ASX-listed explorer Godolphin Resources has launched detailed ground magnetic survey works at its wholly owned Cyclops, Yeoval East and Goodrich copper-gold prospects near the Yeoval township in central west NSW. The assets have yet to be tested using modern exploration methods and data from the campaigns will flow into a host of upcoming drill campaigns.
The workstream will entail a program of closely spaced high-resolution ground magnetics across a trio of prospects the company says could offer significant quantities of copper, molybdenum and gold. The explorer believes the ground’s potential for mineralisation was first brought to light through legacy mining operations in the late 1800s but modern exploration has been sparse.
Management says closely spaced ground magnetic surveys have not been run on any of its Yeoval prospects since the 1990s, whilst its nearby Cyclops prospect has never been tested using modern-day geophysical equipment.
The Cyclops, Yeoval East and Goodrich prospect zones were selected as the company’s primary survey locations due to the structural regime of the site's historical copper mines, which are situated inside a northwest-trending shear zone. According to the company, copper mineralisation has been found within the shear zone in both legacy and recent drilling programs.
Despite drilling results demonstrating a clear correlation of magnetite with copper sulphide mineralisation, Godolphin argues there is a lack of current, ground-based geophysical data.
The Cyclops prospect was drill tested in April last year and returned results of 8m at 1.01 per cent copper from 118m inside of a larger 18m strike going 0.52 per cent from 118m. Another 4m intersection ran 1.75 per cent copper from a depth of 122m.
Godolphin says the program at Cyclops led to the discovery of multiple zones of high-grade copper mineralisation and that the magnetic survey could identify similar zones within the area.
The nearby Yeoval East prospect is positioned about 1km from the company’s Yeoval prospect which hosts an existing mineral resource estimate of 12.8m tonnes at 0.38 per cent copper, 0.14 grams per tonne gold, 2.2 g/t silver and 1200 parts per million molybdenum.
The company says six widely spaced RC drill holes were plunged at Yeoval East in the mid-90s and delivered a campaign-best copper return of 21m at 0.34 per cent with anomalous gold from 30m. Godolphin says the wide spacing of the program failed to adequately test the prospect’s mineralisation and believes the ground magnetic survey could light up more fruitful structures.
The Goodrich prospect is situated about 8km southwest of Yeoval and recent core logging by Godolphin indicates the site could offer a host of mineralisation with visible copper sulphide material found in unsampled drill core. Legacy drilling in the 90s led to the delivery of a 2m intersection going 1.1 per copper from 183m and Godolphin hopes its latest program of ground magnetics will lift the veil on areas speckled with copper and gold.
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By Matt Birney
