ASX ANNOUNCEMENT - 27 July 2016
Assets, Experience, Growth
SYNDICATED METALS ACQUIRES HIGHLY PROSPECTIVE GOLD PROJECT IN WA'S LAVERTON DISTRICT
HIGHLIGHTS
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Syndicated to acquire 100% of the Monument Gold Project, located in WA's world‐class Laverton region, through the purchase of private company Monument Exploration Pty Ltd for a combination of cash and shares and a royalty.
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The Monument Project comprises a 210km2 tenement portfolio located adjacent to the 3.2Moz Mount Morgans Gold Project, currently being explored by Dacian Gold (ASX: DCN).
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The project covers a 16km strike length of the same BIF (banded iron formation)/porphyry sequence which hosts the key Westralia and Morgans North deposits at Mount Morgans. The project area covers +25km of the Ninnis and Claypan Fault Zones - key regional geological structures.
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The project area includes two lightly drilled zones of gold mineralisation at Korong and Waihi, which have returned ore grade intercepts from drilling by Carpentaria Exploration in the late 1980s. These two areas also contain numerous historical workings.
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The newly acquired project represents an attractive exploration and growth opportunity for Syndicated in the WA gold sector, following an extensive search for suitable new project opportunities outside of its Queensland copper‐gold assets.
Syndicated Metals Limited (ASX: SMD - "Syndicated" or "the Company") is pleased to advise that it has reached agreement to acquire the highly prospective Monument Gold Project in WA's Laverton gold province, through the purchase of unlisted company Monument Exploration Pty Ltd ("Monument").
Syndicated will acquire Monument for $50,000 in cash and 23,767,082 fully paid ordinary Syndicated shares, to be issued to the Vendor at a price of 0.8415 cents each ($200,000 total share consideration), which is the 5‐day VWAP for Syndicated shares prior to execution of the agreement. Shareholder approval will not be sought for the issue of Syndicated shares to the Vendor. The Vendor will also receive a 0.5% gross royalty paid on future gold production of up to 100,000 ounces from the tenements.
The Monument Gold Project comprises a 210km2 tenement package located ~55km west of Laverton in the world‐class Laverton gold district of WA, which hosts numerous multi‐million ounce gold mines such as Sunrise Dam (+10Moz), Wallaby (+8Moz), Granny Smith (+2Moz) and Lancefield (+2Moz).
The package comprises four contiguous tenements (three of which are granted and one of which is pending) which lie immediately to the north‐west of the 3.2Moz Mount Morgans Gold Project, currently being explored by Dacian Gold Limited (ASX: DCN) (refer Dacian Gold announcement 25 July 2016)(see Figure 1).
Figure 1 - Location of the Monument Gold Project showing regional geology and nearby mining operations
This area is a well‐established mining district with excellent infrastructure and access including the sealed Leonora‐to‐Laverton road (which runs through the project), a new gas pipeline and a sealed airstrip at Laverton.
The Monument Gold Project tenements cover an approximate 25km strike length of the Ninnis and Claypan Fault Zones, the two significant regional geological structures which control gold and nickel mineralisation identified further south particularly at the Mount Morgan Gold Project (see Figure 1).
The acquisition provides Syndicated shareholders with exposure to an outstanding gold exploration opportunity in a world‐class gold province. The Laverton Tectonic Zone has produced more than 30 million ounces of gold and yielded some of Australia's best known gold mines.
The last concerted phase of exploration on the Monument tenements was undertaken by Carpentaria Exploration and Western Mining Corporation in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Carpentaria Exploration drilled the Waihi and Korong prospects, both of which contain near surface historical gold workings, some dating back to the last century.
The Korong mine produced some 2,875t of ore at an average grade of 35.6g/t Au while the Waihi mine produced 424 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 67.9g/t Au. Most of these workings were abandoned by 1910.
A total of 142 historical drill holes have been recorded on the tenements, most of which were drilled under and immediately along strike of the historical workings at the Waihi and Korong prospects. Drilling rarely penetrated the oxidized zone which in the area ranges from 20m to 80m.
The last recorded drill hole was completed in 2003.
Exploration on the adjoining tenements by Dacian has highlighted the importance of the confluence of the Ninnis Fault Zones with the BIF/Ultramafic unit, which hosts the Westralia and Morgans North deposits in localizing high‐grade gold mineralisation. The Korong and Waihi mineralisation further north displays similar quartz veining and sulphide alteration at contacts between the BIF/porphyry and ultramafic unit as seen at Westralia (see Figure 2).
Syndicated believes this horizon is highly prospective for gold discoveries, and intends to concentrate initially on the main 16km long Korong‐Waihi trend as a focus for near‐term exploration activities.
Figure 2 - Monument Project tenements showing the Korong and Waihi gold prospects over regional magnetics
Baseline geophysical surveys were undertaken in 2011 using Induced Polarisation (IP). These IP surveys have revealed a number of untested targets along the Korong‐Waihi trend which represent potential additional drilling targets.
The Korong prospect is covered by granted Exploration Licences, which means that Syndicated can commence drilling activities on these tenements almost immediately. While previous near surface drilling returned ore grade intercepts from the sequence it is envisaged that deeper drilling into the footwall of the ultramafic sequence will be required to fully test the targets at Korong.
A cross‐section of the Korong prospect based on historical drilling is shown in Figure 3 and listed in Appendix 1. The crossection, highlights the BIF sequence which hosts the gold mineralisation. A representative section from the Westralia deposit at Dacian Gold's nearby Mount Morgans Gold Project is shown for comparative purposes on the right.