Blackcat Prospect
Overview
Highlights:
- Hosted within the Killi Killi Formation, interpreted fold nose in mineralised area
- Best overall rock chip gold assay result was 7.7g/t Au¹
- Mineralisation seen over 700 meters of strike length
- Best historic drill results include: 3m @ 9.18g/t Au and 3m@ 5.02g/t Au²
The Blackcat Prospect is located approximately 25kmsouthwest of Old Pirate Deposit on EL28325 and was discovered by regional geochemical sampling.
Results from surface sampling outlined northwest striking anomalies. Blackcat is hosted within the Killi Killi Formation.Original soil sampling over the Blackcat area was completed by Otter Exploration as part of a large regional sampling program in late 2000.
¹Company Report CR20010269 (Otter Gold NL) ²ASX 9 September 2015
¹Company Report CR20010269 (Otter Gold NL); ²Company Report CR20030368 (Otter Gold NL); ³ASX:PRX 9 September 2015
Blackcat Prospect Exploration History
Blackcat was discovered by Otter Exploration in the early 2000’s through a detailed soil sampling campaign which resulted in a maximum result of 0.03ppm gold. During this campaign quartz veining was mapped at the project which was rock chip sampled with gold grades of 7.7ppm and 1ppm reported¹.
In 2001 Otter completed an 800m RAB program at the prospect focussing on the area of significant rock chips, results delivered several lower-grade intercepts up to 1g/t Au¹.
A few years after this original campaign Otter became part of Newmont who sold the project to Prodigy Gold in 2010. Newmont completed a further 32 RAB holes at Blackcat. Best results included:
- BCRB014: 12m @ 2.3g/t Au (24-36m)
- BCRB019: 12m @ 2.4g/t Au (0-12m)²
In 2013 Prodigy completed mapping and rock chip sampling of the project with 49 samples collected. Peak result of 19.25ppm Au were reported. In 2015 drilling targeted areas beneath a number of outcropping quartz veins (with visible gold) and areas of historic shallow drilling with anomalous results. Four different areas were tested. Most drill results were low-grade, however, re-split check sampling was undertaken on the higher-grade results where visible gold was sighted in drill chips (including 3m averaging 9.18g/t gold2).³
Blackcat Geology
Surface gold mineralisation at the Blackcat Prospect has been mapped within quartz veining over a 700m strike length, although outcrops are sparse and largely obscured by sand cover.
The mineralisation is interpreted to occur within multiple steeply dipping quartz veins, resembling an Old Pirate deposit-style mineralisation.
Dark grey-blue quartz in the area shows a strong correlation with higher gold grades.
Drilling and mineralisation data are currently too widely spaced for definitive conclusions, but a southwest dip is considered the most likely orientation for much of the veining.
Future work should focus on additional mapping and sampling in underexplored areas to potentially extend the strike length of the known mineralisation.
Given the limited outcrop, trenching may help expose the underlying geology and significantly aid in generating targets for further exploration.
