Tenements
The Rabbit Bore Project is comprised of a single exploration license (E 51/1671) covering an area of 2100Ha. The project is located in the Central Murchison area approximately 55km north of the major mining centre at Cue. The Great Northern Highway is located 25km to the east linked by station tracks.
Geological Setting
The Rabbit Bore project lies at the northern end of the Mt Weld greenstone belt in the Archaean Youanmi Terrane. NNE striking greenstones forming a lensoid shaped inclusion in surrounding granitoid lithologies. Outcrop within the area is limited to a 2km long ridge to the south west of the tenement with a thin blanket of transported material covering the rest of the area that deepens over the granitoids.
The greenstone belt is approximately 5.5km long and strikes NNE through the tenements and is composed of sheared mafics, ultramafics and deeply weathered felsic volcanics. Three ultramafic intrusives up to 60m wide are strongly foliated with variably alteration including tremolite, talc-carbonate, chlorite and magnetite minerals. The tenement contains a major NE trending shear zone that is interpreted as an extension of the Big Bell Fault, which splays into several discrete structures south of the project area. This structure contains gold prospects along its entire length. The sequence typically dips moderately steeply to the west and localised faulting is common.
A Proterozoic dolerite dyke with an E-W orientation crosscuts lithologies adjacent to the Rabbit Bore gold prospect and possibly offsets the greenstone belt with dextral movement as indicated by the regional aeromagnetics.
Rabbit Bore – soil sampling coverage and aero-magnetic targets
Potential exists for both gold and base metal mineralisation at Rabbit Bore. Historic gold mining occurred at the Rabbit Bore prospect where a small vertical shaft, four pits and a dry blowing area exist. There are no records of the quantity of gold produced from the workings. Gold mineralisation is believed to be related to the quartz blows which occur with the historical workings and quartz is mapped over an area extending approximately 1km in an EW direction. Sampling around the workings has produced a maximum assay of 4.24g/t and low-level gold results returned from soil sampling programmes over the extensive cover.
The greenstone belt is prospective for nickel, cobalt and chrome based on the results of rock chips and soil sampling. The extensive cover in the north part of the tenement obscures geology and mutes geochemical responses and with no drilling the potential is untested for the 5.5km of strike. Sampling focussed on the exposed ultramafics returned nickel assays up to 1,295ppm and chromite to 5,400ppm Anomalous cobalt and arsenic assays results are associated with nickel.
Previous Exploration
Exploration in or around the current E51/1761 has been only carried out spasmodically since the 1970’s, commencing with the nickel boom and more recently for base metals, gold and iron ore. There is no drilling recorded on the license area.
Regional work including geophysical surveys, and mapping were completed to the late 1990’s. Two widely spaced soil sampling programmes were completed over the greenstone belt by different explorers (2001 and 2011) in which low level gold, nickel, cobalt, platinum and lead anomalies. A closer spaced sampling programme was completed in 2011 around the Rabbit Bore workings with a maximum result of 2.18 g/t Au. Recent sampling around the historic workings returned a maximum grade of 4.24g/t Au. An untested copper prospect was identified at the south end of lease with chalcopyrite in quartz/epidote veins assaying 3,400ppm Cu
Exploration Programme
The Rabbit Bore prospect lies in a poorly explored but structurally prepared greenstone belt and has potential for both gold, copper and nickel/cobalt mineralisation. There has been no recorded drilling on the tenement and with transported material covering the northern 60% of the lease area there is strong potential for unrecognised mineralisation.
Rabbit Bore soil geochemistry and planned drilling targets
Ozz has completed soil geochemistry and aeromagnetic geophysical programmes. This work indicated two separate target areas, a gold/nickel anomaly and a copper/gold anomaly to the north. Drill testing of these target commenced in May 2022. Further work such as infill drilling or more detailed geophysical surveys.