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The Henderson tenements cover an approximately 438 km2 area in the central section of the Western Australian Yilgarn Craton and include about 25 km strike length of the Mt Ida/Ularring Greenstone Belt. Venus Metals (VMC) E30/520 tenement covers about 25 km of the Mt Ida/Ularring Greenstone Belt, historically known for its gold and nickel potential and recently recognized as an emerging Lithium Province (refer to ASX release 7 February 2022). (Figure 1)

Two regionally significant fault zones, the Ida Fault and Ballard Fault, transect the project area (Figure 1) and are considered to have played important controls on gold deposition. Significant gold mines associated with those structures in proximity to the Henderson Project include the historical First Hit Mine (Viking Mines; 7km south), the Riverina Mine (Ora Banda Mining; 15km south), and the historical Bottle Creek Mine (30km north). Historical gold workings within the general project area include the Hilltop Mine and Emerald Mine (excised from VMC tenement).

Until recently, major lithium producer IGO Ltd, through a subsidiary, had fully funded a joint venture expenditure for this project. The subsidiary conducted extensive surface sampling, including 3,678 soil samples, seven rock chip samples, and geological mapping. They spent $866,356 by 31 May 2024 under the Farm-in and JV agreement (refer to ASX release on 2 May 2023). The focus of the exploration was primarily on identifying target areas for Lithium. However, IGO Ltd has decided to withdraw from the JV agreement due to changing priorities within IGO Ltd.

VMC has commenced reviewing the Henderson tenements data, which encompasses surface data from IGO and drilling data from VMC.

The historical Hilltop Gold Mine is located in the southern section of the project area and is outlined by two parallel north-westerly trending lines of workings. The primary production came from two shallow shafts at the centre of the Southern Line of workings. Official records show only one year of gold production from 1940-1941. Total recorded production is 200t at an average grade of 22.4 g/t Au for about 100 oz contained gold. Previous reconnaissance sampling of the Southern Line of workings by Venus showed that significant gold grades remain in mined rock piles (mullock) next to the shafts (up to 77.2 g/t Au; refer ASX 9 September 2021). The preliminary results of surface rock chip sampling at the Hilltop Target Area (refer ASX 31 October 2024), which encompasses the historical Hilltop gold mine, include.

  • Gold assays up to 50.1 g/t Au returned from mullock rock chip samples along the Northern Line of workings (~125m strike) at Hilltop.
  • Exposed auriferous quartz veins assay up to 6.4 g/t Au Figure 4.
  • Up to 36.9 g/t Au was returned from mullock from the Southern Line of workings (~50m strike length), which confirms previous reconnaissance sampling by Venus that returned up to 77.2 g/t Au.
  • Indications for common free gold in shear-hosted auriferous quartz veins within halo of biotite alteration. Similarities in mineralisation style with nearby high-grade gold deposits Mt Ida – Timoni and First Hit.
  • Limited modern exploration of the historical Hilltop mining area since recorded mining stopped in 1941 during WWII.
  • A programme of RC drilling is planned to test the gold mineralisation at depth.

 

henderson

Figure 1 Henderson Project Tenements on GSWA 250k Geology Map.

 Auriferous quartz

Figure 2. Auriferous quartz vein (sample 24110014; 6.4g/t Au) within sheared mafic host rock, exposed in the shallow open stope.