Company

Quinns Project

Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide Mineralisation

 

Quinns is located 55km south of Meekatharra covering a tenement area of ~45km². Silver Swan has continued its exploration for volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) mineralisation across the prospective area. There is ~25km of strike with potential for VMS mineralisation at two stratigraphic levels. Globally, VMS deposits vary in size, tend to be high grade and are mostly found in clusters within regions. The style of the Austin VMS discovery at Quinns and the highly favourable rock chemistry across the greater Quinns region underpins the company's search for new VMS deposits.

Key prospects in the Quinns group include the Austin, Murchison Wonder, Flinders and Tasman areas.The company has successfully discovered significant copper-zinc mineralisation at Austin, located in the south-western corner of the Quinns area. A resource has been delineated at Austin at mostly Measured and Indicated categories and subordinate amount of Inferred (determined in accordance wth the JORC code).

Over the last 12 months the company:

*  Drilled at the Austin deposit with grades to 14% copper
*  Completed preliminary metallurgy on the Austin ore with positive results
*  Identified other VMS targets at Flinders, Murchison Wonder, Nowthanna, Tasman and North Dickson
*  Completed geophysical programmes over the five targets. Significant electromagnetic conductors at three of the targets
*  Completed regional regolith geochemistry bio-leaching programmes in the Austin area and at North Dickson
*  Purchased 14km² of tenements at Quinns providing a contiguous holding across Quinns.

Expansion of Quinns Ground-Holding

In May 2011 Silver Swan Group purchased tenements from Gledich & Associates Pty Ltd which are contiguous with, and enable a significant consolidation of, the company's existing holding at Quinns.  The tenement  addition comprises both the north and south limbs of the Quinns anticline in the prospective stratigraphy that hosts the Austin VMS discovery.

The tenements purchased by Silver Swan Group have been worked for surficial gold at the prospecting level for several years; this has been primarily alluvial gold and (high-grade) nugget gold within a few metres of the surface. The area includes multiple widely distributed shafts of abandoned gold mines. However, the host geology also consists of intensely altered bi-modal volcanic rocks beneath banded-iron formation that have been shown chemically to be the favourable host to VMS mineralisation.

 

Location of the Quinns project area is shaded pink (left) and Solid Geology Map of the Quinns Area (right):

Near Surface JORC Resource at Austin

The maiden resource at Austin is 1.48Mt @ 1.02% Cu, 1.39% Zn, 0.24g/t Ag, 3.31g/t Au: (Measured 463,428t, Indicated 703,286t, Inferred 317,708t). Mineralisation occurs in fresh rock from 45m depth. Subsequent drilling yielded higher grades of copper and zinc mineralisation in the upper portion of the deposit that would fall within a potential open-cut position including 58m @ 2% Cu from 148m, 38m @ 14% Zn from 105m and 24m @ 4.7% Zn from 427m.

A series of strong downhole electromagnetic conductors (DHEM) defined at depth were drilled, returning at depths of 400-500m, significant zones of zinc sulphides with pyrite and pyrrhotite indicating mineralisation continues down-plunge, albeit at sub-economic levels to-date. Encouragingly, DHEM conductors continue beyond the current drilling depths.

Preliminary metallurgical test-work by RMDSTEM was completed on a 60kg sample of ore from the Austin deposit that included representative samples from weakly mineralised to higher-grade zones, magnetite-rich zones and some BIF. The programme included head assaying, grind establishment, size- by- size assaying and bench scale batch flotation tests. Results showed that the sample tested was higher in grade than the resource estimates for both copper and zinc, particularly in terms of zinc for which the sample assayed 7.25% Zn (compared to 1.39% Zn for the total resource). Based on the results of this test programme, the ore was determined to be amenable to treatment via conventional flotation for both copper and zinc recovery. The presence of talc in the ore requires the addition of a suitable non-sulphide gangue depressant such as guar gum to minimise the recovery of the non-sulphide gangue into the concentrates (RMDSTEM Limited, 2011).

Silver Swan is currently 're-visiting' the Austin deposit to determine the potential for stacked sulphide lenses to the east and west of the current massive sulphide mineralisation and to enlarge the current orebody in terms of both width and depth. Structural work at Austin has shown copper mineralisation to have been in part, remobilised into the hinge zones of folds, resulting in higher grades of copper where these hinges are intersected and high-grade zinc mineralisation at the uppermost contact of mineralisation with a quartz-magnetite cap.

An aircore programme over buried felsic volcanic rocks 300m south of Austin returned anomalous results of 6m @ 0.18% Cu. Reverse circulation hole ATRC114 was drilled to 250m depth to test the zone - from 96m an 8m interval with about 10% pyritic sulphides was intersected with 3m @ 0.12% copper. The result is encouraging, being located about 30m below the aircore hole and the copper assays show a sulphide-related source for the anomalous copper.

Left:  Austin deposit: Red = Cu >1%, Green = Zn > 1%. The grey area is a preliminary Shell around a potential open-pittable part of the resource.

Right:  Aeromagnetic anomalies above the Austin VMS deposit and above the nearby Robert mineralised area. Futher work is due to commence to ascertain further prospectiveness of Robert to host economic massive sulphides.

Flinders and Murchison Wonder

The Flinders prospect is lateral to the Tasman prospect where drilling intersected 6.0m at 3.0% Zn. Murchison Wonder is located south of Flinders, within the same folded stratigraphic unit in an area of strong, outcropping talc-sericite alteration.

Flinders has a surface expression of a large (100m x 30m) gossanous and ferruginous outcrop known as the Flinders Gossan that plunges shallowly to the west. Silver Swan drilled one diamond and one reverse circulation hole into the Flinders area and followed up with fixed loop and downhole electromagnetics.The result was a series of strong linking conductor plates over 500m of strike, along with 30m of intense alteration and a 12m wide zone of sulphide mineralisation in 11FLD001. An additional conductor was located a further kilometre to the southeast.The conductor plates are currently being tested with diamond drilling.

A fixed loop electromagnetic survey at Murchison Wonder returned a strong conductor plate dipping south and plunging east. An initial reverse circulation hole returned 1m @ 5.3% Zn, 9g/t Ag, 0.2% Cu, 1m @ 2.7% Zn, 6g/t Ag and 1m @ 0.7% Zn and 4g/t Au from 131m. Subsequent downhole electromagnetics has re-directed the drilling with an off-hole conductor and drilling is in progress.

 

Identification of EM conductor plates at the Flinders and Murchison Wonder Prospects:

Sulphide mineralisation from drillhole 11FLD001 showing chalcopyrite (Cu - yellow), pyrrhotite (brown), magnetite (rounded dark crystals) in massive chlorite alteration (black):

Tasman

Massive sulphide mineralisation was intersected in initial exploratory reverse circulation drilling at the Tasman prospect. The first hole 10TSD001, intersected large widths of low grade oxide copper and zinc mineralisation that included 7m @ 0.2% Cu, 35m @ 0.4% Zn and 27m @ 2.2g/t Ag. This was followed up with RC hole 10TSRC002 in which zinc, copper, silver and gold mineralisation was intersected over a 10 metre interval from 126m depth. The results included 6m @ 3% Zn, 12m @ 5.5g/t Ag, 5m @ 0.4% Cu and 6m @ 0.18g/t Au. Work here is continuing.

North Dickson

A bio-leach regolith geochemical sampling programme at North Dickson, located 8km north of Austin generated 3 base metal targets for initial ground electromagnetics (EM) and drilling. The area covered by this sampling was approximately 3km x 1.7km. Anomalies to 3035ppb Zn, 1150ppb Cu, 2100ppb Pb, 13ppb Ag and 4ppb Au were recorded. In comparison, peak values over Austin are 5300 ppb Zn, 1295ppb Cu, 4ppb Ag and 6ppb Au where an initial pilot study using this bio-leaching soil technique was conducted. The anomalies are further supported by coincident metals of elevated thallium-zinc-copper-lead-cobalt and molybdenum, the presence of favourable geology and a coincident airborne electromagnetic conductor (VTEM) associated with one of the targets. A fixed loop EM programme generated two EM conductors at 360m and 410m depth; due to overlying sands and clays, reverse circulation pre-collars have been drilled awaiting diamond 'tails' to drill through the conductor plates.

 

 

Quinns Project Table of Results: