Abbotts Project
Lode Gold & Base Metal Mineralisation
Abbotts is located 30km north-northwest of Meekatharra and the tenement covers an area of 298km2. The Abbotts greenstone belt has received minimal attention from past explorers and the stratigraphy and potential for mineralisation of the area generally not well understood.
Historic gold production of about 40,000 ounces is recorded from the Abbotts greenstone belt, derived principally from the Mt Vranizan (12,200 oz) and New Murchison King (24,460 oz) mines. At New Murchison King, two north-trending and steeply eastward-dipping quartz veins up to 2.5 m wide were mined to approximately 100m depth.
Silver Swan commenced regional ground activities at Abbotts to understand mineralisation potential. Much of the area contains a large, thick on-end dismembered layered intrusion, mafic and felsic volcanic rocks and calc-silicates. Abbotts is being assessed for copper-nickel mineralisation, VMS mineralisation in the felsic and mafic sequences and late-stage gold mineralisation. Visual gold is present variously in outcropping quartz veins in the region and sulphides have been located within the more mafic parts of the intrusion.
Location of the Abbotts project area is shaded pink:
Mt Vranizan
Gold intersections recorded from reverse circulation (RC) and rotary air blast (RAB) drilling by St Barbara Ltd between 1994 and 1999 returned significant results over the 2km strike length between Mt Vranizan and New Murchison King. Gold mineralization occurs in quartz veins hosted by intermediate to felsic volcanic and meta-sedimentary rocks. N-S shear zones, NE-trending faults and NW-trending fault splays are believed to be the primary control on gold mineralisation. Recent modelling of the mineralisation has highlighted plunging gold lodes that require follow-up drilling.
View of the historic workings at Mt Vranizan (Left). Encouraging gold intercepts between the historic Mt Vranizan and New Murchison King workings, from legacy drilling (Right).
Ajax
Additional historic workings are located at Ajax, in the southern part of the Abbotts tenement group. These workings coincide with NNE-SSW trending black shales hosting anomalous base metal and gold mineralisation. Both copper and gold anomalies have been identified across this area by a MAGLAG geochemical sampling campaign. The identification of a broad Au anomaly supported by a copper anomaly warrants follow-up by RAB drilling.