Infinity Mining is stretching its wings into multiple new gold, copper and other base metal projects in NSW, Victoria and Tasmania, with ground acquisitions from two vendors covering more than 2000 square kilometres.
The company says the projects are well-situated near other mining operations and come with extensive datasets and existing workings that will assist it to quickly gain a rapid foothold on exploration and development.
Management notes that while it considers its current portfolio of lithium, gold, copper and base metal projects in Western Australia’s Pilbara and Central Goldfields regions to be diversified and compelling, it sees the imminent acquisition of the nine new gold and copper projects in the Eastern States as a complementary addition. It also views the new projects as a positive extension of the company’s overall Australian footprint into three new world-class exploration areas.
Infinity today confirmed it has signed binding terms sheets for separate transactions with the two vendors of the respective groups of exploration licences or applications.
One agreement relates to Infinity’s acquisition of 100 per cent of the issued capital of GMH Resources for that company’s prospective gold and copper exploration licences and applications in NSW’s Lachlan Fold Belt. The second sees the acquisition of prospective gold exploration licences and applications in eastern Victoria and southern Tasmania from Eastern Victoria Gold Exploration (EVGE).
As part of the deal, Infinity will issue 60 million shares to GMH shareholders and up to $85,000 in reimbursement costs for keeping the ground in good order. GMH will also be entitled to a 1.5 per cent net smelter return (NSR) royalty on any minerals extracted from the project area.
The company will hand over a further 30 million shares to EVGE and a maximum of $40,000 for the upkeep of the ground. EVGE will also get a 1.5 per cent NSR royalty on minerals extracted from its now former ground.
Each acquisition is separate and not conditional on completion of the other.
Infinity Mining executive chairman Joe Phillips said: “Infinity Mining is eager to release the detailed JORC-compliant technical information and drill plans for these projects in the coming months, as Infinity completes its technical due diligence on each project and compiles a comprehensive new internal database.”
The GMH ground in NSW includes granted exploration licenses at Harden and Gundagai and exploration licence applications at Achilles and Bogong.
The EVGE holdings in Victoria and Tasmania comprise granted exploration licences at Tanjil Bren, Walhalla South and Weld River and are complemented by exploration licence applications at Monkey Gully and Prossers Reef. Weld River is the only property in Tasmania.
The Tanjil Bren and Harden gold projects are located in historic gold-producing regions in favourable geological settings that come with the bonus imprimatur of recent exploration success in nearby ground. The Harden project is close to the historic Harden gold mine and Infinity says it is “poised for substantial gold discoveries”.
Tanjil Bren and Walhalla South Extension both contain parts of the high-grade historic Woods Point-Walhalla goldfield that has recorded significant gold production of more than 5 million ounces. However, limited systematic exploration has been conducted in the area, including on the highly-fractionated granitoids that represent prospective reduced intrusion-related gold systems (IRGS).
In referring to the application of the IRGS exploration model in Victoria, Infinity believes its new projects have the potential for significant discoveries by focusing on fertile, reduced intrusive complexes. In contrast with oxidized IRGS deposits, which are typically hosted in stockworks of quartz veinlets in oxidized porphyry stocks in magmatic arcs, the reduced IRGS gold deposits are often of lower grade, but have big tonnage potential, placing them among the world’s most productive deposit styles.
Beyond gold, the additions to Infinity’s portfolio encompasses projects with diverse mineralisation including copper, tungsten, molybdenum, tin, copper and other base metals. Notably, Monkey Gully’s IRGS signatures and the Bogong copper-gold project offer multiple avenues for potential resource discoveries.
The company says it has already defined several drill-ready targets. Its next phase of work will prioritise immediate drilling while undertaking reviews, verification and extraction of all available exploration data, including information on relevant nearby resources and by ground-truthing of data through modern exploration techniques.
Once verified, the data will be digitised and integrated into a centralised geological database to facilitate comprehensive analysis, prior to generating priority exploration targets.
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By Doug Bright
