Strategic Elements Ltd (ASX:SOR) has produced highly-anomalous gold-in-soil values in soil sampling at the West Rocklea Dome prospect within its Pilbara gold projects in WA.
The sampling results, grading up to 9, 18 and 283 ppb gold, support anomalous soil values of between 112 and 343 ppb reported by previous explorers at West Rocklea.
Reconnaissance sampling for conglomerate gold conducted in an area of the Hardey formation detected slightly anomalous gold in soil and streams while conglomerate units were also identified within the formation.
High-grade gold identified in quartz vein sampling will be followed up by the company to assess the extent of the vein system and soil sample in areas of cover.
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Strategic managing director Charles Murphy said: “We are at a very early stage with the Pilbara gold projects but there are some very encouraging signs.
“There are clearly a number of different styles of gold mineralisation around the Rocklea dome, from lode gold to signs of conglomerate gold.
“The conglomerate gold story is still unfolding in the Pilbara and it is important to leverage knowledge from what the leading companies are doing.
“It was very pleasing to recently win the East Marble Bar ballot for some exploration ground containing promising geology related to conglomerate gold.”
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Fieldwork discovered a mineralised quartz vein system, dubbed ‘Buck Rogers’, which returned assays of 9.7 g/t gold and 47.9 g/t from two locations.
The mineralised quartz veins outcrop for around 150 metres with further mineralised quartz veins potentially present undercover along strike and in the immediate area.
Metal-detecting was not the focus of Strategic’s initial exploration program, however, the field team previously uncovered 16 small gold nuggets around historical workings.
Around 75 pits dug by prospectors looking for gold nuggets have been identified.
The largest single nugget found in the area to date contained about 20 ounces of gold in a fist-sized quartz sample.
It has also been reported that around 14 ounces of nuggets were found around the historic Beasley workings over a two-week period.
Prospecting pits near the historic Beasley workings
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Reconnaissance conglomerate gold soil and stream-sediment sampling of a 1.8-kilometre section of the 10-kilometre Hardey formation returned gold values seven times higher than background.
The highest-grade soil sample assayed 4ppb gold and the highest stream sample 7ppb.
The Hardey formation has recently been proven to contain gold in conglomerate horizons in multiple locations in the Pilbara.
West Rocklea Dome has about 10 kilometres of mostly unexplored outcropping Hardey formation, as well as substantial areas undercover.
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Strategic Elements focuses on backing innovation in tech and resources sectors and is registered under the Pooled Development Program run by the Australian Federal Government to encourage investment into small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The government enables shareholders in a pooled development fund to make capital gains and receive dividends tax-free in return for following numerous regulations and backing only Australian SMEs.