Inside Catalina Resources' (ASX: CTN) proposed drilling for Laverton Project - Kalkine Media

Highlights

• Department of Mines has granted approval for planned drilling at exploration licence E38/3697.
• For E38/3697 and E38/3698, aboriginal heritage survey has been concluded.
• In the first quarter of 2024, air core drilling is expected to be initiated to test targets on E38/3697.

Last year, Catalina Resources Limited (ASX: CTN) announced its plans to initiate an air core drilling campaign in the first quarter of 2024 to test target on exploration licence E38/3697 in the Laverton district of Western Australia. The countdown started after the company received approval for the planned drilling at E38/3697 from the Department of Mines (DMIRS).

Details about the exploration licence – E38/3697

Within CTN’s Laverton Project of, E38/3697 is the biggest tenement amongst the group of seven tenements. Aboriginal heritage survey has been completed for this tenement, along with E38/3698.

The Laverton Project lies within the Laverton Gold Province which is located in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. The region hosts numerous deposits of nickel, gold, and rare earth elements (REEs) including Sunrise Dam, Wallaby, Windara Nickel, and the Mt Weld REE deposit.

Within the E38/3697, the company has located multiple under-cover REE, nickel and gold mineralisation drill targets. These targets have been identified via integrating geological interpretations, aeromagnetic images, historical exploration data and ground gravity images. Moreover, references were made to genetic models developed for nearby mineral deposits.

The combination of the data demonstrated that historical drilling has been sporadic and non-systematic within the tenement and substantial geochemical anomalies were not followed up.

Further modelling and processing of the aeromagnetic data was done by Southern Geoscience to enhance understanding of the structural and lithological setting of the targets identified.

As per the company, majority of the tenement is covered by colluvium and alluvium, and there is a small area of outcrop in the northwest corner. Due to this, verification and drilling of targets have been affected, putting more focus on in-depth analysis and modelling of the aeromagnetic data.

The drill targets identified exist for three commodity groups – nickel sulphides, REEs and shear zone hosted gold. 

CTN shares traded at AU$0.003 apiece at the time of writing on 16 January 2024.