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The Sandstone Gold Project is located within tenement E57/984 (125 km2; 90% VMC). The historical Bellchambers mining area, first reported by Gibson in 1908, is located about 23 km southwest of the town of Sandstone and is 70km via road from the Youanmi Gold Project being advanced and developed by Rox Resources Ltd, which recently published an Investor Presentation-Pathway to Production. (See RXL ASX announcement dated 13 November 2024. (Figure 1). Historical reported gold production from Bellchambers is 3,688 ounces of gold from 5,620 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 21 g/t gold (Image 1)

Gold mineralisation at Bellchambers deposit and the adjacent Range View prospect (Refer ASX release 26 March 2021), is hosted within a northeasterly trending and steeply dipping sequence of sheared sulphide-rich sediments and mafic rocks, interlayered with thin chert and Banded Iron Formation (BIF). The gold mineralisation shows similarities with common BIF hosted gold mineralisation reported from the central section of the Sandstone Greenstone Belt.

The total Indicated and Inferred Resource for Bellchambers is reported at 0.5 gm/t Au and 1.0 gm/t Au cutoffs and is summarised below. (refer VMC ASX announcement dated 4th April 2023)

Table 1-1 Bellchambers Project Resource Summary 0.5 gm/t Au Cutoff

Summary 0.5 gm

 Table 1-2 Bellchambers Project Resource Summary 1.0 gm/t Au Cutoff

summary 1.0

 

An advanced gold prospect named Range View is located approximately 1.1 kilometres north east and along strike of Bellchambers within the mining lease application with previous VMC drill results including:

  • BCRC120 11m @ 4.69 g/t Au from 12m Including 5m @ 9.03 g/t Au from 18
  • BCRC122 8m @ 1.22 g/t Au from 30m Including 1m @ 4.48 g/t Au from 30m

This is an obvious exploration area adjacent to Bellchambers, with clear potential to outline additional gold mineralisation within the mining lease application (refer VMC ASX release 15th January 2021).

Venus has appointed Mr Simon Coxhell as a consultant to help guide Bellchambers' future progression towards a successful open-pit mining operation. Simon previously held the position of Managing Director of Echo Resources, overseeing the company's substantial growth before Northern Star Resources' takeover of Echo in 2019. He has extensive experience developing and mining gold deposits throughout Western Australia.

Rox Resources has agreed to negotiate a mine gate sale agreement on a best endeavours basis as part of the transaction consolidating its interest in the Youanmi Gold Project (refer to ASX announcement 31 March 2023—Ancillary agreement).

The company has applied for a Mining Lease covering its Bellchambers Deposit JORC 2012 (see VMC ASX release 16 December 2024). The Lease application covers approximately 415 hectares. It includes additional areas considered prospective for identifying additional gold resources and allowing for the positioning of open pits, waste dumps, and stockpiles.

The Bellchambers deposit is open at depth and along strike, and a work program designed to enhance and potentially extend the known gold mineralisation is underway. Work programs going forward will include pit optimisation studies, additional drilling in key areas and metallurgical test work to confirm expected high gold recoveries. The potential to discover and outline additional gold resources within the mining lease application is considered high. Additional statutory studies and approvals will progress concurrently.

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Image 1. Historical mine shaft at Sandstone Bellchambers

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Figure 1 Sandstone Bellchambers Gold Project.