Aurum Resources has commenced an induced polarisation gradient array geophysical survey at its Penny South project that is planned to cover an area of 5.2 square kilometres. The main target for the IP survey is ultramafic schist units that Aurum believes are possibly more extensive than previously interpreted and may host nickel-copper mineralisation.
The Penny South project is located 126 kms south-east of Mt Magnet and 27 kms south of the Youanmi gold camp in WA. The area is known for its high-grade gold deposits at the historic Penny West open pit and the more recently discovered Penny North deposit that was sold to Ramelius Resources by Spectrum Metals for well over $200m.
The project sits on the same shear structure as the high-grade Penny West deposit where 121,000 tonnes going an extraordinary 21.8 grams per tonne gold was mined in the 1990s for a total of 85,000 ounces.
Ramelius Resources now has plans to mine the Penny North deposit that is showing 620,000t at 15.0g/t for 300,000 gold ounces.
Penny West lies just 500m north of Aurum’s Penny South licence and the Penny West shear continues through the licence for a strike length of 2.5km. High grade mineralisation is associated with the sheared contacts between mafic and granodiorite, or “felsic”, rocks and quartz veining that can often be associated with lucrative sulphides.
Similar contacts have been seen at Penny South and the Penny South area has been extensively drilled with 652 holes. However, they are generally shallow, with the average depth around 40 metres.
At Penny North the mineralisation starts at 80 metres and continues to 320 metres below surface. The recent discovery at Penny North highlights the potential for additional discoveries below shallow historical drilling. The focus for Aurum at Penny South has been the targeting of deeper gold mineralisation using high resolution ground magnetics and available drilling information to provide a more detailed structural interpretation.
Exploration by Arum on the Penny South exploration licence has predominantly been focussed on gold exploration with a model similar to the Penny West gold mineralisation, which is characterised by low tonnage and high-grade gold mineralisation. Previous drill results include intersections of 2 metres at 33.89 g/t gold from 38 metres and 4 metres at 2.1 g/t from 92 metres, highlighting the potential of the area.
On the Penny South licence, minor nickel bearing gossanous fragments were encountered by historical drilling with an 8-metre intersection coming in at 0.44 per cent nickel from 32 metres. As a follow up to the historical drill results, Aurum planned an IP gradient array geophysical survey, which has now commenced over the project targeting nickel-copper sulphidemineralisation.
The Youanmi region generally represents an historically rich gold camp that many believe has not yet given all it can give. The IP survey and potential nickel-copper mineralisation at Penny South represents an additional opportunity for Aurum to participate in the growing battery metals resource sector.
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By Matt Birney
