Victoria Goldfields Australia - Update

RNS Number : 0977M

Red Rock Resources plc

09 January 2023

 

9 January 2023

Red Rock Resources PLC

("Red Rock" or the "Company")

Victoria Goldfields Australia - Update

Red Rock Resources Plc (LON:RRR),  a natural resource development company with interests in gold and base metals, principally in Africa and Australia, announces an update in relation to the tenement holdings and exploration activity of the Company's Victoria Goldfields joint venture ("JV").

Andrew Bell, Chairman of Red Rock Resources Plc commented:

"Diamond drilling at the historic Berringa Gold Mine has restarted after the Christmas break and the first hole is progressing well.

We also announce the grant of 3 further licence applications as well as rock chip sampling results from the Dereel project which evidence the presence of extensive, and sometimes high grade, gold mineralisation in the area.

Work continues and further updates will follow in due course."

HIGHLIGHTS:

Diamond Drilling - Berringa Gold Mine

On 13^th December 2022, the Company announced the start of a 5 hole, approximately 1,000m, diamond drilling programme at the historic Berringa Gold Mine ("Berringa"). Drilling of the first hole (BE23D001), into the Birthday South target (see announcement 13.12.22 for further information), paused on 23^rd December 2022, for the holiday season at a downhole depth of 125.7m.

Drilling recommenced on 3^rd January 2023, with BE23D001 as of end-day 5^th January 2023 at a downhole depth of 167m at which point the HQ (96 mm) drill bit was replaced by an NQ (75.7 mm) bit. Drilling continues with an expected final target depth of approximately 420m.

Grant of Exploration Licences

A further three exploration licences ("ELs") have now been granted including:

-  EL 7756: a 22km² area of Crown land within EL 7271, the prominent EL south of Ballarat gold mine within the Ajax project containing the old Monmouth and Happy Thought mines but where forest cover has limited modern exploration.

-  EL 7799: a 3km² inlier of Crown land originally excluded from licence EL 7327 within the Dereel Project. Investigations have identified the Golden Reef (Dereel) mine as an active high grade mine at the turn of the last century and the Crown land will improve access for a future drill programme. The JV has gathered a number of  rock chip samples in the area.

-  EL 7826: a 4km² tenement enhancing the land position surrounding Ballarat mine itself and covering potential areas for a southern extension of the main Ballarat lode system known as Ballarat south within the Ajax project.

With the above now granted, seventeen EL grants have now been received from the nineteen original applications. Table 1 below provides a full breakdown.

Rock Sampling Results

A rock chip sampling programme was successfully completed within the Dereel project (EL 7799 & EL7327). The sampling campaign included the collection of 24 rock samples. Extensive gold mineralisation was successfully identified with 16 of the 24 samples returning gold assays >0.1g/t, including a highlight result of 229g/t Au.

Table 2 below provides a breakdown of all rock sampling results.

JOINT VENTURE STRUCTURE

The joint venture is held through New Ballarat Gold Corporation PLC ("NBGC"), which is focused on the prolific Victoria Goldfields of Australia. The JV is between Red Rock (50.1%) and its partner London-listed Power Metal Resources Plc (49.9%) (together the "JV Partners"). 

NBGC has a wholly owned Australian operating subsidiary Red Rock Australasia Pty Ltd ("RRAL") which holds a strong land position comprising seventeen granted exploration licences and one purchased licence for a total area of 1,867km² within the gold fields of Victoria, Australia, principally surrounding the mining centre of Ballarat, Australia.

In addition, 2 licences covering 467km² await grant. The JV has carefully assembled its portfolio of properties comprising a broad range from robust exploration targets to near term resource potential, all of which remain largely undeveloped by modern explorers.

The JV Partners have the intention of listing the JV company NBGC and will make further announcements as appropriate.

TABLE 1: LICENCE TABLES

The seventeen granted and one purchased licence (EL005535) cover high priority areas, covering 1,867km² as outlined below.

Licence Number	Project Name	Area (km2)
EL007271	Buninyong	133
EL007281	Blue Chip	74
EL007282	Blue Sky	489
EL007285	Blue Ribbon	8
EL007327	Dereel	60
EL007385	Sardinia	4
EL007329	Kilmore	484
EL007301	Pitfield/Mt. Bute	85
EL007328	Blue Yonder	164
State land within EL007271 EL007505	-	[9]
State land within EL007271 EL007506	-	[9]
State land within EL007271 EL007507	-	[8]
EL007330	Daylesford	202
EL 007294	Talbot	129
EL 005535	Berringa	9 (228 net ha)
EL007756	Monmouth	22
State land within EL007327 EL007799	Dereel (2)	[3]
EL007826	Ballarat East	4
Total		1,867

Licence Applications:

RRAL has applications in process for two other new gold exploration licence areas, covering 467 km² in the Victoria Goldfields of Australia including:

Licence Application Number	Project Name	Area (km2)
EL007540* (3 competing applications)	Outer Ballarat	142
EL007460	Kilmore West	325
TOTAL		467

*Balmaine Gold Pty Ltd, Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd, and Loddon Gold Pty Ltd have put in competing applications the same day as RRAL for the ground covered by EL007540. The application considered to have greatest merit will eventually be given priority.

The following applications have also been made in Western Australia.

EL45/5859	Paterson	227
EL45/5885	Pilbara/Paterson	70

Table 2: ROCK CHIP SAMPLING RESULTS

Each sample below represents a 1kg sample which was pulverised and analysed with an aqua regia digest (AAS finish).

Sample ID	Tenement	Name	Easting	Northing	Gold (g/t)
41514	EL007799	Dereel	743094.1	5809362	229
41562	EL007327	Dereel	743239.5	5809050	1.67
41513	EL007799	Dereel	743102.2	5809331	0.79
41515	EL007799	Dereel	743095.4	5809397	0.39
41560	EL007327	Dereel	743233.9	5809046	0.33
41564	EL007327	Dereel	743248.8	5809037	0.3
41561	EL007327	Dereel	743232.1	5809046	0.28
41563	EL007327	Dereel	743252.6	5809041	0.15
41565	EL007327	Dereel	743243.8	5809041	0.15
41511	EL007799	Dereel	743110.2	5809315	0.08
41516	EL007799	Dereel	743082.2	5809399	0.04
41512	EL007799	Dereel	743108.7	5809318	0.02
41566	EL007327	Dereel	743270.9	5809071	0.01
41510	EL007799	Dereel	743119.2	5809285	0.01
52525	EL007327	Dereel	743264.7	5809564	<0.04
58299	EL007327	Dereel	743259	5809518	0.97
58300	EL007327	Dereel	743262.8	5809508	0.21
58523	EL007327	Dereel	743264.7	5809583	0.07
58524	EL007327	Dereel	743267.8	5809572	0.1
58526	EL007327	Dereel	743260.3	5809550	0.2
58295B	EL007327	Dereel	743267.1	5809491	0.13
58296B	EL007327	Dereel	743267.5	5809496	0.31
58297B	EL007327	Dereel	743268.8	5809521	0.27
58298B	EL007327	Dereel	743266.5	5809530	<0.04

QUALIFIED PERSON STATEMENT

The technical information in this report is compiled by David Holden, BSc, MBA, MEM, who is a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and the Executive Officer and Exploration Manager of RRAL. He is a member of a recognised professional organisation and has sufficient relevant experience to qualify as a qualified person as defined in the Guidance Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies, published by AIM.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

For further information please visit   www.rrrplc.com  or contact:

Andrew Bell  0207 747 9990  Chairman Red Rock Resources Plc

Roland Cornish/ Rosalind Hill Abrahams  0207 628 3396         NOMAD Beaumont Cornish Limited

Jason Robertson  0207 374 2212  Broker First Equity Limited     

NOTE TO EDITORS

Red Rock Resources plc - Background

Red Rock Resources plc (LON:RRR) is an AIM listed metals exploration company focused on gold, copper and battery metals and principally active in Africa and Australia. It has historically been involved with production as well as exploration, having brought a historic gold mine back into production in Colombia and participated in the development to production of a major open pit manganese mine in South Africa.

The Company currently has gold exploration projects in Kenya, West Africa and Australia, copper/cobalt exploration in Congo, and lithium exploration in Zimbabwe.

 

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