Tenure
The Peterwangy Project comprises two granted exploration licenses (E70/5124 and E70/5691) covering 13 blocks for a total area of 4440 Ha, located in the Mid-West region of Western Australia. E70/5124 is held by Provident Mining Pty Ltd (Provident) and the other is owned totally by Ozz. The Project is located approximately 100 km east of the port of Geraldton and 40 km south east of the town of Mullewa, 350 km north of Perth, Western Australia.
Geological Setting
Gold was discovered at Peterwangy in 1868 and was the focus of Western Australia’s first recorded gold rush. Small scale mining operations comprising several collapsed shafts and shallow workings can still be found within a few hundred metres of Peterwangy Hill.
The property lies, straddles the boundary of the South West and Youanmi Terranes within the Yilgarn Craton. A major NW-trending linear features, the Koolanooka Fault, traverses the project area from the southeast to the northwest over about 10km. The tenement is underlain by Archaean granitoids and greenstones.
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Local Geology
A 3 km long lensoid shaped greenstone belt enclosed by granitoids is located at Peterwangy. The greenstone has been described as being composed of mainly fine to coarse grained amphibolite with local zones of intense shearing. The greenstone is approximately 1.2km wide and strikes in NW direction parallel to, and to the west of, the Koonlanooka Fault. The surrounding rock is described as generally leucocratic, equigranular, fine to medium grained granite with minor coarse sections.
Outcrop in the area is limited owing to extensive weathering and laterite development and alluvium obscuring the underlying lithologies.
Historic reports detail less than 100 ounces being recovered from the field with quartz crushing’s ranging in grade from 2.5-4.1g/t. A number of quartz reefs were identified but difficulties in mining through the alluvium and the water table limited the extent of the historical workings.
A review of the styles of mineralisation by previous workers proposed a local source for the gold. The extensive laterite coverage led to comparisons being made with laterite deposits such as Boddington, being is located in a similar structural setting with a fault bound northwest trending greenstone belt. The extensive laterites at Boddington contain around one million ounces of gold with greater than 10Moz in the underlying greenstone.
Historical Exploration
Following the discovery of gold in 1868 several mining campaigns are recorded over the ensuing decades. The alluvial cover and the water table largely prevented any assessment of the basement rocks and once the major Eastern Goldfield discoveries were made, little further work was recorded. No drilling has ever been completed at Peterwangy.
The first recorded work specifically at Peterwangy was by Peterwangy Gold Pty Ltd (PGL) in 1988. PGL undertook limited sampling of rubble around collapsed workings that confirmed the gold was either primary or lateritic, but not alluvial in origin. No assays were reported. PGL concluded there was considerable potential for gold mineralisation within the greenstone belt but no further work by PGL is recorded.
Pancontinental Gold Pty Ltd held a license covering Peterwangy from 2006 to 2011. Only desk top studies were completed during this period owing to the landowner refusing entry.
Provident was granted the current exploration license in 2018. A change of landowner led to un-restricted access to the tenement and Provident completed:
- Ground magnetics over part of the tenements
- Soil sampling on a 150x150m grid
- Drone reconnaissance
A positive correlation was identified between interpreted structures and low-level gold anomalism from the soil sampling coupled with similar anomalism in the chalcophile elements (As, W, Mo etc). This work reinforced potential comparisons with Boddington and culminated in the identification of 6 specific targets over an area of 2km by 1km, on which drilling was recommended.
Exploration Programme
The historic workings confirming the presence of both alluvial and reef gold in a 3km long greenstone belt and the favourable structural setting and lithologies reinforce the potential for substantial gold mineralisation. The extensive alluvial and laterite cover shroud bedrock and have subdued geochemical response from the limited geochemical sampling completed to date.
These factors provided a strong incentive for, and clearly justify, further exploration with the potential to lead to a significant discovery. Without any prior drill testing, the 3 km long greenstone belt with an estimated area of 5km2 provides ample scope for mineralisation. Both laterites and primary quartz veining are potential hosts for economic mineralisation in the area. The 10km extent of the Koolanooka Fault on the tenements also provide a target, being a major conduit for fluid flow.
Geophysical and geochemical programmes are planned prior to drill testing the existing and newly identified anomalies.
