MetalsGrove Mining Ltd (ASX:MGA) is expanding its multi-metal asset portfolio, having won the ballot for exploration tenement E77/3152 — to be known as the Leake Prospect — 135 kilometres south of the Southern Cross township and gold province in Western Australia.
The prospect is considered highly prospective for copper and gold and covers 66.7 square kilometres.
Historical soil sampling identified a coherent copper anomaly on the northern portion of the tenement and open to the south. Additionally, a single line of aircore drilling was completed, recording anomalous copper values.
As for gold, the prospect is around two kilometres from the Great Southern Gold Mine, where around 1,000 tonnes at 7.13 g/t gold was extracted from the mine during the 1920s and around 2,053 tonnes at 5.72 g/t in the 1980s.
Managing director and CEO Lijun Yang said: “In our September 2, 2024, announcement, I discussed the favourable environment for gold and copper as the basis for conducting the upcoming exploration program at the company’s Bruce-Gold Copper Prospect in the Northern Territory.
Read more: MetalsGrove Mining targets high-grade gold and copper as it revisits Bruce Prospect
“In that context, I am very pleased that we have been awarded tenement E77/3152 with its high prospectivity for copper and gold,” Yang said.
“The limited exploration effort conducted on the tenement to date, a modest soil sampling program and one line of aircore drilling, has demonstrated the presence of a coherent copper anomaly.
“My initial thinking is to undertake further soil sampling with a view to extending the copper anomaly to the south prior to a possible follow-up drilling campaign.”
“The fact that the nearby area has been mined previously for gold and nickel all adds to the general prospectivity of the area.”
A focus on copper-gold
The tenement is one of nine applied for in mid-2023 by the MetalsGrove’s previous management team in the broader Dundas/Leake area, where the primary target was lithium.
However, given the recent challenges of the lithium market, MetalsGrove decided to relinquish eight of the tenements and proceed just with the copper/gold opportunity.
To reflect the change in focus from lithium to copper-gold, the granted ELA 77/3152 will be now known as the Leake Prospect. It was previously the Dundas Prospect.
The Leake Prospect sits within a substantial tenement package prospective for gold, nickel and lithium held by Forrestania Resources Ltd.
Forrestania’s Great Southern Gold Mine is about two kilometres from the southernmost tip of the licence area along a granite-granite contact trending onto E77/3152.
ELA 77/3152 on local area geology and its location with respect to Forrestania’s Great Southern Gold Mine.
Work ahead
MetalsGrove intends to undertake a further soil sampling program at the Leake Prospect. The company will also define and determine optimal drill locations for testing to the south of the copper anomaly and will test the granite-granite contact along strike of Forrestania’s Great Southern Gold mine.
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