Adelaide Resources (ASX: ADN) may look to the trees as a cost efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to finding gold mineralisation at its Eyre Peninsula Project in South Australia.
Research carried out by a CSIRO team led by Dr Mel Lintern into the use of biogeochemistry in mineral exploration has found that some species of eucalypts growing on top of mineral deposits transport gold from significant depths via the root system and deposit it as tiny particles in the above ground foliage of the tree.
It is then possible to sample leaf and twig material, determine its gold content, and delineate biogeochemical anomalies that may indicate the presence of buried mineralisation.
One of the research sites investigated in the study by Dr Lintern’s team was the company’s Barns gold prospect, located north of Wudinna at its Eyre Peninsula Project.
The company has since started the process of gaining the various approvals required to access parts of the low-carbonate area to conduct its own research trial into the development of biogeochemistry.
This will allow it to access large areas of its project where the traditional use of calcrete geochemistry to define gold anomalies is ineffective due to calcrete being either not developed in the soil profile, or is present at a depth below that which can be cost efficiently sampled using hand tools.
Comment
Proactive Investors wonders in a jocular manner if the scientists will next find enough gold to justify harvesting leaves. It could be serious business if the gold can be extracted economically.
However, Dr Lintern has noted that even 500 trees growing over a gold deposit would only yield enough gold for a wedding ring.
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