Lycaon Resources has completed a crucial heritage survey for its multi-element Stansmore carbonatite project in Western Australia’s West Arunta region, marking a significant step towards drilling.
The clearance relates to three priority drill targets at the company’s Stansmore, Volt and Ions targets where it is chasing niobium, rare earths and iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) and it is now eyeing a drilling program later this year.
Lycaon’s 100 per cent-owned Stansmore project embraces an area of 173 square kilometres and contains six priority targets defined by a detailed geophysical review conducted by Southern Geoscience Consultants (SGC).
The higher priority Stansmore, Volt and Ions targets are discrete magnetic anomalies in the northern part of the tenement area and are interpreted as possible analogues of Encounter Resources’ Crean alkaline/carbonatite intrusive style of mineralisation that has demonstrated potential to host niobium and rare earths.
Crean sits about 90km south of Stansmore and recently produced a handful of big niobium intercepts in the range of 18m to 50m at grades between 3 per cent and 3.2 per cent niobium pentoxide from relatively shallow, sub-100m depths.
Lycaon proposes drilling at its Stansmore target, which comprises a distinct 700m-by-400m ovoid magnetic high sitting about 150m below surface and at the slightly bigger Volt target, about 8.5km north-west of Stansmore, which measures about 800m-by-600m and lies at about 200m depth.
The Ions magnetic signature is considerably smaller than at Volt but is only 2km to the south-east and could potentially be a related intrusive or apophysis off the main Volt body. Small distortions of Volt’s total magnetic intensity signature also suggest other possible apophyses on its south and south-west flanks.
Lycaon Resources technical director Thomas Langley said: “Subject to the outcome of the final report, this survey could allow the company to start drilling at our high-priority Stansmore, Volt and Ions targets, which is a great achievement within 12 months of signing the land access agreement.”
The company made a successful application under the Western Australian Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS) for a co-funding grant of up to $180,000 for two proposed drillholes designed by SGC to test its Stansmore and Volt targets.
Lycaon says the holes will be testing targets obscured by cover that stops it from obtaining reliable radiometric responses and may help detect rare earths mineralisation. It will run analyses for niobium and rare earths mineralisation and also for signatures relating to IOCG deposits.
In addition to the two proposed EIS drillholes at Stansmore and Volt, SGC proposed a further five holes to test the magnetic gradient and other magnetic anomalies identified from the aeromagnetics. The remaining three of the six priority targets determined by SGC lie in the south-west part of Lycaon’s tenement area.
They comprise the dimensionally-smaller Edi, Earl and Menlo anomalies, which are elevated magnetic responses sitting on or next to the regionally-dominant north-west/south-east linear magnetic trends that could mark either potential alkaline intrusives or linear IOCG targets.
Previous limited exploration at Stansmore has been directed towards potential gold, diamond and uranium targets, but most importantly, comprised shallow drilling that did not adequately test the magnetic anomaly, which sits at about 150m depth.
Lycaon has half a dozen solid target indications from good magnetic processing and interpretation and a broad range of commodities that could show up in drilling at any one of them, supported by analogous styles in other recent nearby discoveries.
Those odds look a lot better than the average lottery ticket and have had a lot more high-quality analysis and thought put into their evolution as exploration targets. Now, the outcome relies on passage of the company’s heritage survey and putting in the drilling metres to test the targets.
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By Doug Bright
