Genesis Resources (ASX: GES) has announced the recent results from a Resource Potential assessment, following the company's recent listing on the Australian Securities Exchange.
Genesis commissioned Resources Potential to perform a review of the available Government and open file geophysical and geological datasets over the Company’s Arltunga Project, located in the Northern Territory.
The aim of the review was to provide target areas and recommendations for future work programs. The data review has indicated significant potential for the Arltunga Project to host a gold deposit, and has proposed follow up ground geophysical surveys to target old mining areas and anomalous geochemistry.
A review of open file data indicates numerous historical high grade small tonnage gold mines
The company reports that high grade gold mineralisation strongly associated with pyrite, which can be targeted by electrical geophysical methods has been uncovered, while historic reports from the Wheal Fortune Mine indicate “almost massive sulphide quartz ore assaying 132 g/t Au at depth”.
There are numerous untested geochemical assays over 1g/t Au and previous explorers suggest that gold bearing shears and quartz veins are limited in strike extent and width, but are untested at depth.
Only limited scout drilling exists within project area testing depth extent.
The Arltunga Goldfield has been subject to small scale historical mining activities from the late 1800s to mid 1900s, and again in the 1980s, producing approximately 15,400oz of gold, primarily from high grade quartz reefs.
The White Range mining district, which is located immediately to the south of the project, has been the largest producer of gold in the vicinity, accounting for approximately 80 per cent of the total region production to 1984. Mining activities in the White Range area commenced again from 2000 to 2007 by Intermin Resources, producing an additional 15,350oz gold from a small heap leach operation. Approximately 1,100oz of gold have been historically produced from within the Genesis project area itself. More recent exploration activities over the area by Tanami Exploration in 2003 have returned significant gold assays to 53g/t from rock chip sampling around old mine workings and pyritc-quartz veins. No modern ground geophysical techniques have been applied.
In addition to the planned ground based geophysics, Genesis have commissioned geological mapping and geochemical sampling to cover the same high priority target areas. It is expected that the geological mapping and geochemical sampling will be completed this calendar year, and the geophysical programs early in 2010.
Genesis managing director Pedro Kastellorizos said the company was delighted to have received the promising Resource Potential results for the Arltunga Project.
"Our aim in commissioning the review was to provide target areas for future work programs and this was achieved in combination with some potentially exciting revelations about the significance and potential for the Arltunga project host several high grade gold deposit," Mr Kastellorizos said.
“We look forward to updating the market on further progress with the development at our Northern Territory based Arltunga project and the subsequent results of the follow up ground reconnaissance and geophysical surveys.”