Acquisition of Black Hills Gold Project

RNS Number : 6407V

Greatland Gold PLC

06 November 2017

 

6 November 2017

Dissemination of a Regulatory Announcement that contains inside information according to REGULATION (EU) No 596/2014 (MAR).

Greatland Gold plc

("Greatland" or "the Company")

Greatland Gold adds to its Paterson Project through Acquisition of Black Hills Gold Project

Black Hills Gold Project hosts known high-grade gold at surface in similar style to the Newcrest Telfer gold mine

Greatland Gold plc (AIM:GGP), the precious and base metals exploration and development company, is pleased to announce that it has acquired 100% of the Black Hills gold project in the Paterson Region of Western Australia for A$225,000. The consideration consists of a cash payment of A$25,000 and the issuance of 6,500,000 new ordinary shares of 0.1 pence each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") with an approximate value of A$200,000.

Highlights:

·     Greatland acquires 100% of the rights, title and interest in the mining tenement E45/4512 (the "Black Hills gold project");

·     The Black Hills gold project covers 25 square kilometres in the Paterson region and sits adjacent to the north western border of Greatland's Havieron licence;

·     Historical work at Black Hills by Newcrest Limited has demonstrated high grade gold at surface with rock chip results up to 90g/t gold and drill intercepts including 4m at 7.0g/t gold from 25m;

·     The Black Hills project is regarded as having high potential for hosting gold deposits similar to Newcrest's Telfer Mine; and

·     The acquisition increases the size of Greatland's Paterson project to more than 385 square kilometres prospective for iron-oxide-copper-gold ("IOCG") and Telfer style deposits.

The Black Hills gold project is located in the Paterson Region of Western Australia and lies adjacent to the Company's Havieron licence. Previous work by Newcrest Limited has outlined several zones of gold mineralisation in rocks equivalent to those of the large Telfer gold deposit (27m oz) which lies 30km to the west. Surface rock chip samples from Black Hills have returned up to 90g/t gold. Historical drilling is wide spaced (drill holes at least 400 metres apart), with intercepts including 4m at 7.0g/t from 25m. Management believes that the gold prospects identified to date on the Black Hills licence may extend into the north western portion of Greatland's Havieron licence.

Gervaise Heddle, Chief Executive Officer, commented:  "Black Hills represents an important strategic addition to Greatland's significant and expanding position in the Paterson region. Historical exploration at Black Hills has demonstrated high grade gold near surface and the potential for the Black Hills licence to host gold deposits similar to Telfer. The acquisition is a continuation of our strategy to target under-explored areas with significant potential and to increase the scale of the Company's exploration campaigns at our key projects."

A regional map showing the Black Hills licence with regional targets and adjacent landholdings will be available within the next few days at:

http://greatlandgold.com/project/2016/havieron/

Acquisition Terms

Under the sale and purchase agreement executed on 6 November 2017 between Mr Peter Wiltshire (the "Vendor"), Greatland Pty Ltd (the "Purchaser") and Greatland Gold PLC, the Purchaser agreed to acquire all of the Vendor's rights, title and interest in the mining tenement E45/4512 (the "Black Hills gold project").

The consideration to be paid to the Vendor by the Purchaser consists of AUD$25,000 in cash and that number of fully paid ordinary shares in Greatland Gold PLC to the value of AUD$200,000.00 calculated on the basis of the volume weighted average price of those shares on AIM on the 5 trading days immediately prior to the Date of Execution. The number of fully paid ordinary shares in Greatland Gold PLC to be issued by Greatland Gold PLC has been calculated as 6,500,000 (SIX MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND).

The Consideration is payable by the Purchaser to the Vendor upon receipt by the Purchaser of an unstamped but registrable transfer form for the Mining Tenement in favour of the Purchaser and duly executed by the Vendor and all documents of title evidencing the Vendor's interest in the Mining Tenement.

Issuance of Shares

As a result of the completion of the Black Hills project acquisition, 6,500,000 new ordinary shares are expected to be admitted to trading on or around 6 December 2017 ("Admission").

Following Admission the total issued share capital of the Company will consist of 2,941,637,461  ordinary shares.  As such the total number of voting rights in the Company will be 2,941,637,461 ordinary shares.  This number may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Overview of Black Hills

The Black Hills licence, E45/4512, lies 30 km east of the large Telfer gold mine (27m oz) in the Paterson Region of northern Western Australia. Black Hills is a granted exploration licence that covers 25 square kilometres and sits adjacent to the Company's Havieron exploration licence, part of its Paterson Project. The Black Hills licence is regarded as having high potential to host further gold deposits similar to Telfer.

There has been a reasonable amount of historical exploration work at Black Hills with several discrete zones of mineralisation identified over 5km of strike. Rock chip samples have returned up to 90g/t gold, and commonly 20g/t gold, with free (visible) gold in places. Drill intercepts include 4m at 7.0g/t from 25m, 5m at 2.3g/t from 25m, 2m at 3.4g/t from 23m and 2m at 1.29g/t from 10m. Historical drill spacing appears quite broad with holes at least 400m apart, some up to 600m. Additional work by the Company will include compilation of historical data, surface geochemistry, ground geophysics and RC drilling.

Gold prospects identified to date extend from Black Hills into the north western parts of the Havieron licence. Proterozoic sandstone and carbonate rocks of the Yeneena Group formations are present, including the Telfer Formation, in a domal structure which is the equivalent geology to that of the large Telfer gold deposit (27m oz) located 30km to the west.

Overview of Paterson Project

The Company's Paterson project now comprises the Havieron and Paterson Range East licences, and the Black Hills licence, located in the Paterson region of northern Western Australia. The three licences collectively cover more than 385 square kilometres prospective for IOCG deposits and Telfer style gold deposits.

The Paterson region hosts several large gold and copper deposits such as Telfer (27M oz) and Nifty (2MT copper). The region has been subject to more recent exploration which has outlined several other deposits including Magnum (Au), Calibre (Au), O'Callaghans (Cu) and Maroochydore (Cu).

The region is remote, however infrastructure is good with several operating mines, roads, formed tracks and rail networks nearby which branch out from the regional industrial hub of Port Hedland 500km to the west.

The Paterson Province is the northern portion of the Proterozoic Paterson Orogen. More recent exploration throughout several Proterozoic Orogens within the western parts of the Australian continent has resulted in the discovery of the large Tropicana gold deposit (7.9M oz) and the large Nova nickel-copper deposit (10MT). Globally these Proterozoic Orogens are highly prospective for large deposits, and are often under-explored.

Alteration and mineralisation of those targets which have been drill tested at Havieron and Paterson Range East display similarities to IOCG-type deposits. Examples of these are the large Olympic Dam and Ernest Henry deposits in central and eastern Australia.

Geophysical data has outlined the Havieron target as covering approximately 1,000m x 1,000m. Depth to top of target is around 400m with these depths easily achieved with modern drilling equipment. Only six drill holes have been completed to date, all of which intersected significant hematite alteration and gold, plus copper anomalism. Thick lower grade zones of gold and copper have been intersected and gold grades within these peak at 15.4g/t and copper to 2.5%. Current drill hole spacing is broad and the core of Havieron therefore represents an immediate resource definition drilling target.

Following a review of regional geophysical and geochemical data over the Paterson project approximately fifty IOCG targets have been identified in the broader region, with around half in ground held by Greatland. The setting of these licences is on the western margin of a Proterozoic basin which ranges in depth from less than 100m below surface to more than 400m below surface. Basement rocks of the basin are predominantly calcareous rich sandstones intruded by several late stage granitic bodies exploiting basin margin faults which have also provided a focus for ore fluids. Historically, several of these targets have been subject to initial first-pass work and show promise at hosting mineralisation as seen at Havieron. The geophysical signature of these targets is very similar to that at Havieron. Basement rocks do not outcrop and Greatland intends to employ modern geophysical and geochemical methods to define targets prior to drill testing.

Prospectivity of the Paterson Province is widely recognised with several large industry participants present. These include Rio Tinto, Newcrest and Antipa. Greatland's licences lie adjacent to Rio Tinto and Antipa.

Additional information on the Paterson project can be found on the Company web site at www.greatlandgold.com/projects

Competent Person:

Information in this announcement that relates to exploration results is based on information compiled by Mr Callum Baxter, a director of Greatland Gold plc, who is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Mr Baxter has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which has been undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined by the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the JORC Code) and under the AIM Rules - Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Mr Baxter consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based on their information in the form and context in which it appears.

Enquiries:

Greatland Gold PLC

Callum Baxter/Gervaise Heddle

Tel [phone]

Email:  [e-mail]

www.greatlandgold.com

SPARK Advisory Partners Limited (Nominated Adviser)

Mark Brady/James Keeshan

Tel [phone]

SI Capital Limited (Broker)

Nick Emerson

Tel  [phone]

Luther Pendragon (Media and Investor Relations)

Harry Chathli/Ana Ribeiro/Alexis Gore

Tel [phone]

Notes for Editors:

Greatland Gold plc is a London listed (AIM:GGP) natural resource exploration and development company with a current focus on gold,nickel and cobalt exploration projects.

The Company has six main projects; four situated in Western Australia and two in Tasmania.  All projects are 100% owned by Greatland or Greatland has the right to take 100% ownership.  

Greatland is seeking to identify large mineral deposits in areas that have not been subject to extensive exploration previously.  It is widely recognised that the next generation of large deposits will come from such under-explored areas and Greatland is applying advanced exploration techniques to investigate a number of carefully selected targets within its focused licence portfolio.

The Company is also actively investigating a range of new opportunities in precious and strategic metals and will update the market on new opportunities as and when appropriate.

 

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