Hopes Hill
The Hopes Hill tenements cover 10.5km of the FSCZ. Several less explored structures subparallel to the FCSZ have also been identified by previous workers utilising both geophysical and geochemical datasets.
These tenements also cover the northern strike extension of the Golden Pig deposit, located on a parallel structure which had past production of 502koz.
Three primary targets – Pilot, Aries and GPN – and eight subsidiary targets have been identified on the Hopes Hill tenements.
Targets:
- Pilot
- Aries
- GPN
Overview
Pilot - 50% Exploration and Mining JV – Barto Gold
- Resource / Reserve definition
- High grade
- Near term cashflow potential
The Hopes Hill tenements cover 10.5km of the FSCZ. Several less explored structures subparallel to the FCSZ have also been identified by previous workers utilising both geophysical and geochemical datasets.
These tenements also cover the northern strike extension of the Golden Pig deposit, located on a parallel structure which had past production of 502koz.
Three primary targets – Pilot, Aries and GPN – and eight subsidiary targets have been identified on the Hopes Hill tenements.
History and Geology
The Pilot underground and open pit mine was last mined in 1994 and has produced 0.56 Mt @ 3.03 g/t for 54,554 oz Au.
Mineralisation at Pilot occurs in three lode systems, West, Main and East, which merge and split along strike.
Open pit mining was completed to 65 m below surface, with stopes immediately below pit floor estimated to be 15 m in width and 40 m in length.
Underground sampling and drilling by Greater Western Consolidated (c. 1961) determined mineralisation extended to depths of 150 m below surface (Troy Resources, 1994).
Downhole EM Identifies Potential for Extensions to High Grade mineralisation
Altan Rio confirms high-grade gold extensions
The Company has recently undertaken a 10-hole RC drill program at Pilot with assay results so far confirming high grade gold mineralisation at depth with intercepts of:
- PARC010: 10m grading 4.21 g/t from 182m, including 7m @ 5.69 g/t
- PARC005: 12m grading 4.41 g/t from 160m, 4m grading 7.51 g/t from 176m, including 1m @ 19.14 g/t, 8m grading 9.65 g/t from 199m, Including 5m @ 13.93 g/t
The results confirm the near vertical dip of the mineralising system with up to three +1g/t gold zones within the mineralised envelope.Further assay results anticipated soon.
DHEM has Identified on-hole conductor (PEM 3) in PARC005 coincident with reported mineralisation of 13m @ 4.48 g/t from 159m.
In addition, the company identified a significant off-hole conductor (PEM 4) at depth below PARC005. The PEM 4 conductor is interpreted to be associated with the sulphide rich zone intersected in PARC005 with reported mineralisation of 8m @ 9.65 g/t from 199m.
Geophysical consultants have recommended drill testing the source of PEM 4 at a position down dip from the intersection in PARC005 and conducting surface EM surveys along strike to both north and south of the Pilot pit.
Potential short-term production
EIS Funded Drilling
The Pilot mine provides potential for near-term cashflow to fund significant drilling across the entire FCSZ.
Importantly, the mine is in close proximity to two operating mills – Marvel Loch and Edna May.
The Company has a Joint mining agreement over Pilot with Barto Gold, owner of the nearby Marvel Loch milling facility which is currently undergoing a major upgrade. Marvel Loch is within an economic trucking distance from Pilot, estimated to be only 40km.
The proposed drill program is designed to evaluate a modelled strong “off hole” DHEM conductor at Pilot.
Gold mineralisation at Pilot occurs within a highly sheared tremolite, chlorite, magnetite volcanic sequence. Individual mineralised lodes can vary in width from 1 to 12 metres and be traced over a 250-metre strike length.
Confirmation of a new mineralised zone identified by DHEM will greatly enhance the overall prospectivity of the Pilot area and potential extensions to the north and south.
Overview
Altan Rio has recently conducted a two-hole diamond drill program at the Aries prospect, a granted co-funded EIS submission with the Western Australian Government.
Previously, Sons of Gwalia conducted regional air-core drilling in areas of deep alluvial cover at the prospect, initially on 400 metres by 80 metres and infill to 200 metres by 40 metres spacing.
This drilling defined a 1,000-metre x 400 metre gold-in-bedrock anomaly (>0.1 g/t Au) located beneath thick transported cover.
Follow-up drilling by previous explorers has only partially tested the target area. A three-hole diamond drilling program was targeted into this extensive anomaly.
The best intercept returned from this drilling was 12 metres grading at 4.51 g/t from 201 metres (including 1 metre at 21.4 grams per tonne gold from 203 metres) from drill hole SXD544, highlighting the potential of the area.
Overview
The GPN target is a 1.5km long litho-structural corridor. Located immediately west of the Aries target.
The target has been identified from an aeromagnetic dataset and is interpreted to contain the extensions of the Golden Pig stratigraphic horizon.
Wide-spaced drilling (+400 metres line spacing) intersected sheared mafic/BIF lithologies similar to Golden Pig stratigraphy with recorded intercepts of 3 metres at 2.05 g/t from 57 metres in drillhole PBC041 and 1 metre at 1.3g/t from 22 metres in drillhole PBC051.
Altan Rio is proposing to undertake a 1,500 metre RC drilling program to further investigate this prospective corridor.
