Meeka Gold Limited has identified two new gold targets coinciding with a 5.5km long magnetic anomaly at its Circle Valley project in southern Western Australia. Air core drilling has highlighted gold mineralisation over 700m and 350m of strike at the two parallel shear zones. The 5.5km gap between the new gold targets and the Fenceline prospect remains untested and the company said it provided a significant exploration target.
Drilling at Circle Valley also intersected saprolite clays more than 20m thick that the company views as being similar to the high-grade rare earth clays recently discovered 3km to the east.
Meeka Gold recently completed 13,000m of air core drilling at Circle Valley with assays results available for approximately 65 per cent of the drilling. Drilling was planned to intersect two parallel shear zones inferred from aeromagnetic data.
The company interprets the shear zones as extending east to the Fenceline gold prospect some 5.5km away as shown on the accompanying plan provided by Meeka Gold. Follow-up drilling is being planned for the two new gold anomalies and the large gap east towards the Fenceline gold prospect.
Meeka said the drilling improved its understanding of the geometry and strike orientation of gold mineralisation at the Anomaly A and Fenceline prospects.
At Anomaly A the company reported air core drilling along strike to the east and west of an RC drill intersection of 36m at 2.69 g/t gold successfully defined the mineralisation. The work is guiding deeper RC drilling along the interpreted gold-bearing shear zone.
Meeka Gold Limited CEO Tim Davidson, said:
“These results are very exciting as we are beginning to understand the geology and various styles of mineralisation, both gold and rare earth elements, that exist at Circle Valley. The two new gold zones identified are significant in both width of anomalism and strike potential.”
Air core drilling intersected a 10-20m thick orange-red coloured saprolite clay layer the company said corresponds with the one intersected 3km to the west, hosting high-grade rare earths mineralisation, including 12m at 1003 parts per million total rare earth oxides within 36m going 672 parts per million.
Meeka said thicker zones of rare earths enrichment appear to be consistent with the margin of a large palaeo-drainage channel; whilst magnetic lows observed in airborne magnetic data is suggestive of a deeper regolith profile and/or structural controls in that area; although current drilling results are yet to be received.
Regolith-hosted rare earth deposits are also known as ion-adsorption deposits because the rare earths physically adhere to the clay particles. As a result, between 60 and 90 per cent of the rare earth elements can be recovered and extracted by ion-exchange leaching with dilute electrolyte.
These rare earth deposits are formed in decomposed rocks by intense weathering of mineral rich rocks, such as certain granites. Rare earths move downward with rainwater to from a concentrated sub-horizontal layer beneath the ground surface.
China dominates global rare earths production and regolith-hosted rare earth deposits make up approximately 35 per cent of China's production. Ore zones are generally 5-20m thick and low grade, 0.05-0.3 per cent rare earths. Mining and processing costs are low giving rise to economic production.
Meeka has recorded previous assay grades of 0.05 to 0.1 per cent rare earths at Circle Valley which is comparable to economic grades in Chinese mines.
The company was formerly known as Latitude Consolidated Limited and changed its name to Meeka Gold Limited in November 2021. Its flagship Murchison project contains a 1.1-million-ounce gold resource and Circle Valley is adding another string to its bow.
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By Matt Birney
