Drilling commences at Paterson South Project

Greatland Gold PLC

26 June 2023

 

Greatland Gold plc (AIM: GGP)

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NEWS RELEASE | 26 June 2023

Drilling commences at Paterson South Project

Drilling to test Havieron look-alikes targets at Budjidowns tenement

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION AS STIPULATED UNDER THE UK MARKET ABUSE REGULATIONS.  ON PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS INFORMATION IS CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Greatland Gold plc (AIM:GGP) (Greatland or the Company) is pleased to announce the commencement of its maiden drilling campaign at the Paterson South Project which is under a farm-in and joint venture arrangement with Rio Tinto Exploration (see RNS Announcement titled "Farm-in to Rio Tinto's highly prospective Paterson South tenure" dated 30 May 2023).  Exploration drilling has begun at the Stingray target on the Budjidowns tenement which is located north of Greatland's world class Havieron gold-copper project.

Highlights

§ Drilling has commenced at the Stingray target which is an underexplored magnetic anomaly within the Budjidowns tenement

§ Drilling will commence shortly at the Decka target which is a combined magnetic and conductive anomaly within Proterozoic sediments, similar to Havieron

§ Both targets are modelled within 250m of surface, making them shallower than Havieron

Greatland Managing Director, Shaun Day, commented: "We are delighted to immediately commence our maiden drilling campaign at the Paterson South Project. The rapid commencement of drilling following entry into the farm-in and joint venture arrangement with Rio Tinto Exploration is testament to both the high quality of the targets and Greatland's drive to rapidly unlock greater value from our Paterson Province exploration portfolio."

Overview of the Paterson South Project tenements and drilling campaign

Greatland has commenced its first drilling programme at the Paterson South Project within four weeks of entering into the farm-in and joint venture arrangement with Rio Tinto Exploration and becoming project manager.  The Company will be applying the technical knowledge built through the discovery of Havieron to the Paterson South Project.  The application and interpretation of geophysical surveys (magnetic and electromagnetic) was key in the Havieron discovery and is central to Greatland's strategy at Paterson South.

Figure 1: Paterson South Project tenements

Diamond drilling is underway on the highly prospective Stingray target which is a magnetic anomaly 10km along strike N-NW of the Havieron magnetic anomaly, itself associated with mineralisation.

Further, reverse circulation (RC) drilling is planned at the Decka target, which is a basement magnetic and conductive anomaly 20km NW of Havieron.  Both targets show consistent periodicity in that Stingray is ~10km from Havieron and Decka is ~10km from Stingray on the same trend.  This may indicate a consistent paragenesis for all three anomalies (Figure 2).

Stingray

The Stingray target is the first magnetic target N-NW of Havieron and is modelled to be significantly shallower than the Havieron magnetic body (Figure 2).  The anomaly is inversion modelled to have an estimated length of 3km (at a magnetic susceptibility of 0.0023SI). The lack of a bedrock conductor at Stingray (Figure 3) can be explained by the interpreted deeper, highly conductive cover which masks any bedrock response.

Only one drill hole has tested the magnetic anomaly at the Stingray target to date.  That hole, completed by Rio Tinto Exploration in 2021, intersected anomalous copper and bismuth.  The current hole being drilled by Greatland is planned to test the magnetic anomaly 600m from the previous drilling and will extend to approximately 750m down hole.

Figure 2: Longsection at 460,000mE showing magnetic models to scale for Havieron, Stingray and Decka.  Note: inversion shells are displayed for different susceptibilities due to availability. Smaller values of susceptibility will have larger shells for the same anomaly.  No inversion has yet been completed for Decka so a forward modelled body is shown.

Figure 3: Budjidowns tenement basement magnetic and EM (conductivity) responses

Atlantis

Beyond the Stingray and Decka targets, Greatland's next priority is Atlantis which lies 6km along strike to the N-NW of Decka (Figure 3) and has no effective drilling on +2km strike of magnetically anomalous targets.  A review of this prospect is currently underway and drilling will be planned to test these targets.

Greater Paterson South exploration programme

Work is underway to review historic work across the rest of the +1500km² Paterson South Project tenure and develop access to several other tenements to allow on-ground work to commence there as statutory and heritage approvals are obtained.

Contact

For further information, please contact:

Greatland Gold plc

Shaun Day, Managing Director  |  [e-mail]

Nominated Advisor

SPARK Advisory Partners

Andrew Emmott / James Keeshan / Neil Baldwin

[e-mail]  |  [phone]

Corporate Brokers

Berenberg  |  Matthew Armitt / Jennifer Lee  |  [phone]

Canaccord Genuity  |  James Asensio / Patrick Dolaghan  |  [phone]

SI Capital Limited  |  Nick Emerson / Sam Lomanto  |  [phone]

Media Relations

UK - Gracechurch Group  | Harry Chathli / Alexis Gore / Henry Gamble  |  [phone]

Australia - Fivemark Partners  |  Michael Vaughan  |  [phone]

About Greatland

Greatland is a mining development and exploration company focused primarily on precious and base metals.

The Company's flagship asset is the world-class Havieron gold-copper project in the Paterson Province of Western Australia, discovered by Greatland and presently under development in joint venture with ASX gold major, Newcrest Mining Limited (which is the subject of a takeover by Newmont Corporation by way of a scheme of arrangement).

Havieron is located approximately 45km east of Newcrest's existing Telfer gold mine. The box cut and decline to the Havieron orebody commenced in February 2021. Significant progress continues with total development now exceeding 2,400m including over 1,700m of advance in the main access decline (as at 16 June 2023).  Subject to a positive feasibility study and Decision to Mine, Havieron is intended to leverage the existing Telfer infrastructure and processing plant.  Access to Telfer will de-risk the development and reduces capital expenditure.

Greatland has a proven track record of discovery and exploration success and is pursuing the next generation of tier-one mineral deposits by applying advanced exploration techniques in under-explored regions. Greatland has a number of exploration projects across Western Australia and in parallel to the development of Havieron is focused on becoming a multi-commodity miner of significant scale.

Competent Persons Statement

Information in this announcement pertaining to Reporting of Exploration Results has been reviewed and approved by Mr Damien Stephens, a Member of the AusIMM, who has more than 30 years relevant industry experience.  Mr Stephens is a full-time employee of the Company and has a financial interest in Greatland.  Mr Stephens has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration, and to the activity which he is undertaking 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 and Gas Companies, which outline standards of disclosure for mineral projects.  Mr Stephens consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the matters based on this information in the form and context in which it appears.  Mr Stephens confirms that the Company is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in the historical market announcements, and that the form and context in which the information has been presented has not been materially modified.

 

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