Platina Seeking to Build Portfolio in WA Goldfields, Submits Application for Mt Narryer Project

Summary

• Platina has filed an exploration licence application E 09/2423 covering 165km², located within the Yilgarn Craton, home to many successful mining operations.
• The exploration licence at Mt Narryer South lies 300km north-west of the recently acquired Challa Gold Project.
• The area has been highly underexplored by contemporary explorers, an added advantage for Platina. The project is considered to be prospective for orogenic lode-type gold deposits and ultramafic hosted nickel and copper.
• Platina is seeking to expand its presence in Western Australia by building a portfolio of gold exploration assets.

Australia-based company boasting a project portfolio focused on speciality, precious and base metals, Platina Resources Limited (ASX: PGM) has applied for a new exploration licence in Western Australia, aimed towards expanding its presence in the goldfields of the tier 1 mining jurisdiction. Red Heart Mines Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Platina, lodged an application for the exploration licence, E 09/2423, at Mt Narryer South on 17 July 2020.

Location Details of Mt Narryer South Project

The exploration licence application is for an area covering 165km², located 580km north of Perth and 300km north-west of PGM's recently acquired Challa Gold Project.

It is worth mentioning that Challa Gold Project, including two high-quality exploration licence applications, is located in-between the prolific Mt Magnet and Sandstone gold districts of WA. Platina has secured Challa gold tenements, with transfer of licences requiring Mines Minister approval, and the Company is engaged in finalising plans to begin field activities at the project.

Do Read: Platina Resources Enters Agreement to Acquire Challa Gold Project in Prolific WA Province

Just like Challa Gold Project, the newly applied exploration licence is located within a prodigious gold producing province since the 19th century, Yilgarn Craton, which is also home to a number of successful mining operations.

The application area is only 20km north of Murchison Settlement and falls on Mt Narryer and Meeberrie Pastoral Leases. The location allows easy access and accommodation facilities for the crew members.

The unsealed Carnarvon-Mullewa Road through the project area offers easy access for the field crews in all weathers. A Native Title Claim covers the tenement on behalf of the Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporations.

Exploration in the Area

BHP performed exploration on the tenement area on TR 4528H in 1967, while Complex Exploration Pty Ltd and Byro Exploration conducted exploration activities during 2010-2011.

Australian Consolidated Minerals and Armada Gold, in a JV, also carried out exploration activities, which seem relevant to the activities of Platina to the north of the application area.

Zoom into Geological Details

The licence lies within the Narryer Gneiss Complex in the northernmost part of the Western Gneiss Terrane of the Yilgarn Block. The complex trends north-northeast for nearly 200km and significantly impacted by deformation linked with this notable crustal suture to the north.

It is different from the granite-greenstone terranes to the east and is situated 50km south of the border separating the Yilgarn Craton and the Gascoyne Complex (part of the Capricorn Orogen).

Exploration programs carried out in the past highlight the presence of anomalous copper-nickel-PGE and chromite mineralisation associated with the mafic intrusions.

Two modified, layered mafic-ultra-mafic bodies have been identified at Taccabba Well and Imagi Well. Here iron-rich chromite occurrences have been discovered. Copper mineralisation occurs along with the eastern contact at Byro East, and low-grade chromite lenses are linked with the Imagi Well intrusion.

Majority of the tenement is covered by Cainozoic sediments comprising alluvial and elluvial sands, silts and gravels covering most of the bedrock below.

The prospect covers aeromagnetic highs including the major fault among the Palaeozoic Lyons Group sediments and the Archean granites and gneisses. Platina has interpreted that the aeromagnetic highs may indicate the presence of a large ultramafic units within these gneisses that could host similar mineralisation to that found at Julimar.

Platina Managing Director Corey Nolan Excited by the Prospect

Mr Nolan is excited about the prospect amid record high-price for gold, and recent exploration in the area that was leading to traction.

In the past, there has been no intense mineral exploration on the Mt Narryer area, owing to the lack of outcropping ‘greenstones’ that have hosted most of the gold and base metal deposits discovered in the state, so far. However, Chalice Gold Mines (ASX:CHN) at the Julimar nickel-copper-PGE project has suggested that the area can produce ample new mineral deposits, based on aeromagnetics and regional geology re-interpretation.

Additionally, geochemical sampling of only nine rock chip samples by Athena Resources in 2010 returned a promising result about the region's gold mineralisation.

Do Read: Platina Resources’ AU$904,000 Placement to Boost Capital Position and Enable Advancement of Projects

Contemporary Approach to Exploration Strategy

The area is highly underexplored by modern explorers due to the extensive coverage of the bedrock by transported sediments.

Platina intends to use this to its advantage and is planning to apply advanced exploration techniques to sort out the issue of this cover. The Company is also planning to use an innovative sampling method based on botanical sampling recommended by R. Anand et. al.

Through the all-weather access road, PGM plans to quickly mobilise on-site and commence field activities, after securing the tenement. The Company intends to carry out a low-cost reconnaissance geochemistry program to identify targets for drilling in the future.

Stock Performance

On 23 July 2020, PGM closed the day's trade at AUD 0.050, moving upward by 4.167 per cent from its previous close. The last three-month return of the stock was noted at 220 per cent.

Also read: Platina Recognises New, Cost-Effective Extraction Technology Promising to Unlock Scandium Deals