S2 Resources Ltd (ASX:S2R) is making progress with its Exploration Licence Application (ELA) over Block 4 of the Victorian Government ground release, referred to as the Greater Fosterville Project.
S2 was notified in October 2021 that it had won the highly competitive tender process for Block 4 of the NCVG, giving the Company the sole right to apply for an Exploration Licence over the block.
This block covers an area of 394 square kilometres and has a north- south strike extent of 55 kilometres abutting and surrounding the high grade, high margin Fosterville Mine operated by Kirkland Lake Gold. This block is arguably the most coveted gold exploration application in Australia and is now a major focus for S2 Resources.
Status of application process
The company has formally commenced the application process for the block, designated EL7795 by the Victorian government agency, Earth Resources Regulator (ERR). This process comprises a number of steps which need to be completed before the licence is granted:
- The first step, already undertaken on 10 November 2021, was to publish a Notice of the Acceptance of the tender in local Victorian and Bendigo newspapers, required under the Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act 1990
- This publication was followed by a 21-day comment/objection period which ended on 30 November 2021
- Responses to this notice are currently being processed by the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions (DJPR). Once this has been completed, the Government will advise the Company.
- Subject to a positive outcome, the next stage in the process is the negotiation of an agreement with traditional owners, which can be expedited where traditional owners have determined Native Title and/or other equivalent agreements with the State
- The final stage is an assessment of the Company and its planned activities by the ERR before granting the Exploration Licence. Note that in this case much of this assessment was completed as part of the North Central Victorian Goldfields Ground Release tender process.
The area covered by the ELA comprises a mixture of crown land and freehold land, with the latter including a mix of broadacre farms and low density residential areas, so there is a variety of stakeholders including traditional owners, farmers and local communities.
The company, with the assistance of the Victorian Government, has therefore commenced a process of stakeholder engagement which will broaden as the application process progresses.
Prospectivity analysis and technical work
In parallel with the application and community engagement processes, the company has collated the large amount of data acquired by previous explorers over the area, including the relatively recent initial exploration work undertaken by Kirkland Lake on the tenement before it expired (immediately before it was placed under moratorium for inclusion in the NCVG tender process).
This data includes a comprehensive set of extensive and high quality geophysical and geochemical surveys, including:
- Detailed airborne and ground gravity and regional gravity reprocessing/modelling
- Over 23,000 line kilometres of airborne magnetic, radiometric and digital terrain surveys
- Induced polarisation (IP) and airborne electromagnetic (AEM) surveys – effective tools for defining sulphides, which are often associated with gold mineralisation in the Fosterville Goldfield.
- Extensive multigenerational geochemical soil surveys defining numerous targets, many of which are yet to be followed up with drilling
This data also includes prior drilling, which although widely spaced and/or shallow and/or highly localised, has identified gold mineralisation in several locations such as the Goornong South and May Reef prospects.
Most of these targets are situated in the corridor north and south along strike from the Fosterville gold mine, and are associated with the same stratigraphy and family of structures that host high grade gold mineralisation at the mine itself.
About the Greater Fosterville project
Exploration Licence Application EL7795, or the Greater Fosterville Project, surrounds the world class Fosterville Gold Mine, which currently has a Mineral Resource of 4.5 million ounces at 9.8g/t gold he mine produced 2 million ounces up to 2018 before the addition of the high-grade Swan Zone boosted production to over 600,000 ounces per annum.
The Bendigo and Fosterville gold districts comprise high grade gold mineralisation within quartz veins or reefs hosted by tightly folded turbidites made up of alternating sandstones and shales. At Bendigo, most mineralisation is in the form of quartz saddle reefs, which occupy the noses of tightly folded anticlines, whereas at Fosterville, most mineralisation occurs within quartz lodes which crosscut the hinges of both anticlines and synclines.
Both gold fields are located in the eastern part of the greater Bendigo Zone, which is one of several zones bound by large scale thrust faults that together comprise the Lachlan Orogen. The Bendigo Zone is bound by the Avoca Fault to the west and the Heathcote Fault to the east.
For further information please visit: http://www.s2resources.com.au/
