Venture Minerals and SensOre have inked a farm-in agreement to explore the former’s Golden Grove North project with artificial intelligence technology to define the operation’s potential for lithium and copper.
The deal for the project, 450km north-east of Perth, gives SensOre the right to earn up to 70 per cent of all mineral rights, with the exclusion of rare earths, by spending up to $4.5 million in two stages – $1.5 million for a 51-one per cent interest and a further $3 million for the additional 19 per cent.
SensOre will utilise its proprietary AI technology at the project, where it has already highlighted lithium and copper exploration potential. The sweetener for Venture in the deal is that it will get prime exposure to the exploration upside of SensOre’s advanced technology.
Venture has an option to claw back 10 per cent of the project within the first two years and will retain all rights to its high-grade Vulcan rare earths target, where its recent surface samples returned up to 12.5 per cent total rare earths oxide (TREO). SensOre has also agreed to fund and undertake, within a year, 300m of drilling at Vulcan as part of initial RC and diamond drilling.
The arrangement enables Venture to drill-test its Vulcan discovery where several recent surface samples went more than 1 per cent TREO and up to as much as 12.5 per cent. Other rare earths values included 0.55 per cent praseodymium oxide and 1.46 per cent neodymium oxide.
Venture Minerals managing director Andrew Radonjic said: “The Farm-in with SensOre provides Venture with the exposure to its AI technology for a potential new Copper and Lithium discovery, whilst retaining the rights to Rare Earths. We look forward to working with SensOre and their team in the upcoming exploration and drill program and are excited about unlocking the potential of Golden Grove North for our shareholders”.
The Golden Grove mine camp has resources and previous production totalling 40.2 million tonnes at 1.8 per cent copper, 0.9 per cent lead, 7.6 per cent zinc, 103 grams per tonne silver and 0.8g/t gold. The Golden Grove North project contains 25km strike length of the prospective Golden Grove volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) horizon.
The 288 square kilometres of Golden Grove North tenements start from just 10km north of the Golden Grove mine.
Venture’s early exploration at Golden Grove North yielded its Vulcan and Neptune VMS targets. The first hole intersected anomalous lanthanum and cerium, but did not go deep enough to intersect the projected extension of Vulcan’s surface rare earth anomaly.
Electromagnetic survey at Vulcan has identified four high priority VMS drill targets at and around the Copper-Gold Prospect, along strike to the Golden Grove zinc-copper-gold mine.
Venture says historic shallow gold drill intersections at Golden Grove North include 10m at 1.4g/t gold from 16m, 8m grading 2.1g/t gold from 6m and 3m at 3.6g/t gold from 95m. Rock-chip sampling has revealed polymetallic mineralisation including 7.4g/t gold and 6.6 per cent copper and 3.8g/t gold and 3.1 per cent lead with 7.6 per cent copper.
SensOre says it is excited about both the copper and lithium potential of the area and that its technology has already identified new areas for VMS copper potential. It predicts there will be unidentified and untested lithium potential through the northern portion of the greenstone belt covered by the tenements.
Geology covered by the farm-in includes the northern part of the Yalgoo-Singleton greenstone belt in the Murchison province. The greenstone belt is intruded by multiple phases of granitic intrusions of various compositions and ages, including lithium-caesium-tantalum pegmatites.
SensOre says its predicted lithium targets are consistent with the recognition of an emerging lithium pegmatite province in the greater Murchison region.
In all, Venture will gain access to the latest technology to identify targets at Golden Grove North and a can enjoy a free ride while SensOre tests its theoretical copper and lithium targets – sounds like a good deal all round.
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By Terry Bates
