Geology and Geological Interpretation
Chameleon lies within Minotaur Gold Solutions' Scotia project within the Archean Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt on the western limb of the Scotia-Kanowna Anticline (Figure 1).
Chameleon is hosted in a package of ultramafic, mafic volcanics and metasediments. Gold mineralisation
is typical of many Archean gold deposits in Western Australia and at Chameleon gold primarily occurs within a steeply dipping shear zone between ultramafic and mafic volcanic units hosting quartz veining and silicification (Figures 2 and 3). The Chameleon Mineral
Resource area extends over a WNW strike length of 625m (from 6,663,150mN - 6,663,725mN) and includes 290m of vertical extent from 380mRL to 90mRL (Figure 4).
A strongly weathered oxide zone is developed where gold appears relatively depleted in the top 30m horizon. Gold occurs at the base of this depletion zone that appears supergene in character and is interpreted to have formed flat lying blankets in some areas above
and slightly lateral west of the main gold zone. Below
this, gold is constrained to two main lodes with a thicker lode occurring in the southern portion of the resource and two thinner lodes occupying the northern portion of the resource.
Oxidation depths, varying from
40m-80m, pass into a transitional zone down to 100m with fresh material from there to 290m; the base of resource model.
Left:
Figure 2: Cross-section (looking north) through Chameleon gold deposit showing location of main lode relative to host geology. Section contains drill intercepts within +/-35m of section plane (see cross-section location in Figure 3).
Below:
Figure 3: Long-section (looking west) through Chameleon gold deposit showing lode drill pierce points and average gold grades. Note - selected historic holes are projected onto the modelled lode position as they terminated just short of the lode.
Drilling technique
Minotaur holes 16RCCM001 to 16RCCM011 (1124m total) were drilled from surface with 5 5/8" diameter RC technique. Drill hole 16RCDCM012 was drilled from surface with RC to 106m and tailed with HQ3 diameter diamond coring triple tube technique to a total depth of 196.5m. The core was oriented using Coretell orientation equipment utilised by DDH1 drilling contractors. All MEP drillholes were surveyed by downhole gyro by DDH1.
Historically;
-
1998-2001 (WMC): 91 aircore holes for 6730m diameter unspecified, no downhole surveys; 15 percussion drillholes for 2990m - diameter unspecified, Eastman single-shot downhole surveys; 4 RC drillholes for 950m
- diameter unspecified, downhole survey method unspecified; 3 cored diamond drillholes for 983m - diameter unspecified, Eastman single-shot downhole surveying;
-
2005 (Scotia Nickel): 4 holes for 983m diamond core, NQ diameter, Eastman downhole surveys (undocumented whether single or multishot); 4 RC holes for 379m - diameter unspecified, Eastman downhole surveys (undocumented whether single or multishot);
• 2011-2012 (Aphrodite): 27 RC holes for 4952m - 5.5" or 5.375" diameter, Gyrosmart downhole surveying by JSW drilling contractors.
Figure 4: Chameleon gold resource block model (long section looking west) showing distribution of estimated gold values
Sampling and Sub-sampling Techniques
Core from Minotaur drillhole 16RCDCM012 was sawn and half core sub-samples bagged for laboratory analysis.
Core from historic holes LSGD0010 and LSGD0014 was mostly sawn and sampled as half core, except 4
(unmineralised) quarter core samples necessitated where Minotaur sampling overlapped historic Scotia Nickel sampling. Some (unmineralised) samples from hole LSGD0010 had to be hand-split using a chisel due to the degraded nature of the core; these samples are outside of the resource area and have no influence on the resource estimate. Historically Scotia Nickel core was sampled as sawn half core. WMC core samples are documented as 'split' in statutory annual reporting; it is assumed that half core was sampled for analysis and may have been hand- split with a chisel or similar tool rather than sawn.
Minotaur RC samples passed through a rotary cone splitter attached to the drill rig into a calico bag. The sub-sample in the calico bag was speared with a
PVC spear to obtain the laboratory sample. Some wet samples were obtained and these intervals were documented. Aphrodite Gold recorded bulk sample
weights and sample moisture (wet, moist, dry) in drilling logs 2011-2012. Measures taken by WMC and Scotia Nickel 1998-2005 to ensure RC, percussion or aircore sample representivity are not in available documentation.