Aruma Resources Ltd (ASX:AAJ) has cleared a key permitting milestone at its Wilan Project in South Australia, executing a Native Title Mining Agreement with the Arabana Aboriginal Corporation ahead of a planned maiden aircore drilling program.
The agreement establishes a framework for exploration across the project while providing for cultural heritage protection and ongoing consultation with the Arabana People.
Aruma will now submit a Program for Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation (PEPR) to the South Australian Government as it works towards testing a regional-scale heavy mineral sands (HMS) target extending for about 40 kilometres.
Interpreted HMS strandlines and 2-stage drilling program collar locations.
40-kilometre target identified
A review and reinterpretation of historical airborne geophysical data has outlined a subtle, arcuate magnetic anomaly extending northwest-southeast across Wilan.
Aruma believes the feature may represent buried reworked sediments capable of hosting HMS mineralisation, with its geometry interpreted as potentially consistent with a palaeo-shoreline or beach system.
The company has refined its geological interpretation towards a 'Pocket Beach' HMS model, where curved shoreline embayments can act as traps for heavy minerals transported along ancient coastlines.
At Wilan, the interpreted feature curves by more than 60 degrees and appears constrained between structural boundaries that may represent former headlands, which are separated by more than 7 kilometres.
Reconnaissance surface sampling has previously identified heavy mineral material dominated by ilmenite and magnetite, with minor rutile.
Conceptual 'Pocket Beach' geological model.
Maiden drilling planned
Aruma is proposing an initial aircore drilling program of about 12 holes to depths of around 50 metres, testing approximately 550 metres of strike at roughly 200-metre spacing.
The program will assess whether HMS-bearing shoreline facies are present, along with the depth and thickness of any mineralised horizons and their potential economic significance.
Subject to results, a second drilling phase could comprise about 22 holes at closer, approximately 100-metre spacing, followed by mineralogical and metallurgical studies.
The campaign would be the first dedicated drilling program specifically targeting HMS mineralisation within the Wilan Project area.
Managing director Grant Ferguson said the Native Title agreement provided a clear pathway to advance exploration and that drilling would provide the first direct test of the company's revised geological model.
Next steps
Aruma will undertake a heritage survey and lodge the PEPR with the South Australian Government before beginning on-ground exploration.
Subject to receiving the necessary approvals, the company plans to move into the first-phase aircore program, with follow-up drilling dependent on the results.
About Aruma Resources
Aruma Resources' portfolio spans Australia and Canada.
Its core asset is the high-grade Tillex copper sulphide project in Ontario's Timmins mining district, while the company also holds copper exploration assets in Queensland's Mt Isa region and multi-commodity projects in South Australia and Western Australia.
