REG - Greatland Gold PLC - June Quarter Update

Greatland GoldAnnouncement

31/07/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 5463Y  Greatland Gold PLC  31 July 2024

Greatland Gold plc (AIM: GGP)

E: info@greatlandgold.com

W: https://greatlandgold.com

: twitter.com/greatlandgold

 

 

NEWS RELEASE | 31 July 2024

 

 

June Quarter Update

 

 

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION AS STIPULATED UNDER THE UK
MARKET ABUSE REGULATIONS.  ON PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A
REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS INFORMATION IS CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE
PUBLIC DOMAIN

 

Greatland Gold plc (AIM:GGP) (Greatland or the Company) is pleased to provide
an update on activities and developments across the Company for the June 2024
quarter, and an outline of Greatland's planned exploration program for FY2025.

 

Highlights

 

§          Havieron: Approvals and permitting progressed in the June
quarter to enable the future recommencement of the underground decline
development.

 

§          Corporate: Greatland management team further enhanced by the
appointment of Dean Horton as Chief Financial Officer, bringing exceptional
project debt finance experience.

 

§          Exploration: FY25 look-ahead outlines a comprehensive
exploration program with exciting potential.

 

Havieron

 

Important progress was made on the approval and permitting of Havieron in the
June quarter, with the Environmental Protection Authority of Western Australia
(EPA) making its formal decision to assess approval of the project.  The EPA
has requested some additional information, which the joint venture Manager is
currently compiling for submission.

 

Total development at Havieron exceeds 3,060 metres including over 2,110 metres
of advance in the main access decline (as at 30 June 2024).  There is
approximately 80 vertical metres of development remaining before the decline
reaches the base of the Permian cover and top of the Havieron orebody at
around 420 vertical metres. Accordingly, over 80% of vertical distance is
complete in terms of reaching the top of the Havieron ore body.

 

As previously announced, there is a pause in decline development prior to
development through the third and final lower confined aquifer (LCA) that the
decline passes through before reaching the Havieron orebody.  A further three
evaporation ponds are required to be constructed and utilised in a staged
manner, to manage dewatering requirements for development through the LCA.
Opportunities to bring forward approvals for these continued to be progressed
in the quarter.

 

The Havieron portal and decline continues to be maintained in excellent
condition (Figure 1), withstanding heavy rainfall events in the region without
damage or disruption.  Ventilation intake has been transferred from the
portal entry to the ventilation raise (VR1).

 

Figure 1: Havieron underground access decline portal, 22 July 2024

As previously announced, Greatland's Havieron joint venture partner Newmont
has stated that it considered its interest in Havieron and ownership of the
nearby Telfer gold-copper mine as non-core assets which it intends to
divest.  Under the Havieron joint venture agreement, Greatland holds a right
of last refusal in respect of a sale by Newmont of its joint venture interest
in Havieron to a third party.  Greatland continues to consider itself
strongly positioned should there be an opportunity to consolidate ownership of
Havieron on accretive terms for Greatland's shareholders.

 

Corporate

 

Dean Horton was appointed as Greatland's Chief Financial Officer with effect
from 1 July 2024.  Dean has over 25 years of experience and brings an
exceptional and highly relevant skillset to Greatland, which includes
significant experience in project debt financing of Australian and
international resources and energy projects.

 

Dean's appointment further enhances Greatland's already strong management team
and supports Greatland in delivering the full potential of Havieron for
shareholders, as the project progresses through a completed feasibility study,
execution of project debt finance, completion of development and into
commercial operations.

 

Exploration - Review and look-ahead

 

Greatland has developed a comprehensive proposed exploration program for FY25,
focused on on-ground work including drilling, surface sampling and geophysics,
that builds upon work completed in FY24.

 

Highlights of recent work and the planned FY25 program include:

 

§          Paterson surface sampling programs are currently underway
with more than 1,000 samples already collected in CY24 with assays pending,
and further sampling planned in CY24.

 

§          Paterson South ground gravity program completed on the
Atlantis prospect at Budjidowns with processing of results underway.

 

§          Scallywag FY25 program includes further surface sampling and
a drilling program to test the London prospect.

 

§          Ernest Giles project further enhanced by the grant of two
additional exploration licences in July 2024, E38/3277 (Westwood West) and
E38/3235 (Westwood North), increasing total available strike length under
Greatland's 100% owned tenure to 125km.

 

§          Ernest Giles FY25 program includes project-wide and targeted
geophysics surveys and 6,000m drilling at the Meadows project.

 

§          Heritage surveys have been completed on key targets in the
Paterson and at Ernest Giles, enabling planned drilling in FY25.

 

§          New tenement applications at Mt Egerton and Yannarie have the
potential to further improve prospectivity of these projects.

 

Included in this release is a detailed review and FY25 look-ahead across
Greatland's priority exploration projects.

 

Greatland Managing Director, Shaun Day, commented:

 

"At Havieron, good progress was made in the quarter with the EPA's formal
decision to assess the environmental approval application.  In respect of
Newmont's announced intention to dispose of its interest in Havieron and
nearby Telfer mine, we continue to consider ourselves strongly positioned for
any potential opportunity to consolidate ownership of Havieron on accretive
terms for our existing shareholders."

 

"Excellent progress is being made across Greatland's exploration portfolio,
and we are pleased to share a detailed review and look-ahead for our high
priority exploration projects in this release.  FY25 promises to be a busy
year for our exploration team and we look forward to providing updates on our
activities."

 

Exploration - Detailed review and look-ahead

 

Paterson South joint venture

 

Greatland is currently earning up to a 75% joint venture interest with Rio
Tinto Exploration (RTX) in over 1,500km(2) of tenure (the Paterson South
project, shown in Figure 2), managed by Greatland.

 

Greatland's FY25 exploration program at Paterson South includes 10,000m of
planned drilling and further surface sampling programs.

 

Figure 2: Greatland Paterson tenure and prospects

Budjidowns E45/4815

 

The Atlantis prospect at Budjidowns (Figure 2) is a focus for Greatland in
FY25.  The area is characterised by bullseye magnetic features within the
Proterozoic basement.

 

A gravity survey commenced at the end of June 2024 and the results are
currently being processed.  Using a combination of magnetic and gravity data
to differentiate between mafic bodies and mineralisation proved effective at
Havieron and is expected to assist targeting at Atlantis.  If the geophysical
modelling identifies compelling targets at Atlantis, these will be followed up
with drilling.

 

Strickland E45/4807 and Telfer Domain E45/4834

 

The relatively shallow cover in the Strickland and Telfer Domain tenure makes
the effective and relatively inexpensive technique of soil sampling viable.
 Soil sampling is planned in FY25 across interpreted significant structures
on both tenements.

 

In addition, follow up drilling testing of known geochemical anomalies is
planned in FY25 at the Chilly (+0.5 g/t Au in Air Core drilling (AC) by RTX)
and Paterson Dome West (+0.10% Cu in AC drilling by RTX) prospects (Figure 2)
as well as any targets identified in the surface sampling.

 

Skylar E45/5351 and Triangle E45/5352

 

Greatland recently commissioned an external specialist geological
reinterpretation which has identified further targets, and confirmed
previously defined magnetic and structural targets at the Bootstrap and Teague
prospects (Figure 2).  These will be tested with +500m diamond holes and
Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling.

 

Basel E45/5122

 

The Calypso prospect (Figure 2) originally identified as a gold anomaly at the
base of cover in drilling will be tested with Ultra Fine Fraction soil
sampling and AC drilling follow up.

 

Wilki Lakes E45/5576

 

Soil sampling across the entire tenure (Figure 3) at a nominal 300 x 800m
spacing for 137 samples has been recently completed, targeting Hemi-style
felsic intrusive hosted mineralisation.  Assay results when received will
guide further exploration.

 

Other tenure

 

Reviews of historical work are ongoing for the remainder of the Paterson South
tenure, focusing on geological interpretation and target identification.

 

Paterson 100% tenure

 

At Greatland's 100% owned tenure in the Paterson region, a number of surface
sampling programs have been recently completed in 2024 (Figure 3), with assay
results pending.  Greatland's FY25 exploration program includes further
surface sampling, 1,500m of planned drilling at the London prospect, and
potentially further follow up drilling.

 

Scallywag E45/4701 and Black Hills North (E45/6134)

 

At Scallywag (Figure 2) a targeted soils program (119 samples) has been
completed in the north-west corner of the tenement in 2024 (Figure 3),
targeting the host units of both Telfer and Havieron in a fold closure.  A
further surface sampling program of 417 samples have been completed in 2024,
covering most of the Black Hills North tenement (Figure 3).  Both programs
were completed on an offset 200 x 200m grid, with assay results under review.

 

At the London prospect (Figure 2), follow up drill testing of the combined MT
anomaly and demagnetized zone in the core of a regional synform is planned in
FY25, including three 500m diamond holes.

 

Pascalle E45/5316

 

Soil sampling (437 samples collected) and field mapping has been completed at
Pascalle in 2024 (Figure 3).  The assays results are pending, and once
received will guide the future exploration program for the tenement.

 

Figure 3: Surface sampling completed in 2024 to date in south eastern Paterson
(Blue dots), overlaid on reduced to pole (RTP) aeromagnetics.

Ernest Giles project

 

Greatland's 100% owned Ernest Giles project (Figure 4) is located in the
Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia.

 

The grant of exploration licences E38/3277 (Westwood West) and E38/3235
(Westwood North) in July 2024 and E38/3775 (Mount Smith) in April 2024 has
increased the available strike length of the Ernest Giles Archean greenstones
to over 125km (Figure 4).

 

Greatland's planned FY25 exploration program at Ernest Giles includes a
regional geophysics program across the project tenure, as well as a targeted
airborne geophysics survey and 6,000m of drilling at the Meadows prospect.

 

Figure 4: Ernest Giles location and tenure (granted and pending), Meadows
prospect

Ernest Giles - Regional Evaluation

 

Ernest Giles is approximately 250km north-east of the town of Laverton and
covers a folded belt of magnetic greenstone rocks typical of the highly gold
and nickel endowed Archean Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia (Figure 5).

 

Figure 5: Ernest Giles Project and Yamarna Belt location

Greatland's success in 2024 in achieving the grant of an additional three
tenements at Ernest Giles (Figure 4) has improved our ability to understand
the entire Ernest Giles Archean greenstone belt, and amplifies the potential
benefits of a region wide program of work to achieve this.

 

The first phase of this regional program will be to augment the already
acquired geophysical datasets including detailed magnetics, targeted gravity
and electromagnetic surveys with regional "deep seeing" geophysical data.

 

Ernest Giles - Learnings from Gruyere

 

One program under consideration by Greatland at Ernest Giles is a belt wide
magnetotelluric (MT) survey to identify the deep feeders for mineralisation.

 

The Yamarna Belt is the closest Archean greenstone belt to Ernest Giles,
located approximately 120km south-west of Ernest Giles (Figure 5), and is
considered Ernest Giles' closest correlative.  The Yamarna Belt hosts the
Gruyere gold mine (Gruyere) which was discovered by Gold Road Resources
(ASX:GOR) (Gold Road) in 2013.  Gruyere is now owned and operated in joint
venture between Gold Road and Gold Fields Ltd (JSE:GFI).  Gruyere commenced
production in 2019, and to 30 June 2024 has produced more than 1.5Moz of gold,
with a current mine defined to 2032.

 

McCuaig and Hronsky (2014) outlined a mechanism for gold concentration and
deposition requiring an intermediate over pressured palaeo reservoir within a
fractured rock volume at depth within the crust.  This feature and the
pathway from it to the resulting orebody would be identifiable due to the
passage of high temperature fluids through the surrounding rocks causing
alteration and an increase in electrical conductivity.

 

A 3D MT survey across the Yamarna Belt was carried out by the Geological
Survey of WA (GSWA) in collaboration with the Centre for Exploration
Targeting, Gold Road and the Mineral Research Institute of WA in the Yamarna
terrain in 2018.  Processing of this MT data identified a deep conductive
zone in the lower crust (interpreted as the palaeo reservoir), as well as
conductive pipes leading to the Gruyere deposit (Figure 6), consistent with
the McCuaig and Hronsky mechanism.

 

Figure 6: Results of 3D MT survey over Yamarna greenstone belt, taken from
Dentith et. al. 2018, Figure 3.

The MT survey at Gruyere confirms the effectiveness of this advanced
exploration technique in identifying conductors within the Archean greenstone
setting.

 

Greatland is experienced in the use of this technique, having applied it at
the Scallywag project in 2023 to effectively identify the London anomaly which
is now planned for drill testing in FY25 (refer below), and at Havieron in
2022 where it successfully detected the Havieron orebody.

 

A belt-wide MT survey of Ernest Giles by Greatland is targeted for FY25 and is
expected to sharply refine the target space for on-ground work.

 

Ernest Giles - Meadows prospect

 

Previous work by Greatland at the Meadows prospect has already identified
anomalous gold mineralisation in very widely spaced drilling, making Meadows a
high priority within Ernest Giles and Greatland's overall exploration
portfolio.

 

A geological review of the Meadows prospect, which integrated the findings
from Greatland's 2023 diamond core drilling with historical drilling and
geological interpretations from geophysical surveys, has confirmed favourable
host lithologies occurring within multiple potential structural traps in this
underexplored area.

 

These structural traps will be the focus for a 3D Induced Polarisation (IP)
survey capable of identifying disseminated sulphide accumulations in
bedrock.  Disseminated sulphides are consistently associated with gold
mineralisation in Archean lode gold systems.

 

The IP survey will be completed in H1 FY25 and the results used to further
refine drill targets at the Meadows prospect.  Area heritage clearances have
been completed and drilling will commence immediately following review of the
IP survey results.

 

Mt Egerton

 

The Mt Egerton project footprint is expected to be expanded with applications
made for a further two exploration licences, E52/4361 (Munjang) and E52/4362
(Mt Egerton), in this highly underexplored area. These new applications would
increase the landholding in what Greatland considers to be a very prospective
region for the discovery of major gold and copper deposits.

 

Greatland continues to review the existing data in preparation for on-ground
work once land access agreements are in place.

 

 

Figure 7: Mt Egerton tenure including Woodlands (granted) and new tenement
applications for Munjang and Mt Egerton (pending).  GSWA 100,000 scale
interpreted geology.

Yannarie

 

Greatland continues to grow its potential footprint at the Yannarie project,
with a new tenement application submitted for exploration licence E08/3721
(Irregully) (Figure 8).  Negotiations with local landholders and the
traditional owners are currently underway to enable grant of all pending
Yannarie tenement applications.

 

Figure 8: Yannarie tenement location and tenure (all pending applications)

 

Contact

 

For further information, please contact:

 

Greatland Gold plc

Shaun Day, Managing Director  |  info@greatlandgold.com

 

Nominated Advisor

SPARK Advisory Partners

Andrew Emmott / James Keeshan / Neil Baldwin  |  +44 203 368 3550

 

Corporate Brokers

Berenberg  |  Matthew Armitt / Jennifer Lee  |  +44 203 368 3550

Canaccord Genuity  |  James Asensio / George Grainger  |  +44 207 523 8000

SI Capital Limited  |  Nick Emerson / Sam Lomanto  |  +44 148 341 3500

 

Media Relations

UK - Gracechurch Group  | Harry Chathli / Alexis Gore / Henry Gamble  |
+44 204 582 3500

Australia - Fivemark Partners  |  Michael Vaughan  |  +61 422 602 720

 

About Greatland

 

Greatland is a mining development and exploration company focused primarily on
precious and base metals.

 

The Company's flagship asset is the world-class Havieron gold-copper project
in the Paterson Province of Western Australia, discovered by Greatland and
presently under development in joint venture with world gold major, Newmont
Corporation.

 

Havieron is located approximately 45km east of Newcrest's existing Telfer gold
mine. The box cut and decline to the Havieron orebody commenced in February
2021. Total development now exceeds 3,060m including over 2,110m of advance in
the main access decline (as at 30 June 2024).  Subject to a positive
feasibility study and Decision to Mine, Havieron is intended to leverage the
existing Telfer infrastructure and processing plant.  Access to Telfer would
de-risk the development and reduces capital expenditure.

 

Greatland has a proven track record of discovery and exploration success and
is pursuing the next generation of tier-one mineral deposits by applying
advanced exploration techniques in under-explored regions. Greatland has a
number of exploration projects across Western Australia and in parallel to the
development of Havieron is focused on becoming a multi-commodity miner of
significant scale.

 

References

 

Mike Dentith, Jessica Spratt, Alan Aitken, Mark Lindsay, Sandi Occhipinti,
Jeffrey Shragge - 2018.  Electromagnetic Imaging Of An Archean Orogenic Gold
Mineral System: Gruyere Deposit, Yilgarn Craton - Poster presented at GSWA
Open Day, Fremantle

 

McCuaig, T.C., and Hronsky, J.M.A., 2014. The mineral system concept: The key
tom exploration targeting. Society of Economic Geologists Special Publication
18, 153-175.

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