Red Rock Resources PLC (AIM:RRR)’s joint venture subsidiary Red Rock Australasia has been granted three further exploration licences in the Victoria Goldfields of Australia.
The total acreage now under licence amounts to over 1,800 square kilometres.
Part of the ground now held by the joint venture includes the historic Ajax mine where in the 1920s production of 312,789 ounces at 14.8 grams per tonne was recorded.
“In our view, this exploration asset enhances our exploration portfolio and makes our goal of achieving a listing of the Red Rock Australasia business less sensitive to market conditions,” said Red Rock chairman Andrew Bell.
Red Rock Australasia is a joint venture company owned 50.1% by Red Rock and 49.9% by Power Metals Resources PLC.
The operating subsidiary on the ground is called New Ballarat Gold.
The Ajax mine comprises numerous former shafts and workings over a strike of several kilometres, and was historically mined to a vertical depth of approximately 400 metres.
Possible down dip and along strike extensions to the main ore zones remain virtually untested. Minor diamond drilling completed in the 1990s by Continent Resources intersected multiple lode structures with the best intersection showing 5.3 metres at 15.2 grams per tonne gold from a depth of 120.9 metres downhole.
The mine shaft itself has been backfilled and is currently not accessible.
Work is currently under way to digitise the old workings, stopes and geology into a 3D computer model, in advance of a planned diamond drilling campaign which is expected to commence in late 2022.