Yalgoo Gold & Base Metals Project
The Venus Yalgoo Gold and Base Metals Project area is situated within the northern part of the Yalgoo-Warriadar greenstone belt north of the world-class Golden Grove base metal deposits. The belt also is host to a substantial number of gold deposits including the Minjar open pit gold mining operation which is currently being recommissioned. Many of the gold deposits including Minjar lie along the north trending regional-scale Mougooderra Fault which Venus interprets as an easterly dipping sinistral transpressional thrust (refer to figures).
Venus has identified several high priority gold exploration targets within the Yalgoo project area (refer to figures). The highest priority target is the Mougooderra gold target present along a regional-scale fault bend along the aeromagnetically interpreted position of the Mougooderra Fault. This structural position is considered by Venus to have potential to host a world-class concealed gold deposit. Historical widely-spaced auger soil sampling traverses across the Mougooderra gold target show the presence of widespread anomalous arsenic (refer to figures). The Picata gold target covers an extensive area of anomalous gold in soils just to the east of the Picata-Joker gold working. Anomalous gold in soils up to 128 ppb occurs along four soil sampling traverse lines that are spaced 300m apart. The Picata soil gold anomaly is open to the south where there are interpreted favourable north-west trending faults which commonly host gold mineralisation within the project area. The soil gold anomaly is also associated with widespread anomalous arsenic in soils up to 113 ppm. An exploration program of pattern auger gold soil sampling followed by RAB and RC percussion drilling is planned to test the Mougooderra and Picata gold targets in 2010.