Greatland Gold PLC (AIM:GGP) Scallywag Drilling and Geophysical Survey Results

Greatland Gold plc (AIM: GGP) announced the results of its 2023 drilling and geophysical exploration program at the 100% owned Scallywag tenement in the Paterson Region of Western Australia.  Scallywag is located adjacent to Greatland’s flagship Havieron gold-copper project.

Highlights

§ Anomalous gold and copper, and key pathfinder metal geochemistry, returned in assays from all four prospects.

§ A35 prospect returned best gold assay of 1m @ 0.83g/t Au from 238m in A35RD003 and peak copper intercept of 2m @ 0.17% Cu from 310m in A35RD002.

§ Preliminary modelling of the ground magneto-telluric (MT) data indicates a conductor at depth within a syncline fold structure along trend from Havieron.

§ Ongoing optimisation of the MT modelling is aimed at confirming the anomaly as a high priority target for 2024 as well as improving the understanding of stratigraphy and structure to identify Telfer style targets in the broader Scallywag tenement.

Greatland Managing Director, Shaun Day, commented:

“We are happy to report the effective completion of another phase of geological testing at our 100% owned Scallywag project, where drilling tested previously defined EM and geological targets, once again building on our understanding of the structure, stratigraphy and geochemistry of our landholding.

The ground magneto-telluric survey provides an enhanced understanding of the geology around the Scallywag syncline target area and identifies an untested conductor target coincident with a structural trap which potentially delineates the key structure to be tested.”

Figure 1: Greatland Paterson Projects, including Scallywag tenement, on 1vd aeromagnetics

2023 Exploration Program

A total of 10 diamond core holes were completed for 2,517.8m at the four high priority prospect targets areas of A35, A34, Pearl and Swan during the 2023 program (Table 1, Figure 2).  Work in 2023 focused on completing the reverse circulation (RC) pre-collars with diamond core (DD) tails, targeting ground EM conductors (Figure 2), as reported in Greatland’s previous RNS of 8 March 2023 titled “Scallywag Exploration Results”.  Downhole EM was attempted on each hole and successfully completed on five holes: A35RD003, PDD003, PDD005, PDD006 and PRD002.  Results showed conductive responses at the weathering and stratigraphic boundaries, but no significant off-hole conductors.

A ground magneto-telluric survey was completed over the eastern part of the licence (Figure 3), to define any conductors under the deeper (>200m) cover of the major regional synclinal fold structure and area of previous drilling at Kraken, London and Blackbeard targets (see RNS of 20 January 2021 titled ‘Initial Scallywag Drill Results and New Targets Identified’).

Table 1:2023 Drilling Completed Scallywag

Figure 2: 2023 Scallywag drilling and EM target plates with historic RC and diamond collar

Table 2: 2023 Completed Scallywag Drilling – gold and copper intercepts

Pearl Prospect

Drilling at Pearl intersected stratigraphy interpreted as the Telfer Member and Puntapunta. The Telfer Member is a mid to shallow marine sediment with minor carbonate units which is the host rock to The Telfer orebody.

PDD004 was drilled to twin an interval of high tenor metal fragments intersected from 77m downhole in PDD003 (see RNS of 8 March 2023 titled “Scallywag Exploration Results”), where poor drilling recoveries prevented interpretation of their significance. PDD004 returned weak gold anomalism of 2m @ 0.19g/t Au from 79m in the correlating position. The pathfinder geochemistry was not repeated, meaning the PDD003 anomaly may have been the result of downhole contamination.

Holes PRD002, PDD005 and PDD006 successfully targeted EM conductor plates from previous electromagnetic surveys.

Drilling intersected a sequence of massive, bedded, variably calcareous sediments; with minor zones of patchy K-feldspar / hematitic alteration, veining and faulting, providing some evidence of hydrothermal fluids and structural porosity. Anomalous pathfinder elements of copper, arsenic, lead, zinc and nickel, in addition to elevated bismuth, were recorded.

A34 and A35 Prospects

Diamond core tails at the A34 and A35 prospects successfully intersected the previously modelled electromagnetic plate conductors (Table 1).  The A34 and A35 drill holes intersected progressively stronger calcareous units to the east.  A35RD003 has a thick sequence of dolomite which has not been intersected in any previous Greatland drilling.

The best copper and gold results from the Scallywag drilling program occurred at the A35 prospect. They are 2m @ 0.17% copper from 310m in A35RD002 and 1m @ 0.83g/t gold from 238m in A35RD003.  The copper interval from 310m correlates to a structurally disrupted zone at the contact between a strongly calcareous limestone unit and sandstones. It features weakly elevated bismuth, molybdenum, lead, sulphur and antimony, while the gold result was returned from strong calcareous and iron oxide weathered and faulted limestone sediments.

The A34 prospect returned limited assays of significance, with a minor zone of anomalous arsenic and bismuth, and a coincident anomalous cobalt assay (2m @ 11ppm bismuth and 2m @ 45ppm cobalt) and elevated molybdenum, sulphur and tellurium in an iron-oxidised, faulted coarse sandstone.

Swan Prospect

Swan drill hole SWRD004 to the north of the Pearl drill holes intersected Telfer Member sediments.  SWRD005 further east intersected siliceous sediment but with increased calcareous units.

SWRD004 tested a zone of moderate carbonate – hematite – sericite alteration from 388 – 393m with minor quartz, carbonate, pyrite veining, coinciding with relatively anomalous gold, silver, arsenic, bismuth, cobalt, sulphur and tungsten.  The highest copper intersection in the hole was recorded as 2m @ 0.04% copper from 391m, with coincident gold (peak 0.023g/t) and bismuth 2m @ 7.8g/t.  These zones are indicative of mineralising fluids within a wider system.

The interval broadly coincident with the interpreted position of the EM conductor plate returned a gold assay of 0.22g/t Au from a 1m sample at 239m in SWRD005. It displayed a vuggy calcareous fault/vein zone, coincident with elevated metal pathfinder geochemistry of arsenic, chromium, molybdenum, nickel, lead, antimony, tungsten and zinc in a narrow 2-5m halo.

Ground Magneto-Telluric Survey

Greatland procured a ground magneto-telluric (MT) survey and modelling over the eastern part of the Scallywag tenement, comprising the major syncline structure that was the target of previous Greatland drilling at Kraken, London and Blackbeard (Figure 3).  MT surveys are considered particularly effective in areas of deep conductive cover as the signal only traverses the conductive cover once, reducing the deleterious effect that this has at the receiver(s). A similar survey conducted in 2022 of the Havieron mining lease successfully detected the Havieron orebody.

The survey was designed to investigate the parts of the Scallywag project where thick (>200m) cover sequences exist which the aerial electromagnetic survey of 2021 did not effectively penetrate.  Nominal station spacing was 500m over key geophysical targets.  A total of 120 stations were collected.

Preliminary modelling appears to show a weak anomalous zone coincident with a de-magnetised section of the northern limb of the syncline. Further modelling is underway to improve identification of the geology under cover.

Ongoing optimisation of the MT modelling is aimed at confirming the anomaly as a high priority target for 2024 as well as improving the understanding of stratigraphy and structure to identify Telfer style targets in the broader Scallywag tenement.

Figure 3: Ground MT survey grid on background aeromagnetic image

Further work

The targeted electromagnetic plates were all successfully intersected, with generally very subtle petrophysical property changes or structural / mineralisation zones detected.

This round of drilling has provided a line of geological observations across the prospective Black Hills Anticline (Figure 2) after it plunges under cover to the south. The development of a two dimensional section across the anticline is in progress, which when combined with the final MT survey results will inform a broader three dimensional bedrock geology model of the Scallywag area including structure.

The objective of this work is to identify the prospective Telfer Member (which is not geophysically detectable) where it lies within structural traps under shallow to moderate cover. Any resultant blind Telfer-style ore body targets along with any confirmed MT conductors will be targeted for drilling.

Contact

For further information, please contact:

Greatland Gold plc

Shaun Day, Managing Director  |  info@greatlandgold.com