RE: Cobra bite26 Dec 2020 18:15
Between 1996 and 1997, Newcrest Mining Ltd (“Newcrest”) completed reconnaissance-scale calcrete sampling survey on the tenement (then EL 2188) on which Barns is now located, with initial samples spaced at 1 km. A number of adjacent reconnaissance samples returned anomalous gold values over the Barns area. Infill sampling at 500 m centres completed by Newcrest in 1998 defined a large gold anomaly with a peak value of 31 ppb. The dimensions of the Newcrest anomaly, using a threshold of 2.5 ppb Au, approached 4.5 x 1.5 km.
In early 1999, Newcrest, which was enjoying considerable exploration success in the Cadia district in New South Wales, determined to dispose of EL 2188. Check sampling completed by Adelaide Resources (now Andromeda Metals) validated the existing anomalous gold-in-calcrete results and the company acquired a 100% interest in the property in late 1999.
In 2000, Andromeda (formerly Adelaide Resources Pty Ltd) completed further calcrete sampling over Barns at 400, 200 and 100 m centres. The resulting geochemical feature was a large coherent anomaly with a peak value of 49 ppb gold and included significant areas above 10 ppb. Calcrete samples were collected by hand auger and assayed at Amdel Laboratories using a low-level BLEG technique, giving a lower gold detection limit of 0.05 ppb.
The Barns, Baggy Green and White Tank gold deposits of the Wudinna Project were discovered by drill testing gold of calcrete geochemical anomalies.
The Barns gold deposit was discovered in 2000, with significant intersections including 12 metres at 3.38g/t gold from 67 metres in RCBN-123, and 35.49 metres at 1.80g/t gold from 115 metres in PDBN-134.
Intersections from White Tank, discovered in 2003, include 7 metres at 10.03g/t gold from 63 metres in RHBN-234, and 17 metres at 3.47g/t gold from 60 metres in RHBN-248.
Baggy Green was found in 2004 with notable intersections including 8 metres at 4.79g/t gold from 34 metres in WUD6-770, and 5 metres at 9.01g/t gold from 66 metres in BGRC-865