Chinese
The Lake Wells Gold Project was a joint venture with St Barbara Limited (ASX: SBM) between 2018 & 2022 for the exploration, development and mining of non-potash minerals. In April 2021 it was announced that SBM had met the necessary expenditure commitment to earn a 70% interest in the Lake Wells Gold Project. SBM withdrew from the joint venture in July 2022.
The Lake Wells Gold Project has overlapping tenure with the Lake Wells SOP Project and is located approximately 60km from Gold Road Resource’s (ASX: GOR) tier 1 Gruyere Project.
Figure 1: Lake Wells Gold Project Location
Until APC, the tenure was considered unexplored, primarily as no significant gold was discovered by prospectors in the 1890’s and little systematic work was conducted subsequently. Sporadic interest for gold and base metals occurred over the ensuing 120 years, however the lack of focussed exploration resulted in anomalous results being left open, and whole areas of interest going unrecognised. As has been demonstrated by the successful exploration and discovery of mineralisation along strike within the Yamarna belt, revisiting this under explored area and applying current technology and exploration thinking is paying dividends by leading to new discoveries of gold mineralisation. By combining the latest in geological and geochemical practices in target generation with focussed exploration, the joint venture partners are giving shareholders the best chance of making mineral discoveries and unlocking the inherent value of the Lake Wells Gold Project.
Preliminary exploration work conducted by APC, and continued by SBM, has sought to understand the geology and mineralisation potential of the Project area which hosts the fertile Yamarna Shear Zone. Aircore drilling undertaken in 2018 identified a significant bedrock gold anomaly over a 2.5km strike length. The prospective bedrock lithology exhibited at southern neighbour Gold Road Resources' Pacific Dunes – Corkwood Camp continues into APC held ground in this area. The number of gold targets immediately south of the APC tenement boundary, and the continuity of the prospective host rocks through the Company land holding made this a high priority target area for systematic exploration.
Following the recognition of this mineralisation outside APC held tenure, a review began of the gold potential within Company ground. In the first instance, a comprehensive independent review of the tenement package was completed, and a range of new and high priority targets generated. Importantly the structural review noted similarities between this tenement package and the world-class Timmins district of the southern Abitibi in Canada. Timmins, and the southern Abitibi, hosts a number of world-class Archaean gold deposits, that have been mined since the early 1900's with total gold production of over 170 million ounces of gold.
Subsequent work completed included the acquisition of updated and reprocessed magnetic data, and the submission of bottom-of-hole (BOH) pulps for detailed litho-geochemical analysis. Submitting BOH pulps for further analysis is a cost-effective exploration step where samples that have been collected previously are analysed in a different and more precise way with the aim of identifying alteration and hydrothermal systems related to mineralisation.
In mid-2019, SBM completed a 585 hole aircore program for 29,337m testing eight targets, as well as a detailed 36,633 line kilometre airborne magnetic survey over the entire Project area. A second drilling program comprising 196 holes for 9,436m and testing a further seven targets occurred later in 2019. This work defined areas of anomalous gold and pathfinder elements (As, Bi and Sb) that require follow-up, potential target styles of mineralisation and additional areas for first-pass testing. The results also confirmed and strengthened the earlier work completed by APC, with a large zone of gold anomalism delineated with multiple prospects identified over a +9km strike length. The scale of the gold anomalism and other indicators returned from analysis of the drill programs completed suggest that a Kundana style of mineralisation is the primary target in the South Yamarna area.
A first phase of reverse circulation (18 holes, 2,328m) and diamond drilling (three holes for 1,034m) was undertaken during mid-2021. Significant results included:
A program of 16 diamond drill holes, with reverse circulation pre-collars, for 4,407m commenced in September 2021. Results confirmed that the joint venture area has been subject to gold mineralising events. Significant intercepts over 0.5g/t Au included:
While the results of the drilling program do not present targets for immediate follow-up drilling, there is significant data to work through to form the basis of future programs.
