Metals Australia Ltd (ASX: MLS) has identified multiple gold, copper and base metal anomalous targets through a remote sensing study at its Eade Gold Project, located in Quebec, Canada.
The very detailed study included the use of an aster satellite longwave infrared (LWIR), visible/near infrared (VNIR), and shortwave infrared (SWIR) to complete the survey.
The objective of the remote sensing study was to delineate gold, copper and base metal anomalies that may represent additional gold, copper and base metal mineralised horizons which would then be followed up with further field exploration.
The remote spectral imagery results provide targets which can be assessed in the field to determine if mineralised horizons are present and if so followed up by further exploration and drilling.
Given the observed correlation between the gold, copper and base metal anomalism from the Remote Sensing data and mineralised zones identified by the company at the Eade Gold Project, Metals Australia believes that significant potential exists to increase the mineralised footprint at the Eade Gold Project through increased exploration, target generation and reconnaissance drilling.
Eade Gold Project is located within a southern branch of the Lac Guyer greenstone belt of northern- Quebec, an east-west trending greenstone belt which is host to numerous high-grade gold- copper and base metal discoveries.
The project is located approximately 120km northeast of the Eleonore Gold Mine which is owned and operated by Goldcorp and is located in close proximity to the Trans-Taiga Highway which provides excellent all-year road access to the projects.
The project area has seen many campaigns of fieldwork by geologists of the Quebec Government Survey beginning in 1998, with more than twenty rock chip samples available with significant Au and Cu grades.
Electrical conductivity estimates made from satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has identified numerous additional exploration targets at the Eade Gold Project which will be followed up in the field to test their potential to host gold mineralisation.
A field mapping and prospecting exploration program previously conducted by the company in late 2019 successfully identified a number of mineralised targets which were sampled on surface. Although the program was only able to investigate a limited number of the prospective areas, the Eade Gold Project has demonstrated the potential for broad zones of mineralisation which will be followed up during subsequent field programs.
The Eade Gold Project has not been the subject of modern exploration and limited follow up exploration has been undertaken on the historical occurrences. The company believes that modern exploration techniques, including channel sampling, soil geochemical sampling and till sampling will open up a significant amount of strike length of the known structures, enabling a focus on modern gold and copper exploration on and around the known prospects.
The thermal cameras of the Japanese Aster satellite can map quartz, feldspar and porphyry minerals as well as metal sulphides associated with Au and Cu mineralisation even through moderate vegetation cover. The VNIR/SWIR optical cameras can map iron minerals and clay alteration halos through vegetation at increased spatial resolution.
The LWIR survey indicated that there is good spatial correlation between calcite and quartz which indicates an environment conducive to orogenic Au deposition. Orogenic gold deposits represent by far the most economically important primary gold mineralisation. At the Eade Gold Project, the gold, copper and base metal anomalism observed in the spectral data can be directly correlated to the mineralised zones which have been identified by the Company during its previous exploration program which was conducted in late 2019.
The Company observed a high-degree of correlation between the gold, copper and base metal anomalism identified with the remote sensing data when compared with those gold, copper and base metal mineralised samples which were collected during the late October 2019 field program at the Eade Gold Project. This high-degree of correlation observed supports the outcome of the Remote Spectral Analysis, suggesting that the mineralised samples which were collected by the Company in late October 2019 provide a reliable “signature” which can be used to model the results of the Remote Spectral Analysis.
Exploration within the Lac Guyer greenstone belt, of which the Eade Gold Project forms part, has become quite intense with several junior and mid-tier companies now actively exploring this region. The region is host to several high-grade gold, copper and base metal discoveries and deposits.