Development Project – Far Fanning

Introduction

Far Fanning Gold Project is an active development project and the first gold asset to be progressed to development in the anticipated Project Pipeline. Ashby Mining Limited does not own Maroon Gold Pty Ltd’s 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.

The Project is located 45 km NE of Charters Towers and lies on a permitted Mining Lease with historical production of 47,200 oz gold from 664,000 t of ore at average 2.2 g/t gold. The main historical open pit is only 30 m deep and was last operated in 2005.

The JORC (2012) resource was updated in 2021 to 2.55 Mt at 1.8 g/t for 147,000 oz gold.

A Scoping Study Whittle optimisation demonstrated pit expansion to 115m depth. The Company propose to undertake programs to improve the confidence in the Far Fanning resource estimate through verification and infill drilling which will support a further resource update, feasibility study and commencement of mining operations.

Location

Far Fanning Gold Mine is located on a group of 5 mining leases 45 km NE of Charters Towers on 255.98 Ha of tenements. The nearby township of Mingela is accessed from Townsville or Charters Towers via the sealed Flinders Highway and unsealed public road.

The land is held by the Commonwealth Government for Military training purposes and forms part of the Townsville Field Training Area (TFTA). The TFTA wholly surrounds the Far Fanning Gold Project with access to the project provided via an easement.

Geology

The Far Fanning gold deposit lies within the Devonian to Carboniferous Burdekin Basin. The host to the gold mineralisation is the Devonian Dotwood Group composed of arkoses, conglomerates, red shales, siltstones and tuffaceous sediments. The Far Fanning deposit is located on the northern limb of the regional west plunging Kitty O’Shea Anticline. The folded sediments are intruded by the Permo-Carboniferious Mt Kitty O’Shea Suite.

The broad structural zone at Far Fanning is delineated over a strike length of 1700 metres and is characterised by open fold structures at the eastern end of the deposit and monoclines throughout the rest of the deposit. The area is structurally complex with steep dips associated with a monocline and major faults which dislocate the beds and dykes.

The main deposit consists of numerous ore lenses. These ore lenses parallel and cross-cut bedding and vary in width from 2 metres to 20 metres. Gold mineralisation is associated with quartz-sulphide stringers and veinlets, minor breccias and disseminated sulphides.

Production History

Mineralisation was discovered in 1866 and worked on a small scale. It has been extensively explored since the 1970’s. There were two major phases of extraction since the 1980’s culminating in a brief underground development in the early 2000’s.

Recorded production from the Far Fanning mines consists of 47,200 oz of gold from 664,000 tonnes of ore averaging 2.2 g/tonne Au. This includes 243,000 tonnes of ore mined in open pits and minor underground workings from 2000-2004 which averaged 4.3 g/t Au.

Resource Model Update

Recent remodelling with domain wireframing has produced an improved geological model with higher overall grade which reflects historical mining. This work has assisted in providing insight into helping to identify mineralised extensions, continuity and how to optimise future mining methods and plans.

Near Mine Priority Targets

The deposit hosts mineralisation which is amenable to cost efficient and selective open pit mining. The mineralisation is not constrained due to insufficient drilling, and it is open to depth extension. There is very little drilling deeper than 100 metres depth and the average historical depth is 55 metres.

Proposed drilling is designed to confirm the continuity and extensions of previously defined mineralisation within the Whittle open pit mine design, as well as provide sufficient drill density for near surface grade control purposes. Upon completion of drilling, an updated pit design will be completed to support a mining feasibility study to commence operations.

 

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