Exploration Projects
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Regional Gold Endowment
The Company anticipates that on admission to the official list of the ASX, it will hold a large strategic tenement position in a proven goldfield with several world-class gold deposits within 50km. These will include Charters Towers +7.1 Moz, Mt Leyshon 3.0 Moz, Pajingo +5 Moz, Ravenswood 9.2 Moz, Mt Wright 1 Moz.
Ashby Mining Limited does not own Maroon Gold Pty Ltd’s Blackjack Processing Facility, Blackjack ML, Far Fanning gold project and surrounding EL’s which will become assets of Ashby Mining Limited on the company’s admission to the official list of the ASX.
Ashby Mining Limited does not own Denjim Pty Ltd, which is the registered holder of the Hadleigh Castle ML and Burdekin gold projects. Ashby Mining may acquire 50% of Denjim Pty Ltd upon finalisation of the ongoing litigation proceedings being resolved to the satisfaction of Ashby Mining Limited. The Prospectus sets out in further detail the relevant conditions that must be satisfied prior to the acquisition of Denjim Pty Ltd. The Prospectus may be viewed in Australia at the following website: https://apply.automic.com.au/AshbyMining.
Rishton Mine Corridor Area
More than 14 km of the prospective Rishton Mine Corridor Structure occurs within Company Tenements.
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- There is significant potential for additional blind deposits as extensions to the mineralised structure have been poorly tested by drilling to date
- Abundant potential in Advanced Projects at Hadleigh Castle ML immediately adjacent the Hadleigh Castle deposit and along strike.
- Recent IP highlights several anomalies which require drill testing
- Targets along the full extent of the Rishton Mine Corridor Structure include Joes Delight, Disareli and Robinson Crusoe
- Other Targets including the Kirk Goldfield and a porphyry Copper-Gold target.
Joes Delight
The Joe’s Delight open cut produced 12,300 oz gold from approximately 150,000t at a grade of 2.55gm/t Au. Geology and mineralisation are like Hadleigh Castle with a southerly dipping, stacked vein system in altered granites.
Interpretation of diamond drilling results suggests that shallow vein sets coalesce at depth with one intersection of 16m at 5.4g/t gold down dip from a set of narrower quartz-sulphide veins. The system is open down dip, and the footwall zone has not been fully tested for a deeper sub parallel stacked system like Hadleigh Castle.
Ground magnetics and IP will facilitate targeted drill campaigns to evaluate mineralisation potential.
Disraeli
Disraeli is an open cut that had two phases of historical gold mining for production of approximately 46,900 oz gold from 780,000 tonnes at 1.87gm/t Au.
It comprises a narrow quartz sulphide vein swarm with similar mineralogy to Hadleigh Castle, Robinson Crusoe and Joes Delight. It lies adjacent to the Rishton Mine Corridor Structure, however, the structural context is not as well defined. Within the surrounds of Disraeli are small historic pits and shafts consisting of Uncle Toms, Churchill and Arena which have not been studied in detail. The area also includes the Joes Delight open cut and waste dumps.
The drilling history shows it is open down dip to the SE with adjacent targets around the open cut. The open cut contains tailings that have not been tested for gold or silver content. A magnetic survey and an IP program, with a structural analysis will facilitate targeted drill campaigns to evaluate mineralisation potential.
Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe is an open cut that lies 2.6 km SW of Hadleigh Castle in a similar structural setting, on the RCMS, with geology and mineralisation similar to Hadleigh Castle. The mine recorded a production of 190,000t at 1.86gm/t gold for 11,300 oz Au. The historic drilling shows extensions down dip and to the west in Robinson Crusoe West. There has been no deep drilling to test for potential deep structures such as seen at Hadleigh Castle.
Detailed magnetic, structural analysis and drilling will facilitate targeted drill campaigns to evaluate mineralisation potential.
Crossroads
Crossroads is a prospective target south-west of Robinson Crusoe that has not been fully tested. It lies on a NW trending structure near an intersection with the Rishton Mine Corridor Structure. It is a significant magnetic low and NW structure the geological setting is interpreted to be an analogous to that at Hadleigh Castle.
Crossroads was drilled in 2003 with 87 open hole percussion holes, however a location error meant that the main target was not drilled. Future programs are anticipated to include geological mapping, multi element soil geochemistry and ground magnetics followed by IP geophysics and targeted drilling.
Kirk Goldfield
Gold production from this field was intermittent from discovery in the 1870s to cessation in the 1990s. The gold mineralisation is hosted in sub vertical quartz–sulphide veins at the contact of two granites. Production records are not complete, but it is known that grades were high, with one mine (Sisters) producing 23,000 oz gold and being over 400m deep in the early 20th Century.
The historic understanding of the Kirk Goldfield was that the deposits are single narrow veins. However, recent review of historical multi-phased drilling programs and mining data, demonstrate the presence of multiple veins in proximity in both Margaret and Morning Star prospects. Margaret contains more extensive ore pods where structures have interacted, and Morning Star contains a reported “network of leaders”. This may indicate there is opportunity to locate gold zones with greater scale by application of well-directed exploration aimed at understanding shoot control and intersecting mineralised structures.
Named lines of lode, from east to west are Three Sisters, Crescent, Lord Nelson, Himalaya (North and South), Margaret, Morning Star. There have been numerous phases of drilling, mainly open hole percussion, and numerous intersections remain open at depth.
Jones’s Copper-Gold Porphyry System
The prospect is a discrete magnetic anomaly (high) of 2 km in diameter within an 8km diameter geochemical anomaly. Numerous historical copper workings are present within a zone of copper anomalism. Only 3 drillholes were historically drilled and all intersected porphyritic intrusion and sulphides.
A 1994 soil sampling program of 14,000 samples along the Rishton Mine Corridor Structure revealed anomalous gold in the western portion (Hadleigh Castle to Disraeli) and a bias of copper anomalism in the east. That, combined with the regional geochemical studies of old mines and prospects, illustrates an 8 km wide zone with zoned anomalism, surrounding historic pits such as Jones’s and the Blue Duck. Work programs in 2019 mapped and sampled the porphyry systems of the eastern areas including the contiguous and peripheral Kirk Goldfield.
The Jones complex occurs within dacitic and andesite porphyries interpreted to be younger than the granites of the Hadleigh Castle area, and in contact with the granites of the Kirk Goldfield. The Jones prospect has many characteristics of classical porphyry copper mineralisation systems including breccia. The alteration system has a core of potassic alteration with a halo of phyllic alteration approximately 1000m in diameter. There is some similarity between the phyllic alteration zones at Jones prospect and the surface expression of the Cadia Far Southeast deposit.
Exploration in this area would include detailed multi-element geochemistry and deep drilling, targeting a porphyry copper (gold) mineralised system.
IP Anomalies
A MIMDAS IP survey was completed in 2020 covering the Rishton Mine Corridor Structure from the east of Robinson Crusoe to the east of Hadleigh Castle. Three chargeability anomalies were identified:
- CHG1: lies on the Rishton Mine Corridor Structure coincident with the position of the Hadleigh Castle gold deposit and extends to the east.
- CHG2: lies on the northern side of the Rishton Mine Corridor Structure. No geochemistry is known from this area.
- CHG3: lies on the northern side of the Rishton Mine Corridor Structure approximately 1km north of Hadleigh Castle near the boundary of ML10344. The anomaly extends across the southern boundary of an annular magnetic anomaly. The magnetic response is caused by a younger intrusive complex of granodiorite, monzodiorite and diorite with a strong circular reversed polarised magnetic response.
Future programs in this area are anticipated to include multi-element soil geochemistry, high resolution magnetics and infill IP to facilitate targeted drill campaigns to evaluate mineralisation potential within and adjacent to the existing mining lease.
Other Projects
Great Britain
The project is located 140 kms from the Blackjack Plant. There is a JORC (2012) inferred resource of 1.542 Mt at 2.2 g/t gold (109 koz gold) which includes a higher-grade shallow resource of 809 kt at 3.45 g/t (89 koz gold). Further drilling is required to infill the gold mineralisation and improve definition of the geometry, continuity and extent of gold lodes.
Puzzler Region
The area contains numerous small historical workings. A high-grade oxide open pit was mined during the 1990’s and produced about 30 koz gold at 11 g/t Au.
A large amount of work has been undertaken in the Puzzler region including over 1000 rock chip samples, 2000 soil samples and 405 shallow RC holes. Only 47 of the holes were drilled to greater than 50 meters vertical depth.
Reconnaissance work has defined 7 main prospects: Puzzler, Puzzler North, Riddler, Puzzler West, Poverty/Lollipop, Dogmatix and Balfes Creek. The initial focus will be to further assess the Puzzler open pit extensions.
The Puzzler area will require detailed evaluation of mineralisation styles, geology and structure to develop future work programs. Large areas of the tenement are under alluvial cover and will require geophysical data to define drill targets.
Based on the broad distribution of elevated gold mineralisation and the lack of systematic assessment of the various lodes, the Puzzler area is considered a high priority for exploration.
Granite Castle
The project is located 145 km west of the Blackjack plant within the historic Mt Emu Gold Field.
There is a JORC (2012) inferred resource of 765 kt at 3.1 g/t gold (77 koz gold) and 61 g/t Ag (1501 koz silver) defined over 600 meters strike length and to a depth of 120 meters. The host shear can be traced on the surface for over 1 km to the west and 200 meters to the east beyond the resource and remains open at depth.
Further drilling will be required to evaluate mineralisation potential and provide samples for metallurgical test work.