Firetower Project - New Exploration Programme

RNS Number : 5821K

Greatland Gold PLC

11 April 2018

 

11 April 2018

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

Greatland Gold plc

("Greatland" or "the Company")

Firetower Project - New Exploration Programme

Greatland to advance Firetower project towards exploration target of

 one million ounces of gold

Greatland Gold plc (LON:GGP), the precious and base metals exploration and development Company, is pleased to announce a new exploration programme at its 100% owned Firetower gold project in Tasmania, Australia.

A technical review of the Firetower project has highlighted the potential for Induced Polarisation ("IP") geophysics to assist in outlining the trend of gold mineralisation in areas untested by previous drilling. To this end, the Company has received all required approvals for a 3D Induced Polarisation ("3DIP") survey and fieldwork is expected to commence within the next week.

Highlights of New Exploration Programme

·     New exploration programme includes plans for a 3DIP survey covering a strike length of 1.6km over the immediate gold mineralised zone at Firetower, and will also cover high priority target areas to the immediate west and east;

·     Survey data will be processed with modern inversion techniques to provide accurate 3D chargeability and resistivity models, and the results will be used to plan a follow up drilling campaign currently scheduled for Q4 2018;

·     If the current exploration campaign is successful, then this exploration model may be extended across the entire prospective sequence at Firetower which currently has been identified over approximately 4 kilometres of strike.

Results from the survey will be used to plan a follow-up drilling campaign currently scheduled for Q4 2018, but may be brought forward if ground conditions are suitable.

Gervaise Heddle, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "This is one of three drilling and exploration campaigns announced by Greatland Gold in 2018, as we continue to deliver on our commitment to advance exploration at our portfolio of projects.  The new exploration programme at Firetower aims to unlock the true potential of this high grade near surface deposit, which has the potential to extend across four kilometres of strike, and to advance the project towards its exploration target of one million ounces of gold."

Firetower Project, Tasmania

The Firetower project is located in central north Tasmania, Australia, and covers an area of 62 square kilometres. The 100% owned project includes the two main prospects of Firetower and Firetower West, and the strike extensions of prospective stratigraphy. The Firetower prospect has significant gold mineralisation from surface up to 30g/t while the mineralised system at Firetower West shows copper to 1.34% and silver to 2.6g/t. Both prospects remain open along strike and at depth.

The Firetower project area covers the eastern parts of the highly mineralised Mt Read volcanic rocks which lie in the western and northern parts of Tasmania. These rocks host major polymetallic (zinc, lead, gold) deposits such as Hellyer and Roseberry, and copper deposits such as Mt Lyell, and the large Henty gold mine which has produced over 1.25m oz since 1996.

Gold mineralisation at Firetower was first located in the late 1970s with stream sediment samples up to 320g/t gold (+10 oz) but this was not followed up until the early 1990s with reconnaissance drilling. More modern exploration by Greatland and JV partners has included soil geochemistry to 4,450ppb gold, diamond drilling and detailed ground magnetics. Drill intercepts (historic and Greatland) include 29m at 2.39g/t, 17m at 5.37g/t (incl 1m at 30g/t), 10m at 6.2g/t, 3m at 21.38g/t Au, 11m at 4.3g/t, 1.2m at 14.9g/t. 5m a 0.76% Cu, including 1m at 1.44%, 3m at 0.62%, 2m at 0.84% & 0.5m at 3.72% Cu. Drilling to date has, in general, tested approximately 250m of strike to a depth of around 100m from surface.

Several other prospects are present with in the project area such as Firetower West and Firetower East. At Firetower West soil geochemistry has delineated a large copper/arsenic/gold anomaly over an area of 800m x 300m, with rock chips up to 3.3% copper. A 3DIP target approximately 800m x 400m was tested with a single core hole in 2014 returning 1m at 1.34% copper with 2.6g/t silver. This is considered significant as it highlights the prospectivity of Firetower West to potentially host polymetallic deposits such as Hellyer and Roseberry. Firetower East is the eastern strike extensions of the main mineralised rocks at the Firetower prospect. This zone covers more than 2km of strike with soil geochemistry up to 150ppb gold, but little follow-up work has been completed here.

The Company completed an internal review of the Firetower project in late 2017 and determined the key areas requiring attention to advance the project. From this it has  recognised that the western portion of the main mineralised area at Firetower holds much potential but has not been subject to intensive exploration due to scree cover and steep terrain. During the review all historic geochemical and ground geophysical surveys were examined. Data was interpreted and modelled in 3D with existing drill holes. The review highlighted the presence of untested surface gold mineralisation immediately west of the main Firetower prospect with soil geochemistry results including 390ppb gold and 210ppb gold, and rock chip results up to 3.57g/t gold. This area has been overlooked in the past as scree cover largely masks bedrock geology. Early ground geophysics provides incomplete coverage over the Firetower prospect but shows an Induced Polarisation (IP) chargeability anomaly consistent with gold mineralisation intersected in existing drill holes. Extension of the IP coverage with modern geophysical equipment and processing techniques is considered a powerful tool to assist in significantly extending the strike potential of the gold mineralised system at Firetower.

In co-operation with geophysical contractors the Company has designed a comprehensive 3DIP survey for the Firetower prospect. The survey will cover a strike length of 1.6km over the immediate mineralised zone at Firetower, and will also cover high priority target areas to the immediate west and east. The survey data will be processed with modern inversion techniques to provide accurate 3D chargeability and resistivity models. These models will be used, along with existing detailed ground magnetics and surface geochemistry, to site additional drill holes. If successful, 3DIP geophysics may be deployed across the broader prospective sequence at Firetower which, to date, has been identified over approximately 4km of strike. The Company has received all required approvals for a 3D Induced Polarisation survey and fieldwork is expected to commence within the next week. The Company's exploration target for the Firetower prospect is one million ounces of gold.

Additional information on the Firetower 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/Andrew Emmott/James Keeshan

Tel [phone]

SI Capital Limited (Broker)

Nick Emerson/Alan Gunn

Tel  [phone]

Luther Pendragon (Media and Investor Relations)

Harry Chathli/Ana Ribeiro/Alexis Gore

Tel [phone]

Notes for Editors:

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

The Company has six main projects; four situated in Western Australia and two in Tasmania.  All projects are 100% owned by Greatland.  

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.

 

END

 

 

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