Fosterville-Toolleen Gold Project in the Lachlan Fold Belt of Eastern Australia
The Project includes the 26 sq km Exploration Licence EL6001, with reported production of 7,000 tonnes @ 10 g/t Au from the top 60 metres and the discovery of an 88 gm nugget found on surface. The drill-ready property is the closest one (12 km) to Kirkland Lake Gold’s (NYSE: KL) Fosterville Mine – the lowest-cost producer worldwide at $315/oz and 34.3 g/t, which has past and present reserves of 9 Moz* gold. The project includes an open cut mine, free gold on the surface, substantial geological work and evidence of quartz. Other explorers around our project include: Fosterville South Exploration (FSX-V), Nubian Resources (NBR-V), Catalyst Metals (CYL-AX), and Petratherm Limited (PTR-AX).
The Project area, which is adjacent to the recently lifted exploration moratorium area, is located within the Bendigo-Ballarat Zone of the Palaeozoic Lachlan Fold Belt of eastern Australia and the greenstone corridor running north south. The gravity survey shows highly prospective areas. The experience at Fosterville and Bendigo suggests that the shallow gold mineralisation may be indicative of high-grade shoots that can be mined by underground methods. Several prospectors have been on the EL tenement ground and surrounding tenements and have recovered surface gold. The Project is situated on freehold land and has no native title claim.
Dr. Rodney Boucher, a pre-eminent Geologist with over 25 years experience in central Victoria geology will be assisting in the future work on the Project.
Fig 2 (L) – Open cut mine on the northern extent of the property • Fig 3 (R) – Dr. Boucher (foreground) inspecting the surface scree while discussing paleochannel and reef evidence with Tom Burrowes of PGM
Fig 4 (L) – Gold nuggets recovered from one of the farms on EL6001 • Fig 5 (R) – Angular reef quartz and rounded glacial quartz scree of Permian glacial origin.
Local Geology Prospective for Gold Deposits
The Fosterville-Toolleen Gold Zone was mined underground until 1957 with a reported 7,000 tonnes @ 10g/t Au being produced from the top 60 metres. Willman (2007) showed that the best mineralisation at both Bendigo and Castlemaine was found a few kilometres into the hanging walls of major faults thus, these areas of shallow cover are both prospective and easy to explore. PGM had previously discovered the Four Eagles project, now operated by Catalyst Metals in the hanging wall in a similar position. The Mt William Fault transects the tenement in a north-west south-east direction.
The Lachlan fold belt has been subdivided into eight zones based on age, rock types and structural history (Grey, 1988). The Permian glaciation is evidenced by small subsurface and locally outcropping occurrences of glacigene sediments that provide evidence of the glaciation. This occurred in eastern Australia during the lower Permian affecting the Toolleen area. Fluvio-glacial and glacial sediments crop out poorly and tend to be preserved in down faulted blocks or have been reworked into younger deposits. EL006001 is east of the Mt William fault.
Fluvial sediments have reworked Palaeozoic reef quartz and gold along with Permian glacial clasts into ancient rivers that criss-cross the tenement during the Cenozoic. Fosterville is unique in the region as it represents a large North striking West dipping fault reef up to 20 metres wide and eight kilometres long hosting rich gold reefs with finely disseminated gold. . Fosterville was attractive due to the arsenopyrite-hosted, fine disseminated folding (even though it wasn’t unique with similar mineralisation at Nagambie & Bailieston and even in small parts of Bendigo and Daylesford), but has become famous for the abundant nuggetty gold.
At the deposit scale, high-angle secondary reverse faults and dilational cross structures served as conduits for the mineralising fluids. In addition to the fault-controlled mineralisation, where accommodation occurs at the apexes of tight fold hinges, mineralisation can occur as stacked ‘saddle’ or ‘trough’ reefs as commonly seen within the Bendigo area.