Australian Gold and Copper Ltd (ASX:AGC) has made an application for a new 118 square kilometres exploration licence called Nyora (ELA6586), which adjoins its South Cobar Project in the Central Lachlan Fold Belt of NSW.
AGC has already submitted 14 samples collected from historic drill core at the NSW Government core library for rare earth element analysis and has confirmed elevated REEs using a portable XRF analyser.
The due diligence was done prior to licence application, with full laboratory analysis pending.
Outcropping areas are flagged for follow-up sampling once the licence is granted.
Elevated REEs
Notably, previous sampling by the Geological Survey of NSW confirmed elevated REEs and a possible genetic link to the fertile Cobar A-type volcanics.
As systematic sampling has never been undertaken in the ELA, the variable crystallisation zonation is highly encouraging for REE potential mapped in the outcropping parts of the granite.
Rare earth elements are increasingly important in high-end technological applications such as permanent magnets.
AGC managing director Glen Diemar said, “This is another strong and logical addition to our high-potential South Cobar Project.
"While examining the copper-gold potential of this region, we recognised in the literature that the Nyora Granite was highly elevated in rare earths.
“This affiliation with rare earths didn’t surprise us given the known prospectivity of the similar aged volcanics that we are exploring in our South Cobar Project.
“Adding rare earth potential to our portfolio is exciting given their short supply and high demand.
"We eagerly await the first batch of lab analyses and once granted will aim to assess the potential for shallow, clay-enriched, REE deposits.
Prospective for gold and copper
The ELA, which encompasses the Nyora Granite, a 14-kilometre long by 1.5-kilometre-wide A-type porphyritic granite, is also prospective for copper and gold
There are five magnetic bullseye targets on a crustal-scale fault, analogous to the fault that hosts the high-grade CSA copper mine near Cobar and the Federation ore body on the eastern edge of the Cobar Basin.
The five magnetic bullseyes seen below are typical of the alteration features surrounding such deposits. Further sampling and geophysics will be undertaken early next year.
Plan view map of ELA6586 with basic geology over magnetics TMI RTP (NSW geological survey), historic drill holes (Jones and Seeley, 1997) and AGC’s priority 1 REE and copper-gold targets.
“The five bulls-eye magnetic copper-gold targets that are within our granted tenure are a quality follow-up target,” Diemar said.
“Basin margins are geologically dynamic places and these magnetic highs look like the alteration features surrounding the highly valued Cobar-style copper deposits.
"These regional communities have seen immense amounts of flooding and the rate the water is receding is painfully slow. Our thoughts are with all our affected communities.”
AGC projects overview
AGC’s portfolio in the Central Lachlan Fold Belt of NSW includes the Moorefield-Ootha Gold-Copper Project where it is exploring for multi-million ounce orogenic gold deposits, the REE-copper-gold/base-metal project in the southern Cobar Super-Basin exploring for Hera and Federation style deposits and the Gundagai Gold Project, exploring for multi-million ounce McPhillamy’s type gold deposits.
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