MINOTAUR EXPLORATION LIMITED ACN 108 483 601 ASX: MEP
MINOTAUR
EXPLORATION
Quarterly Report
Period ended 30 September 2016
www.minotaurexploration.com.au
Exploration Highlights
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Maiden JORC 2012 Resource estimate for Chameleon gold deposit near Kalgoorlie (WA)
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Ground geophysical surveys completed near Prominent Hill mine, in collaboration with OZ Minerals (SA); drilling underway
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Ground geophysical surveys completed for Osborne JV (near Cloncurry), in collaboration with JOGMEC (Qld)
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First-pass drilling on Iris EM anomalies at Eloise (near Cloncurry), also in collaboration with OZ Minerals (Qld), reveals encouraging copper intersections
Corporate Review
An agreement for sale of the Chameleon gold deposit dated 26 October 2016 with Shine Resources Pty Ltd (Shine) provides, subject to due diligence, for transfer of ownership upon the third of three staged payments by 12 December 2017, totaling $550,000, plus a production payment of up to $250,000. The agreed consideration of
$800,000 values the inferred resource at approx. $10.40 per ounce of contained gold, at the mid-range of recent gold inferred resource valuations.
At Quarter end Minotaur held $2.9 million in cash and forecasts a cash position of $2.4 million at the end
of 2016, assuming the sale of Chameleon does not complete within that timeframe.
The Company's Annual General Meeting will be held on 17 November 2016 at the South Australian Core Reference Library at Tonsley, Adelaide. This new, $35 million world-class facility houses all reference drill core from within South Australia. The AGM offers shareholders the opportunity to see the development up-close whilst participating in the Company's governance.
Chairman Derek Carter will, at the AGM, vacate his role as a director having served the group continuously for over twenty years.
LEVEL 1, 8 BEULAH ROAD, NORWOOD, SOUTH AUSTRALIA 5067 T+61 8 8132 3400 F+61 8 8132 3499 E[email protected]
www.minotaurexploration.com.au
Review of Activities
Figure 1: Minotaur Exploration's project locations
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Project Location
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Tenement Area km2
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South Australia§
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13,819
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Queensland§
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3,613
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Victoria
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415
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Western Australia§
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344
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Total Area
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18,191
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QUEENSLAND
Minotaur is actively exploring along the Cloncurry mineral belt of Northwest Queensland where an extensive package of iron oxide copper-gold and Cannington-style lead-silver-zinc prospective tenements has been assembled (Figure 2).
Table 1: Minotaur Exploration Limited's tenement areas, under application and/ or held 100% and/or in joint venture§ or within Minotaur Gold Solutions Ltd(Minotaur Exploration as to 99%)
Joint venture funded exploration activity continued on two fronts - at the Eloise and Osborne projects - with significant progress made in both areas. Drilling and ground geophysical surveys are ongoing and will continue into November leading up to the onset of the wet season.
QUEENSLAND
Eloise Farm-In
EPM 17838, 18442, 18624, 19500, 25237, 25238, 25389, 25801, MDL431;
Minotaur 100% (except on those parts of MDL431 and EPM17838 where Sandfire Resources NL can earn 80%), Area 728km2
Three drill holes were completed during the Quarter for
a combined 977.5m. One hole was drilled into each of Iris North, Iris South and Royal EM conductors (Figures 3 and 4).
The Iris anomalies lie under shallow cover approximately 5km north-east of the Eloise Copper-Gold Mine (Figure 3). The prospect sits along the Levuka Shear Zone within Mt Norna Quartzite, a regionally significant rock unit that hosts the Eloise and Osborne copper-gold mines and the Cannington silver-lead-zinc mine. Minotaur's geological model for Iris is Iron Sulphide Copper Gold (ISCG) mineralisation similar in style to the Eloise copper- gold deposit.
Assays from the holes completed at Iris returned anomalous copper and gold values associated with pyrrhotite over broad intercepts, confirming Iris as a new ISCG discovery. Drill hole EL16D04, testing the Iris North EM conductor (Figure 4), reported 42.1m @ 0.2% Cu and 0.03g/t Au from 199m. Mineralisation is typically hosted in veinlets, both bedding/foliation parallel
and in coexisting high-angle tension veins. Drill hole EL16D05, testing the Iris South EM conductor (Figure 4), reported 38m @ 0.47% Cu and 0.08g/t Au from 166m.
Mineralisation is hosted in veinlets, like hole EL16D04, but one zone in particular exhibits much stronger breccia-hosted mineralisation, representing a more favorable structural setting. This zone contains 4m @ 1.65% Cu and 0.2g/t Au from 195m.
In light of these encouraging results, where copper sulphides are clearly associated with the EM conductors, Minotaur re-processed its local ground EM lines north and south of the Iris targets to look for additional anomalies along strike, under cover. Close analysis of the data revealed subtle conductive anomalies, north of the Iris North target, on two of those recent 800m-spaced
Figure 2: Location of Minotaur tenements in the Cloncurry region of Northwest Queensland
lines at 'Electra'. The data on both lines is relatively coarse given the specifications of the original survey, however the modelled plates show a preferred northerly strike and westerly dip that is consistent with the Iris North conductor. The northern conductive zone may represent a north-trending brittle fault zone that cuts across the geological and magnetic trends, as depicted in Figure
5; if this is a fault, it could host structurally-controlled sulphide mineralisation, as evidenced at Iris North and Iris South.
QUEENSLAND
The Minotaur-OZ Minerals joint venture committed to 4 additional diamond holes to test for extensions to the breccia zones. These holes (EL16D07 to 10) are underway (Figure 4), with the aim of mapping the sulphide system to aid drill vectoring toward higher-grade mineralisation in more structurally complex areas and provide multiple platforms for down- hole EM surveys. Follow-up infill ground EM will proceed in November, along strike north and south of Iris, with particular focus across the Electra anomalies (Figure 5).
Drill hole EL16D06 tested the Royal EM conductor located approximately 5km northwest of the Eloise mine (Figure 3). The anomaly is a relatively large modelled conductor
up to 1200m long and was considered prospective for base metal mineralisation. The hole was completed at a depth of 361.3m and intersected graphitic shale and schist in the target position but does not contain base metal mineralisation.
Altia Joint Venture
MDL432, parts of MDL431 and parts of EPM17838; Sandfire Resources NL earning 80%, Area 43.7km2,
A follow up diamond hole was drilled at the Capricorn North prospect to target an off-hole conductor and intersected narrow zones of copper mineralisation. A follow up moving loop EM survey has not identified any prospective anomalies. A deep diamond hole targeting the down plunge extension of the Altia resource
Figure 3: Eloise project magnetics with tenements and main prospects including Artemis, Sandy Creek and the new Iris EM targets. Locations of Sandfire JV and the Eloise Mine shown for reference.
Figure 4: Late time Z-component EM image (plan view) of Iris conductors with reported
intersected similar grades and thicknesses to thosedrill holes EL16D04 - 05 and planned drill holes EL16D07 - 10.
within the resources indicating that the ore zone extends at depth.