Golden Deeps Expands Footprint in the World-Class Lachlan Fold Belt Copper-Gold Province, NSW
Golden Deeps Ltd (ASX: GED) has entered into a binding Heads of Agreement (HOA) to earn an 80% interest in the holders of four granted and highly-prospective exploration licences in the world class Lachlan Fold Belt Copper-Gold Province of NSW (see Figures 1, 2 and 3).
Under the HOA with Acros Minerals Pty Ltd (Acros) and Crown Gold Resources Pty Ltd (Crown), Golden Deeps will reimburse $179,263 previous exploration expenditure, and earn an 80% interest by spending $300,000 on exploration within three years (see Significant Terms, Appendix 1).
The Acros and Crown tenements in the Lachlan Fold Belt straddle the boundary between the Siluro-Devonian Hill End Trough – which hosts the Hill End and Hargreaves goldfields (2Moz historic production1) – and the Rockley-Gulgong Volcanic Belt, which is highly prospective for porphyry copper-gold deposits (see Figure 1). Major deposits in the Lachlan Fold Belt include the world-class Cadia-Ridgeway deposit (456Mt @ 0.83 g/t Au, 0.24% Cu endowment2).Golden Deeps is currently drilling at the Havilah Copper-Gold Project (EL8936) within the Rockley-Gulgong Volcanic Belt to test a series of porphyry/volcanics hosted copper-gold targets at the Hazelbrook prospect3 (see location, Figure 1 and magnetics with key targets, Figure 2). Targets within the Acros (EL9114, EL9069 & EL9118) and Crown (EL9060) tenements include: Extensions of the Sofala Volcanics south of the Havilah Project. Magnetics indicate continuity of the highly-prospective volcanics and intrusives which project south under Permian cover into EL9114. No previous work has tested the underlying volcanics and/or the intrusive boundary (see Figures 1 and 2). Extensions of the Rockley-Gulgong belt along the Mudgee Fault (Figure 1), which includes the mineralised Sofala Volcanics and buried porphyry intrusion targets, into EL9069 and EL9060 north of the Havilah tenement (see Figures 1 and 2). Extensions of the Hargreaves and Tuckers Hill high-grade gold trends north into EL9118 (see Figure 1). The Company will build on previous work which has shown that the mineralised Sofala Volcanics and porphyry Cu-Au targets are present on EL9114 and EL9069. Planned work includes further geophysical surveys (detailed gravity, magnetics & Induced Polarisation), with a focus on extensions of the Rockley-Gulgong belt south and north of the Company’s projects (Figure 2). This work will aim to define drilling targets targeting major porphyry/volcanics hosted copper gold deposits in an area which has received limited exploration due to shallow cover.
“This HOA gives Golden Deeps access to extensions of mineralised volcanics and intrusives within the Rockley-Gulgong Volcanic Belt. This belt is highly prospective for major porphyry/volcanic hosted copper gold discoveries and is a similar setting to major deposits such as the world-class Cadia-Ridgeway mine.
“The Acros and Crown tenements also include extensions to the Hill End gold corridor which has produced over two million ounces of gold.
“We now look forward to immediately advancing geophysical programs to define drilling targets south and northwest of the Company’s Havilah Project, where drilling is currently testing copper-gold targets which continue under cover into the Acros and Crown ground.”
About the Acros and Crown Tenements
Acros holds three exploration licences (EL9114, EL9069 and EL9118) and Crown one exploration licence (EL9060) near Mudgee in the Eastern Lachlan Fold Belt region of NSW (see Figure 1 for locations). Details of the tenements are shown in Table 1 below:
Table 1: Acros and Crown Tenements expenditure and commitments:
The Acros and Crown tenements are located close to the eastern margin of the Lachlan Fold Belt and straddle the boundary between the Siluro-Devonian Hill End Trough – which contains the Hill End gold field (2Moz produced), and the Rockley-Gulgong Volcanic Belt which is highly prospective for porphyry related copper-gold deposits (see Figure 1).
In the eastern tenements (EL9114, EL9069 and EL9060), the Company is targeting porphyry/volcanic hosted copper-gold mineralisation in a belt of Ordovician age (Sofala) volcanic rocks in the Rockley Gulgong Volcanic Belt. This belt is part of the Macquarie Arc in the Lachlan Fold Belt – a major geological province known for world-class copper-gold deposits such as Cadia-Ridgeway2 and North Parkes4 (see Figure 3, below). These major deposits are hosted by Ordovician volcanic rocks and associated with “porphyry” intrusives and sit within parallel volcanic belts to the west of the Rockley-Gulgong Belt.
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