported by low level copper and platinum anomalism.
Drilling to date has now intersected the uppermost part of a mineralised gabbroic body in five drillholes over a strike length of 2.2 kilometres and remains open in all directions. Several mafic-ultramafic bodies are interpreted to occur to the north and south of SXDD006 (Figure 3) and remain to be tested.
Other diamond holes drilled to test outlying EM conductors away from the principal gabbronorite body intersected highly sulphidic calc-silicate skarn, graphitic meta-sediments and quartz-pyrite-pyrrhotite veins in strongly altered felsic volcanic rocks. Elevated zinc (up to 0.95%) and lead values indicate that the Saxby Project remains highly prospective for the discovery of Cannington-style Zn-Pb-Ag mineralisation.
©Falcon Minerals Limited MMIV
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