Great Boulder Resources Ltd (ASX:GBR) has welcomed the commencement of a CSIRO research project at the Side Well Gold Project near Meekatharra in Western Australia.
The project budget of $125,000 is funded by Great Boulder, the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources’ Entrepreneurs’ Program and CSIRO and will examine a range of techniques for gold exploration under alluvial cover.
A layer of transported material 10 to 15 metres thick covers the southwestern third of Side Well, including the highly prospective Mulga Bill and Matilda prospects, masking any underlying gold mineralisation from conventional geochemical techniques at surface.
“Finding new prospects under cover”
If successful, the project will confirm fast and cost-effective methods of detecting gold mineralisation through alluvium, allowing Great Boulder to explore the remainder of the Side Well project quickly and cost effectively.
These techniques can also be utilised in future exploration in other regions where prospective geology is obscured by transported material.
Great Boulder managing director Andrew Paterson said: “I’m extremely happy to have CSIRO involved at Side Well.
“They are a world-class research organisation with a proud history of innovation and discovery.”
“I’m sure Dr Salama and his team will provide valuable insights into effective early-stage exploration techniques to find new prospects under cover, beyond the known areas at Matilda and Mulga Bill.”
“This is another great example of our small team at GBR delivering maximum value by using cutting-edge innovation and science where applicable.”
Research project parameters
The research project will be run by CSIRO Mineral Resources’ Australian Resources Research Centres’ Senior Research Scientist Dr Walid Salama.
Dr Salama will test surface sampling techniques such as CSIRO UltraFine+ soil sampling and vegetation sampling.
He will also study the evolution of the regolith profile at Side Well using CSIRO’s HyLogger to confirm stratigraphic contacts and unconformities for interface sampling, and XRD (X- ray diffraction) analysis to determine the bulk mineral composition from samples within this profile.
By comparing geochemistry and remnant indicator mineral composition between mineralised and unmineralised areas within the regolith, as well as within the transported cover, Dr Salama is hoping to recognise a reliable near-surface signal for underlying gold mineralisation.