Harvest Home and Queens Birthday JV
GBM has entered into two joint venture arrangements with the Fiddlers Ck Gold Mining Co to develop the mineral resources on EL’s 4985 and 5029 at Goldsborough near Dunolly in Central Victoria.
EL 4985 Harvest Home project
This licence covers the historic Harvest Home workings approximately 5Km north of Dunolly.
While gold historic production at Harvest Home and associated workings was relatively minor, recent exploration efforts in the 1990 by Highlake Resources N.L. has outlined a significant target.
A series of Reverse Circulation drilling programs tested a model of disseminated veining associated with a major west dipping fault system over a strike length of 500 metres which is still open to the north. Oblique cross faulting intersecting the main fault system appears to be the main control on gold deposition.
The exploration program revealed a significant system of veining with associated gold mineralisation at grades that were uneconomic for the early miners but are highly encouraging at today’s price.
A resource figure (non JORC Compliant) of 747,677 tonnes at a grade of 2.48 g/t was estimated by Ballarat Goldfields in 1991during a resource review process in which computer modelling was utilised.
The Joint Venture is applying new modelling and geology concepts to the database to produce a current resource figure and design infill exploration work.
Initial work will involve drilling, both diamond and Reverse Circulation to increase confidence in the model as well as bulk sampling surface expressions to confirm drilling grades.
These are several processing plants within a small radius of the Harvest Home area which could see the project fast tracked into production.
EL 5029 Queens Birthday
This licence covers the Moliagul Goldsborough mineralised corridor which hosts the Goldsborough, Burnt Creek and Moliagul goldfields.
Of major significance is the Queen’s Birthday group of workings at Goldsborough. In excess of 100,000 ounces was produced from a large quartz veins system to 300m below surface. Gold was associated with oblique fault intersections on a similar vein to that at Harvest Home.
It is intended to model the Queen’s Birthday occurrence from the historical data to provide a “type” occurrence for further exploration. The quartz veining at Queen’s Birthday is structurally controlled and a repeat of the veining occurrence should be predictable and the JV will focus on determining the repeat frequency and geometry to target exploration drilling.
In addition to the Queen’s Birthday area, an area of high grade alluvial production within the Burnt Creek flats (recorded as “whites patch”) appears to located in a similar structural scenario as the Queen’s Birthday mineralisation. A program of aircore drilling will be undertaken to test this model.
The Moliagul goldfield has a history of small but extremely high grade gold occurrences and the JV is to undertake modelling work to assess the potential of locating a major controlling structure that could be providing the shallow high grade mineralisation observed.
Summary:
Both licences within the Joint Venture bring excellent prospects to the table.
The Harvest Home area has good potential to enjoy fast track production following a modest confirmation work program while the Queen’s Birthday area holds important geological keys to discovering a repeat of this style of mineralisation which has historically produced a substantial amount of gold.