West Perth-based gold explorer Goldstar Resources NL has won a tender for a 383 sqkm block in Walhalla, Victoria, with the company announcing it would conduct aggressive exploration as part of its expansion plans.
West Perth-based gold explorer Goldstar Resources NL has won a tender for a 383 sqkm block in Walhalla, Victoria, with the company announcing it would conduct aggressive exploration as part of its expansion plans.
The full text of a company announcement is pasted below
Goldstar Resources NL is pleased to advise that it has been successful in its tender application to the Victorian Government for a substantial mineral exploration block comprising four Exploration Licences located immediately adjacent to its Walhalla Gold Project in Victoria's East Gippsland region. The strategically located tenements will more than double Goldstar's combined ground position in the Walhalla-Woods Point Goldfield to almost 700 square kilometres.
The four new Exploration Licences, covering a total area of 383 square kilometres, are located immediately to the north, east and south of Goldstar's existing tenements, EL 3311, which contains the Eureka and Tubal Cain Projects, and EL 4660 (total area of 315 square kilometres).
The new tenements are interpreted to contain extensions of the significant Ross Creek Line of mineralisation as well as other major regional structures and lines of mineralisation that have been identified in the region.
In addition, the newly secured exploration block includes a number of historic workings. Up to 40 have already been identified from an initial broad scale data review, some which have recorded high-grade gold production of up to 30,000 ounces. Indications are that only limited work was undertaken on the largest of these prospects below the water table.
Goldstar intends to commence an aggressive exploration program within the new tenement areas as part of its expanded regional exploration strategy.
This program - covering Goldstar's broader ground position in the Walhalla-Woods Point region - commenced last year alongside the
current bulk sampling and mine feasibility programs at the Eureka and Tubal Cain Dyke Bulges.
The new exploration block provides outstanding synergy with Goldstar's existing tenement holdings given Goldstar's extensive knowledge of the geology and mineralisation in the region. The 5 new potentially mineralised structural features identified in 2006 by the re-processing of regional geophysical data and further confirmed by the presence of historical workings, together with the RCL - which hosts Eureka, Tubal Cain and other historic mines and dyke bulge prospects - are almost certain to extend into the new tenements, further highlighting the potential of the new blocks.
Goldstar intends to apply similar exploration strategies to the new tenement areas to those successfully implemented at Eureka and Tubal Cain. This will include extensive utilisation of historical mining records in order to fast-track exploration, together with the application of modern exploration techniques.
While Goldstar's focus is clearly on achieving early gold production at Eureka and Tubal Cain, the Company is also rapidly unlocking the broader potential of the Walhalla region and believes that there is outstanding potential for development and production opportunities within its tenements.
In this regard, the Company intends to conduct a comprehensive review of its expanded and newly consolidated tenement holdings and prioritise exploration targets dividing the area into northern and southern areas of focus.
Commenting on the announcement, Goldstar's Managing Director, Mr Andrew King, said: "We are very pleased to have secured this strategic exploration block, which adds significant weight to our regional exploration strategy in the Walhalla-Woods Point region. With our early production strategy gathering momentum at Eureka and Tubal Cain, Goldstar is well placed to fast-track regional exploration given our strong funding position, extensive knowledge base and ability to add significant value to exploration in the region.
"The newly secured tenements host significant extensions to known major mineralised structures including the highly prospective Ross Creek Line, and we believe there is enormous untapped potential for new gold discoveries that we envisage could emerge as future multiple production centres for Goldstar."
