Poseidon Nickel Ltd (ASX:POS, OTC:PSDNF) has forged new paths for gold exploration at its Black Swan and Lake Johnston projects in Western Australia, defining a geological setting favourable for gold at the former and a felsic intrusive copper-gold system at the latter.
At Black Swan, POS identified several gold-bearing structures throughout the project’s geological sequence, similar to those at nearby gold mines like Kanowna Belle (61.32 million ounces of gold as of 2024) and Gordon Sirdar, which produced at least 34,951 ounces historically and now hosts an operating underground mine.
Adding to the evidence for the region’s gold potential, the company found 52 gold nuggets during groundwork activities.
Homing-in on gold zones with soil sampling
“Recent exploration activities have further enhanced the gold prospectivity at Black Swan and Lake Johnston,” Poseidon Nickel CEO Brendan Shalders said.
“Black Swan is located within the Boorara Geological Domain which hosts a number of gold mines including the nearby Kanowna Belle, Mungarra and Gordon Sirdar projects.
“The 52 gold nuggets recovered to date enhance the prospectivity of the interpreted gold structures that intersect with the geological sequences at Black Swan.
“The team plans to complete a soil sampling program at Black Swan this month to further test the gold prospectivity at the project.”
Copper-gold system at Lake Johnston
Poseidon also delineated a felsic intrusive system at Lake Johnston, confirming the presence of copper and gold with a drilling intersection (LJPD0032) striking 2.26 g/t gold and 2.36% copper.
“At Lake Johnston, further assessment of the open-ended broad Billy Ray gold in soil anomaly has also confirmed coincident copper anomalism,” Shalders explained.
“When considering the likely link to the previously reported LJPD0032 drill intersection in a mineralised felsic intrusive, support is building for a larger copper-gold system in the area.
“Planned soil sampling across the Mantis tenement will include other important pathfinder elements useful in targeting intrusive related gold systems (bismuth-antimony-terbium-arsenic-tellurium-silver), which were not assayed historically.”
The company points out that the open-ended soil anomaly at Billy Ray is open-ended and strikes into the newly acquired Mantis tenement, offering the first opportunity to undertake a systematic, multi-element soil sampling program over the new ground.
Looking beyond nickel
“When considering the historical nickel focus at all of our projects, there has been very little sustained exploration for other commodities despite all three projects being located in the heart of the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia,” Shalders acknowledged.
“The recently reported gold anomalies at Windarra, the increased gold prospectivity at Black Swan and the growing copper-gold potential at Lake Johnston all offer exciting opportunities to carry out low-cost, high-reward exploration programs whilst maintaining our nickel resources and infrastructure options.
“The pleasing progress reported today and planned programs remain consistent with our strategy to assess the greenfield potential for multiple commodities across all three of Poseidon’s projects.”
POS has interpreted the Windarra Project to contain strike extensions to the main mineralised gold trend controlling nearby camps such as the Lancefield Gold Mine (2.3 million ounces of gold mined) and the Beasely Creek Gold Deposit (470,000 ounces resource or already mined.)
The company intends to dig deeper into Windarra’s potential with a soil sampling survey, using modern techniques over an area historically known to produce gold.