Koonenberry Gold Ltd (ASX:KNB) welcomes the start by partner Newmont Exploration of a generative aircore drilling program across the Junee JV Project in the prolific Lachlan Fold Belt of New South Wales.
This program of about 144 holes for up to 11,000 metres is fully funded by Newmont and follows A$23.9 million spent to date to acquire extensive, high-quality datasets and complete more than 66,000 metres of aircore, reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling.
The JV partners are exploring for alkalic gold-copper porphyry systems and are encouraged by the setting, which is analogous to the structural settings of Newmont’s Cadia Mine and Evolution Mining’s Northparkes deposits.
Drilling targets
Drilling has been planned by experienced Newmont geologists to target interpreted buried intrusive complexes potentially associated with copper-gold mineralisation.
Koonenberry Gold holds a 20% interest in the Junee Project and is free carried to commercial production while Newmont holds the remaining 80% and is managing the JV.
The aircore program builds on previous work which has defined porphyry systems at the Kurrajong, Rockley, Cooba East and Three Tree Hill prospects.
These systems share similar rock types, 440Ma intrusive age dates, alteration, veining and mineralisation to other known productive copper-gold porphyry systems in the Lachlan Fold Belt.
The drilling is targeting regional-scale geophysical features under shallow transported cover including several interpreted buried intrusive complexes associated with favourable WNW-ESE trending cross-arc structures.
Prolific region
These structures are thought to represent an important component in development of alkalic gold-copper porphyry mineralisation in the Macquarie Arc including the world-class 35.3-million-ounce gold and 7.9-million-tonne copper Cadia Mine owned by Newmont.
Aircore drilling aims to determine the cause of the geophysical features and explain the porphyry pathfinder anomalism in this favourable cross-arc structural setting.
The project is within a world-class mining province with a combined metal endowment of +88 million ounces gold + copper with other notable deposits including Evolution Mining’s 13-million-ounce Cowal Mine and the 5.2- million-ounce gold and 4.4 million tonnes of copper at Northparkes Mine.