Pioneer Resources (ASX:PIO) notes that interest in the Pilbara region for gold has recently surged as explorers test the hypothesis proposed by Dr Quinton Hennigh of Novo Resources (CVE:NOV).
Hennigh believes that due to past geological events, a significant amount of gold is yet to be discovered in the Pilbara region.
The targeted rock types and age receiving exploration interest in the Pilbara have been mapped within Pioneer’s 100% owned Kangan Project.
The tenements held by Pioneer are adjacent to the areas held by Novo Resources Group; and De Grey Mining (ASX:DEG) in joint venture with Kirkland Lake Group.
Records from earlier explorers indicate wide-spread gold anomalism within the project’s southwestern and northern tenement areas.
Hennigh’s hypothesis
Some of Earth’s earliest land masses, including Kaapvaal (Southern Africa), Dharwar, Singhbhum and Bastar (Indian subcontinent), and Pilbara (Australia) existed as a single continent, referred to as Ur by some authors including Hennigh.
The remnants of the Ur continent have contributed circa 1.85, 0.35 and 0.1 billion ounces of gold production, respectively, or 39% of historic global gold production.
About 75% of this gold has come from the Witwatersrand Basin.
The hypothesis contends that huge quantities of gold were scavenged out of seawater by microbial mats starting at around 3.0-2.9 billion years before present (Ga), initiating a crustal gold depositional event.
If this method of gold deposition extended throughout the proposed continent, the Pilbara region is under-represented as far as gold production is concerned.
Kangan Project
The Kangan Project is located in the western Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Historical exploration results include:
- Rock chips grading up to 2.73 g/t gold;
- Anomalous stream sediment geochemistry values up to 254ppb gold; and
- Two widespread soil geochemistry anomalies with peak values of 2.64 g/t gold and 2.65 g/t gold respectively.
Reports from the late 1980s through to 2010 record exploration and mining activities including a medium scale alluvial and alluvial gold recovery operation treating gravels derived from the De Grey (Mallina) Formation and Millindinna Intrusion sequence.
Next steps
Pioneer has engaged with 4 groups of prospectors who plan to metal detect over gold targets, logging and mapping locations of discoveries.
Company contractors are also scheduled for on-site fieldwork again later this year, to conduct further reconnaissance mapping, sampling and prospecting within the Kangan tenements.
One of the aims of the work will be to establish the host rocks for in-situ gold mineralisation.