Australia’s next lithium producer Core Lithium (ASX: CXO) is pleased to report a number of positive developments associated with its wholly owned Bynoe Gold Project (concurrent with its Finniss Lithium Project), in the Northern Territory.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Core has located quartz veins at the Toolebuc Prospect of identical style to those which host gold immediately to the north at Far East, extending the strike potential of the prospective zone from 1,600m to 2,500m.
- Most encouragingly, gold nuggets and samples containing visible coarse gold have been located at Toolebuc, suggesting the new veins are auriferous.
- Mapping, rock chip sampling and systematic soil sampling underway at Toolebuc, with assaying of the geochemical samples currently in progress.
- Core has also successfully applied for co-funding through the NT Government’s Geophysics and Drilling Collaborations program to complete initial diamond drill testing of Far East.
- The gold potential of the region was initially identified by reassaying Core’s lithium-focussed geochemical samples for gold in 2020. A second gold re-assay program to analyse a further ~3,000 historical samples is now underway.
- Core’s major focus is on the development of the Finniss Lithium Project.
Extensions to Far East Gold Belt
Soil and rock chip sampling completed in 2020 defined an open ended, 1,600m long zone of significant gold anomalism striking towards 010° at the Far East Gold Belt, comprising the Far East, Congo, Hurricane and Windswept sub areas. Soil samples returned numerous high magnitude assays with results in excess of 100ppb Au commonly recorded, and with individual results ranging up to an impressive maximum of 32g/t Au.
The surface geology at the target is dominated by numerous outcrops of strike extensive quartz veins, many of which contain clots of oxide formed by the weathering of original sulphides. Rock chips of the veins returned multiple assay results in excess of 1g/t Au, peaking at over 30g/t Au. Metal detecting along the 1,600m zone located over 80 gold nuggets, ranging in size from small grains up to larger specimens weighing up to 5gms.
Late in the 2020 season, a 74 hole, shallow Rotary Air Blast (RAB) drill program at Far East was completed and recorded widespread anomalous gold in the sub-surface with approximately one third of the holes recording intersections in-excess of 0.5g/t Au. Better intersections included 10m @ 1.5g/t Au; 7m @ 1.0g/t Au; and 24.5m @ 0.5g/t Au.
Following the impressive 2020 results at Far East, exploration in 2021 has focussed on searching for along-strike extensions to the Far East gold mineralised system. This work has delineated other significant quartz vein systems to the SSW at the Toolebuc Prospect.
As at Far East, metal detecting has discovered coarse gold grains and gold nuggets confirming that the Toolebuc veins are mineralised.
Core’s recent mapping and prospecting has materially increased the strike length of the broader target zone from the 1,600m of strike defined in 2020 to a total established strike length of 2,500m, as the Company now believes the Far East Gold Belt extends unbroken beneath the Quaternary black soil cover that separates Far East from Toolebuc.
Additional quartz veins with oxide clots after sulphide continue to be found at Toolebuc, potentially also expanding the gold-related target zone’s overall width.
A program of systematic soil sampling, together with rock chip sampling of the Toolebuc veins, has been recently completed, with these samples now undergoing analysis for gold and other metals.
