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Core Lithium identifies additional gold prospects at Adelaide River Gold Project, Northern Territory

Last updated: 06:25 20 Jul 2020 BST, First published: 05:51 20 Jul 2020 BST

Core Lithium Ltd - Core Lithium identifies additional gold prospects at Adelaide River Gold Project, Northern Territory
These new prospects at Adelaide River are highly encouraging for the potential of this project

Core Lithium Ltd's (ASX:CXO) ongoing review of historical data has revealed additional gold prospects – New Happy Valley, Croc Plate and Adelaide River Mine - at Adelaide River Gold Project in the Pine Creek Orogen of the Northern Territory.

These are in addition to the recently recognised Possum and Arum prospects at Adelaide River and there has been a positive response from investors with shares more than 9% higher to 4.8 cents.

The mineralisation is hosted in gold vein systems similar to those at Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd's (ASX:KLA) (NYSE:KL) (TSX:KL) nearby Cosmo mine resources.

"Highly encouraging"

Core Lithium managing director Stephen Biggins said: “These new prospects at Adelaide River, in addition to the recently discovered Possum and Arum prospects, are highly encouraging for the potential of this project.

“Core remains firmly focused on the development of our flagship Finniss Lithium Project, and our construction-ready timeframe remains unchanged; however, we will continue to assess and explore the opportunity that this gold project holds for our shareholders.

“The Adelaide River Project is underexplored and Core sees a significant opportunity to take a more consolidated and systematic approach to exploration over this gold prospective area.”

Findings

At Happy Valley prospect the findings include rock chips up to 16.4 g/t gold with 16 rock chip samples collected above 1 g/t gold.

Rock chips at Croc Pate prospect returned up to 11.3 g/t gold with seven rock chip samples collected above 1 g/t while at the Adelaide River Mine prospect rock chips returned up to 56.2 g/t.

Core plans to undertake further assessment of the historical exploration information for the project over the coming months and update the market as it refines its understanding of this new gold project and progresses plans to commence initial fieldwork later this year.

Happy Valley prospect

Gold grades of 16.4 g/t, 10.5 g/t, 6.4 g/t, 5.0 g/t, 4.2 g/t and 3.6 g/t in historical rock chip sampling of altered and sheared conglomerate have been recorded at Happy Valley Prospect.

These are along an anticlinal hinge zone of bedded conglomerate that hosts an around 200 metres stockwork zone, containing gold-bearing quartz-sulphide veins.

Arsenic and silver anomalies are evident in rock chips coincident with the higher gold grades.

Detailed bulk leach extractable gold soil sampling defined an anomalous zone of up to 167ppb gold over 300 metres x 150 metres over the anticlinal hinge zone coincident with the anomalous rock chips.

A stream sediment sampling program also indicated gold anomalism in a drainage system to the southeast and northwest over 2 kilometres.

Zones of highly anomalous gold in shallow drilling (maximum 11 metres depth) were associated with elevated arsenic and silver.

The company said this previous drilling was not considered a definitive test of the mineralisation as the drilling was testing for extensions of the soil anomaly well to the south of the high-grade gold rock chips.

Adelaide River Mine

Adelaide River, which is well known as a uranium deposit, also contains significant gold assays in rock chips and in drill core.

The presence of the nearby Arum gold prospect, immediately east, which does not have a uranium signature, suggests it is purely coincidence.

There are also no rock chips high in uranium that have significant gold credits, although only 10% of rock chips have been assayed for both elements.

The peak rock chip gold values are 56.2 g/t, 3.1 g/t, 2.7 g/t, 1.9 g/t and 1.2 g/t.

Gold is present in narrow intervals of uranium ore drilled by Aldershot.

Croc Pate and Croc Pate North prospects

Both Croc Pate and Croc Pate North gold prospects were identified by Royal Resources in 2013 as sulphide and gold-bearing quartz and quartz stockwork veins with a north-south anomaly extending over 1-kilometre strike length.

It said widespread elevated gold had been identified at these two prospects with values including 11.3 g/t at Croc Pate and 8.3 g/t at Croc Pate North.

Gold occurs in laminated quartz veins with iron oxide pitting after sulphides.

The prospects are in a highly prospective area that is only scantly tested by rock chips and soil sampling. The gold potential of these prospects at depth is untested as there has been no drilling to date on either prospect.

Prospective region

This highly prospective Pine Creek Orogen gold province in the NT has the potential for long-term, profitable mining operations in a historic mining district with over 4.5 million ounces of gold produced over the past four decades.

Core plans to undertake further assessment of the historical exploration information for the project over coming months and expects to update the market as the company refines its understanding of this new gold project and progresses plans to begin initial fieldwork later this year.

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