Hamelin Gold Limited (ASX:HMG) has unveiled a series of new camp scale gold targets identified in the West Tanami project, Western Australia.
“Hamelin’s maiden exploration programme in the West Tanami in 2022 delivered a high- grade gold discovery at Sultan and has resulted in a number of key learnings that significantly increased our understanding of the structural setting, the basement geology and the nature of the regolith,” Managing Director Peter Bewick said.
“These learnings have been incorporated into our targeting activities resulting in the identification of several new camp scale gold targets. These targets exhibit the geophysical and geochemical footprints commonly associated with large scale gold systems, and in areas we consider previous exploration programs have been ineffective.
“The identification of a new suite of high quality camp scale gold targets highlights the under-explored nature of this region and the vast opportunity that remains for the discovery of multi-million ounce gold deposits in the West Tanami.”
Geochemical Learnings – The Bismuth-Gold Association
Hamelin commenced an R&D programme in 2022 to evaluate the effectiveness and applicability of novel surface geochemical techniques to our gold exploration. A second study programme investigated the mobility and behaviour of potential pathfinder elements in the deeply weathered and leached regolith profile in the West Tanami.
Historically arsenic has been the preferred gold pathfinder element of past explorers. The company has recently conducted a review of available geochemical data demonstrating that arsenic correlates very poorly with gold mineralization in the Tanami and does not offer a reliable or accurate indicator. Analysis of all multi-element geochemical data instead identified that primary gold mineralization in the West Tanami has a remarkably high correlation with bismuth.
In total, approximately 30% of all surface geochemical and drill hole samples in the company database have been analyzed for bismuth.
Given the new realization of the critical association of gold and bismuth in the Tanami, Hamelin has interrogated the historical surface and drill hole sample dataset identifying significant, kilometre-scale footprints of strong bismuth anomalism that have been either ignored or unrecognized by previous explorers due to the subdued near-surface gold signatures. The company now considers these areas high priority gold targets.
Structural Re-Interpretation
Orogenic gold deposits are typically formed by the interplay of geological, structural and hydrothermal processes that lead to the deposition of gold in alteration zones, in quartz veins or other structures. The conceptual targeting of this style of gold deposit is primarily focused on the identification of areas of structural complexity and extension (or opening) where gold bearing fluids are likely to be concentrated during an ore forming event.
Structural re-interpretation of the West Tanami has highlighted several corridor-scale opportunities within the Paleo-Proterozoic geology that are considered to have been in the favourable extensional setting during the optimal time for regional gold deposition. These areas typically occur along antiform fold axes, at key structural intersections, or at flexures in key structures. The structural architecture of these areas is similar to that seen at a number of the large-scale gold deposits elsewhere in the Tanami Gold Province.
New Camp Scale Gold Targets
The combination of the new geochemical learnings and the structural re-interpretation has delivered a suite of high quality, camp scale gold targets across the West Tanami. These new target areas include the Newkirk, Sultan and Far Southwest Corridors, and the Olsen target.
Planned 2023 Work Programme
The 2023 field program commences in April initially with RC drilling and surface geochemical programmes at Sultan and Fremlins prospects. Regional Air Core programs are then planned for a number of the new, high priority camp scale targets across the project. The initial programmes of the 2023 campaign will include:
• RC drilling up dip and along strike of TSD0007 at Sultan
• RC drilling of the Eastern Corridor at Fremlins
• Surface geochemical programs at Fremlins South and along the Sultan and Far SW Corridors
• Air Core drilling at Newkirk and Olsen prospects
The results of this initial programme will direct programmes in the second half of the year.
For further information please visit: https://hamelingold.com.au/
