First Au Limited (ASX: FAU) has been granted four Exploration Licenses at its Victorian Goldfields project in East Gippsland, Victoria.
The granted licenses constitute a substantial increase in area for the VicGold project and are considered to be of significant strategic importance to the project.
The newly granted tenements EL006975, EL006976, EL006977 and EL007335, cover an area of ~2,200 sq. kmand collectively contain numerous, highly prospective prospects including the Dogwood Porphyry Copper-Molybdenum project, the greater Haunted Stream area, the Birregun Orogenic Au, the Dargo High Plains Deep Leads Au projects and open westerly extension to the Snowstorm Project area.
Update on planned drilling at Dogwood
EL006977, containing the Dogwood Porphyry Copper project, is currently a high priority project, prospective for copper, gold and molybdenum. With the tenement now granted, the Company can proceed with its planned drill programme.
The company has a rig secured and plans to commence drilling within the next month, further details regarding the program will be provided once the Company has confirmation the rig is on site.
The Dogwood project was discovered by Australian Anglo America Prospecting (AAAP) in 1980and last drilled by CRA Exploration in 1994, but more recent exploration in the area has been limited. Historic exploration has underlined its potential, with best intersects from drilling by CRA, including 13.2m @ 1.33% Cu (from 28m; DD94OR46) and 30m @ 0.5% Cu, including 8m @ 1.2 % Cu (from 54m; RC93OR25).
The upcoming drill programme will focus on testing the extent of economic grade potential within the project area specifically for copper, molybdenum and gold commodities.
EL006975, EL006976 and EL007335
EL006975 surrounds the Haunted Stream Au corridor and forms the greater exploration area for the central corridor (EL006816). FAU has developed a new understanding for mineralisation controls across the region which has significant implications outside of the immediate Haunted Stream EL006816 area. The newly expanded tenement area hosts numerous highly prospective target zones, including the Yahoo Creek Au zone, Sandy Creek and Black Snake Creek Au zones in the south and Joe’s Reef and Ensay Syndicate workings in the north, hosted in Pinnak Sandstone. These prospects underpin the extended prospectivity extended well beyond the Haunted Stream workings.
EL006976 is north-west of the town of Dargo, with the tenure containing numerous historic gold workings including highly prospective orogenic auriferous reef and lode deposits as well as recent stream alluvial “Deep Lead” deposits. Recent geological data is limited across these deposits. However historical production reporting suggest that they were quite Au-rich in places. Across the main historic mine workings, an encouraging historical production record minimum of > 2,000 Oz production indicates the opportunity for gold exploration across this tenement.
EL007335 is the extension of the Snowstorm project, FAU’s most advanced project in the area and contains numerous highly prospective historic workings. Importantly the extension to the Snowstorm mineralised trend, hosted by the Cassilis shear zone, extends west into the newly granted tenure. Of significant interest are the historic gold workings adjacent to and hosted within biotite-hornblende granodiorites.
The EL007335 tenement contains numerous high-potential targets and when combined with the adjacent Snowstorm tenement package (EL5505 & PL007319), underpin FAU’s belief in the economic potential of this district. The recently acquired LIDAR data highlights historic workings along strike to the west of the Snowstorm project. The integration of both ‘boots on ground’ coupled with the application and use of new exploration technologies (LIDAR), provide FAU with a more detailed understanding of the mineralisation systems across the district and assists in further drill hole targeting.