Golden Metal Resources plc (LON:GMET), a mineral exploration company focused on tungsten, gold, copper and silver within Nevada, USA, is pleased to announce a further update from the detailed interpretation and inversion modelling of the high-resolution induced polarisation (“IP”) geophysics survey completed over its 100% owned flagship Pilot Mountain Project (“Pilot Mountain” or the “Project”) located within the prolific Walker Lake Mineral Belt in Nevada, USA.
The initial results confirmed the presence of three significant exploration targets at Pilot Mountain which were summarised in a RNS published by the Company on 6 June 2023 and found below:
Further inversion modelling and detailed interpretation of all available geophysical, geological and geochemical datasets by a senior geophysicist from SJ Geophysics based in Vancouver, Canada, has identified two further high-priority exploration targets which are summarised below.
Highlights:
– Two additional significant undrilled exploration targets (Porphyry South & Good Hope West) have been successfully identified bringing the total high-priority target inventory at Pilot Mountain to five (1 – Desert Scheelite Parallel West, 2 – Porphyry Depths, 3 – Desert Scheelite East, 4 – Porphyry South, 5 – Good Hope West), see Figure 1.
– The Porphyry South target represents the most compelling porphyry deposit target identified to date at Pilot Mountain.
– The Company considers that Pilot Mountain hosts the largest known undeveloped tungsten resource in the USA (with the US currently without any domestic primary tungsten production), and the five targets now identified show potential for a significantly greater in-ground resource than currently known, marking a significant further uplift in Project potential.
– Any increase in potential mineralisation will further bolster the inherent value of the Project and its attractiveness as a target for non-dilutive grant funding for Project exploration and development, which the Company is actively pursuing at present.
Oliver Friesen, CEO of Golden Metal, commented:
“Hats off to our technical team who spent many days compiling and combining all available geological, geophysical and geochemical datasets, which has led to the identification of two other significant exploration targets at Pilot Mountain.
“While the criticality of the in-situ tungsten mineralisation at Pilot Mountain cannot be understated given the current geopolitical climate, it is the exploration upside that we continue to delineate which has us equally as excited.
“With this strong inventory of five exploration targets now in hand, combined with the 12.53Mt of resources already established at Pilot Mountain, we are eager to move this Project along to the next stage.
“We look forward to updating the market with our planned operational and commercial next steps in short order.”
Detailed Overview:
1) Porphyry South (Figures 1, 2 & 3)
o The Company has been in search of a porphyry system at Pilot Mountain which could represent the causative intrusion for the skarn-type mineralisation found across the Project. Associated porphyry deposits can often be much larger than their associated skarns and therefore are highly sought after and explored for.
o The 2023 IP geophysical results have successfully highlighted a significant geophysical target that appears to be of porphyry affinity. This is in addition to the porphyry intrusion that the Company considers may be present at the Porphyry Depths Zone (see Figure 1). The centre of the Porphyry South target is approximately 600m south of Desert Scheelite and is defined by a resistivity high which starts at around 250m depth and extends towards the depth limit of the survey at 500m depth where it remains open (see Figure 3). This anomaly is surrounded by a moderate chargeability anomaly which could represent a halo around the porphyry centre – an often common feature of porphyry deposits.
o Further evidence to support the presence of a porphyry centre is evidenced within a small ground magnetic survey, completed by Zonge International Geophysics in 2013, which covered the Porphyry South area and identified a very strong and concentric magnetic anomaly which is strongly coincident with the resistivity high feature. The Porphyry South target is considerable in size at approximately 500m x 500m (see figure 2).
o The Company is considering completing select magnetic geophysics survey lines over the previously identified Porphyry Depths Zone as to date, no magnetic data has been collected over the majority of the Project. Concentric magnetic highs can often be associated within intrusive rocks including porphyry deposits.
2) Good Hope West (Figure 1)
o The Good Hope Zone is located circa 1.4km north of Desert Scheelite and is defined by a relatively copper-rich area with abundant near-surface mineralisation that has only been sparsely drilled. One historical drillhole returned 26.6m of 1% Cu, 1.2% Zn and 0.21% W03 starting at surface.1
o Detailed review and interpretation of the 2023 IP geophysical results have led to the delineation of the Good Hope West zone which is defined by a moderate resistivity anomaly that fingers in from the west. By georeferencing historical drilling cross sections, it became evident that this resistivity anomaly is strongly coincident with a known Good Hope mineralised lode structure. This anomaly extends for around 600m to the southwest from Good Hope where it has never been drill tested.
Media
Figure 1 – Pilot Mountain Project overview map showing the location of existing known mineralised bodies (Desert Scheelite, Gunmetal, Garnet Mine, Goodhope) and the outline of the five newly delineated exploration targets including the two new targets (Porphyry South and Good Hope West).
Figure 2 (Porphyry South) – Historical digitised ground magnetic geophysics data (Zonge, 2013) showing location of magnetic high. See figure 3 for outline of resistivity anomaly which is coincident with magnetic high feature. Scale, legend and north arrow located bottom left of image.
Figure 3 (Porphyry South) – Resistivity depth slice at 400m below surface showing concentric resistivity high anomaly near the southern boundary of the survey area. Main Desert Scheelite Zone hosts 10.7Mt of 0.26% W03.
Property Ownership
Golden Metal holds a 100% interest in the Pilot Mountain Project through its wholly-owned Nevada-based operating companies BFM Resources Inc and Pilot Metals Inc.
Reference Notes:
1: Thor Mining PLC, regulatory news announcement, ‘Drilling Success at Pilot Mountain Tungsten Project, dated 12 October 2017
(https://wcsecure.weblink.com.au/LSE_news/2017/10/12/Thormining_13706685.pdf)
For further information visit www.goldenmetalresources.com
