835fd510-ea85-4917-92e8-d527208568d6.pdf
PNX Metals Limited ABN 67 127 446 271
Level 1, 135 Fullarton Road Rose Park, SA 5067
Australia Telephone +61 (0) 8 8364 3188
Facsimile +61 (0) 8 8364 4288 [email protected] www.pnxmetals.com.au
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ASX Announcement
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16 December 2015
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STRONG GOLD ANOMALIES DEFINED AT BURNSIDE EAST, NT
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Regional exploration program defined three distinct areas containing strong gold and base metals anomalies in close proximity to the Hayes Creek development project
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At the Tramways and Scraper prospects historical gold values up to 5.09g/t in soils, up to 3.14g/t in rock chips, and up to 3m at 30g/t from surface in RAB drilling
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Maze anomaly defined over a 2km mineralised trend consistent with well-known associations of gold deposits and anticlinal fold hinges in the Pine Creek region such as Newmarket's Cosmo-Howley deposits (>2Moz Au)
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Drilling results from Mt Bonnie at the Hayes Creek project are expected this week and an initial resource estimate for the Mt Bonnie deposit is underway
PNX Metals Limited (ASX: PNX) is pleased to provide an update on its regional exploration program which has been primarily focussed at the Burnside project in the Northern Territory.
The Burnside Project is situated within the Pine Creek Orogen, one of the most prospective geological regions of Australia, with recorded gold production of over 3.2 Moz and known resources of approximately 9 Moz1. PNX is earning up to a 90% interest in 19 Exploration Licenses and 4 Mineral Leases covering approximately 1,700km² from Newmarket Gold Inc2 (TSX: NMI).
Exploration during the 2015 dry season was aimed at identifying new gold and base metal targets to complement (by increasing the prospective project life) the Hayes Creek Zn-Au-Ag development project located in the south-east corner of the Burnside project area (Figure 1). Geological mapping, rock chip sampling and geochemical soil data was collected to compliment the already significant datasets inherited from NMI.
High-grade gold results in soils and in rock chips have already been reported from the new Thunderball North prospect3and a further three further prospective areas have emerged that all provide excellent opportunities for economic mineralisation. These will be evaluated, prioritised and tested over the next twelve months. PNX is progressing a pipeline of gold and base metal prospects in accordance with the Company's vision to be a successful explorer and sustainable and profitable gold and base metals producer.
Amongst many exciting targets, PNX has identified the Tramways prospect as being of particular interest. Shallow rotary air blast (RAB) drilling by previous explorers intersected near-surface high-grade gold (3m
@ 30 g/t Au) that remains untested at depth.
There are several other prospects in the area all with high gold grades in near-surface RAB drilling that also remain underexplored.
1 Ahmad and Munson, 2013 (Northern Territory Geological Survey Special Publication 5)
2 See PNX ASX release 18/08/14 for further details of agreement
3 PNX ASX release 29/10/2015
Detailed descriptions of the priority targets outlined to date are provided in the main body of this announcement.
Statutory approvals will be sought (where required) for further exploration, including drill testing of the most prospective areas, scheduled for the 2016 dry season.
Final assay results from recent drilling at Mt Bonnie are still pending and are expected within the next week. Delays were due to the laboratory experiencing a significant increase in workload. An initial resource estimate for Mt Bonnie is underway and will be announced when complete.
TARGET SUMMARIES
Figure 1: Exploration Prospects - Burnside East
Tramways - Scraper - Snakebite (Au)
The Tramways, Scraper and Snakebite gold prospects lie approximately 10km north of the Hayes Creek project, adjacent to Newmarket's Woolwonga mineral leases and within the northern extension of the Pine Creek Shear Zone. The historical Woolwonga open pit produced more than 130,000oz Au up to 1995, with oxidised ore averaging 27 g/t Au and primary ore averaging 2.8 g/t Au.
Figure 2: Tramways - Scraper - Snakebite prospects
The Tramways prospect is located to the southwest of Woolwonga and contains a gold-in-soils anomaly at greater than 0.1g/t Au over a 1.2km strike length. Shallow historical RAB drilling returned up to 3m @
30.5 g/t Au from surface, with other supporting intersections of 2m@ 6.09 g/t Au from 2m and 1m @ 5.4 g/t Au from 16m, these intersections occur along strike from the gold-in-soils anomaly (Figure 2).
Similarly, Scraper lies along the northwestern extension from Woolwonga (Figure 2). Historical soil sampling and costeaning defined a greater than 0.1g/t Au anomaly approximately 500m in length. This is supported by three sections of historical near-surface drilling with a number of promising results including 3m @ 2.47 g/t Au from 12m, 4m @ 3.01 g/t Au from 15m, and 2m @ 4.37 g/t Au from 13m. The anomaly is open to the southeast. Importantly, the extent of mineralisation identified is confined to an outcropping area - there is no drilling information in the area where the anomaly is projected to continue under cover.
Snakebite (Figure 2) is an open-ended gold-arsenic anomaly over 600m in strike length. Sampling by Newmarket in 2012 returned results up to 5.09 g/t Au in soils and rock chip results of 3.14 g/t and 2.43 g/t Au from extensively altered rocks with visible pyrite-arsenopyrite. An RC drill program was designed to follow up the encouraging results, but did not occur prior to the commencement of PNX's earn-in agreement.
Each of these prospects has the potential to emerge as a new discovery of near-surface economic gold mineralisation. Historical drilling has only focused on the outcropping area, yet the excellent results from shallow RAB drilling under cover at Tramways is a good indication that mineralisation extends well beyond the surface expression of soil geochemistry. The close proximity of this area to the Hayes Creek project and to Newmarket's mill at Union Reef would allow any resources defined to be incorporated into existing development projects.
Maze (Au)
Mapping and sampling at the Maze prospect, less than 1km to the east of Mt Bonnie (Figure 3) has identified a 2km NNW/SSE trending mineralised structure containing three zones of gold-arsenic anomalism in surface soil sampling. Gold and arsenic anomalism occurs together in several places along the contact of Zamu Dolerite within the Koolpin Formation and concentrated within fold hinges of a prominent NNW trending anticlinal structure. The geology is interpreted to be directly analogous with the Cosmo-Howley gold deposit (NMI), being situated within an anticlinal fold hinge at the dolerite contact.
Figure 3: Maze Prospect Geochemical Anomalies shown with Newmarket Gold Cosmo mine cross-section