Great Boulder Resources Ltd (ASX:GBR) has signed an option with Zebina Minerals to acquire a 75% interest in the advanced Whiteheads Gold Project in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia.
Whiteheads is in a prospective area adjacent to Kalnorth Gold Mines Ltd’s (ASX:KGM) 215,000 ounces Lindsays gold project and north of Poseidon Nickel Ltd’s (ASX:POS) Black Swan nickel mine.
The Whiteheads landholding was recently consolidated into a single project by Scott Wilson of Zebina Minerals, following a long history of fragmented ownership by a number of explorers.
This means Great Boulder can utilise the full potential of all the historical data over the whole project area for the first time.
Great Boulder managing Director Andrew Paterson said Whiteheads is a unique opportunity to acquire such a large landholding in a tightly-held area of the Goldfields.
He added “We’ve reviewed a lot of projects over the past two months and we haven’t seen anything which offers the same potential as Whiteheads.”
“We are already aware that the project hosts high-grade gold and numerous, large targets have already been identified for drilling, representing an exciting opportunity for the company.
“This includes walk-up drill targets as well as a number of first-class soil anomalies that haven’t yet been tested. The largest target is a +25ppb gold in soils anomaly spanning over 6.5km.
Collated soil geochemistry shows the significant scale of coherent gold anomalies. Sampling in the southern portion of the project may have been affected by alluvial cover.
“We are also delighted to be dealing with Scott Wilson as a partner in this acquisition. Scott has years of experience in identifying quality gold projects, as his history with the Andy Well discovery demonstrates.
“We look forward to advancing the Whiteheads Gold project for the mutual benefit of our shareholders and Zebina.”
Key commercial terms of the agreement
Great Boulder will take a 12-month option to explore Whiteheads for a payment of $50,000 in cash plus $50,000 in GBR shares to Zebina Minerals;
During the option period, Great Boulder has committed to a minimum on-ground expenditure of $200,000;
To exercise the option, Great Boulder will pay Zebina an additional payment of $200,000 cash and $200,000 in GBR shares plus a one-for-one free attaching 3-year option;
Upon exercising the option, Great Boulder will hold 75% of the Whitehads project tenements, with Zebina Minerals holding a 25% interest free-carried to a decision to mine.
Next steps
Great Boulder intends to test mineralisation along the Seven Leaders – Lady Betty trend at Whiteheads with a drilling program as soon as possible.
While preparations for drilling are underway, Great Boulder will continue assessing the historical data set to assess the potential benefits of acquiring any additional new geophysical data, particularly high-resolution magnetics to try and highlight structural controls in the area.
The applicability of known mineralisation styles to electrical techniques will also be considered for ongoing target generation.
Previous drilling (maximum downhole gold) over a heat map of gold-in-soil values
Regional air-core drilling will be undertaken to test high-priority anomalies either not previously drilled or inadequately tested by prior exploration.
This will include targets at the southern end of E27/544 which are possibly hidden beneath alluvial cover.
Given the number of high-priority targets and the project’s location close to Kalgoorlie, Great Boulder intends to advance the project quickly with ongoing field programs over the coming months.