Astro Resources NL (ASX:ARO) has launched into action with a geophysical survey at its Ranken base metals play in the Northern Territory.
The explorer is on the move following new data from Geoscience Australia, which indicates the area is highly prospective for sediment-hosted zinc-silver-lead mineral systems.
Situated in the heart of the Northern Territory, within Astro's 80%-owned Georgina Iron Oxide Copper-Gold Project, Ranken could host the same sediment-hosted base metals that made the world-class Century and Mount Isa deposits famous. These are located in Queensland, to the east of Georgina.
The imminent gravity and passive seismic surveys will seek out zones of density variation and establish depth of cover — key parameters to consider as Astro defines its future drill targets.
After a slow start — sparked by a longer-than-usual monsoonal wet season — Astro expects to complete its survey by early June.
NT Government chips in
In a vote of confidence in Ranken’s (and Astro’s) potential, the Northern Territory Government has agreed to co-fund the survey with a geophysics and drilling collaboration grant.
This dovetails nicely with Astro's systematic approach to exploration, which relies on proving up its understanding of this highly prospective but underexplored region.
Astro executive chairman Tony Leibowitz is optimistic about the venture.
"The experts at Geoscience Australia have indicated the highly prospective nature of the Ranken tenure through their recent mapping,” he explained.
“This validates the systematic approach being employed by our technical team to exploration and we look forward to advancing exploration in this exciting part of the Georgina IOCG Project."
Red hot potential
Mid-March saw the release of new nationwide mineral potential maps from Geoscience Australia, which assesses the prospectivity of four types of sediment-hosted base metal systems across Australia.
Astro previously highlighted the prospectivity of the Ranken Project area for Century- and Mount Isa-style sediment-hosted deposits, and Geoscience’s latest assessment further strengthens the rationale underpinning its gravity and passive seismic surveys.
The mapping, shown below, predicts mineral potential via a ‘heat map’ style — in a nutshell; the hotter the colour, the more prospective the area.
The Georgina tenements, outlining Ranken in the far east.
The Ranken area is most prospective for clastic-dominated, sub-type zinc and lead hubs, famous examples of which include the 13.7-million-tonne Century and 10.5-million-tonne Mt Isa deposits. Each of these deposits also contain significant silver.
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