Australia Gold JV - NI 43-101 Report Received

RNS Number : 6437Z

Power Metal Resources PLC

22 September 2020

 

22 September 2020

Power Metal Resources plc ("POW" or the "Company")

Australia Gold JV - NI 43-101 Report Received

Power Metal Resources plc (LON:POW) the AIM listed metals exploration and development company is pleased to announce it has received the Independent National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") Technical Report (the "NI 43-101 Report" or "Report") on the BMV Gold Project held by its Australian gold joint venture ("JV") company Red Rock Australasia Pty Ltd ("RRAL") in which POW has a 49.9% interest.

The BMV Gold Project for the purposes of the Report has been defined as eight exploration licence applications comprising the central block (6 licence applications of which 5 are contiguous) and the eastern block (2 contiguous licence applications) out of the twelve for which the JV has applied, which may be viewed through the following link: https://www.powermetalresources.com/p/225/rral-regional-tenement-map

The NI 43-101 Report has been prepared by Caracle Creek International Consulting Inc. and Kinetic Raw Materials Consulting.

An extract of the Interpretation and Conclusions of the Report is given below. The full report which is posted of the Company's website and is accessible through the following link: https://www.powermetalresources.com/p/222/bmv-gold-project-ni-43-101

Paul Johnson Chief Executive Officer of Power Metal Resources plc commented:

"The receipt of the NI 43-101 is a key moment where, for the first time, investors can see in this report a detailed review of the geological prospectivity and potential within eight of the RRAL licence applications.

The report accelerates the JV to the next stage of its development, charging RRAL with more detailed exploration plans to implement on licence grants and to assist with corporate negotiations in respect of RRAL interests.

Both Power Metal Resources, and our JV partner Red Rock Resources plc, through RRAL have an interest in one of the largest Victoria goldfields licence application footprints.  RRAL is a substantial venture and the Report is the accelerant needed to capture the value opportunity available. 

The JV partners have many options through which to create value and are working at pace to move this exciting opportunity forward."

Notes:

For the purpose of the following extract the following definitions apply:

Project - The BMV Gold Project as defined in the full NI 43-101 Report

Property - The application footprint covered by the BMV Gold Project or parts thereof

Go-public - Terminology for listing on a North American exchange

Issuer - RRAL or other holding company of the BMV Gold Project interests

EXTRACT FROM NI 43-101 REPORT

Interpretation and Conclusions

The objective of this Report was to prepare an independent NI 43-101 Technical Report capturing historical information available for the Project area, evaluate this information with respect to the prospectivity of the Project, and present recommendations for future exploration and development on the Property.

The BMV Gold Project is subdivided into two areas about 45 km apart, with the westernmost tenements referred to as the Ballarat-Yandoit Group ("B-Y Group"), consisting of the Ballarat-Buninyong Gold Property and the Daylesford-Yandoit Gold Property, and to the east, two exploration licences referred to as the Kilmore-Donnybrook Property. The approximate centre of each of these areas is about 88 km northwest (B-Y Group) and 47 km north (Kilmore-Donnybrook Property) of the State capital, Melbourne. The gold project subdivisions are demonstrated in the map (Figure 4.2 of full report) which may be viewed through the following link: https://www.powermetalresources.com/p/224/bmv-gold-project-subdivisons  

Interpretation

Based on information and data provided to the Authors and available from public sources such as the Geological Survey of Victoria and government websites of the State of Victoria, there are a number of interpretations that can be made with respect to the exploration licences that comprise the BMV Gold Project.

Ballarat-Buninyong Gold Property

The Ballarat-Buninyong Gold Property comprises exploration licences EL007271, 7281, 7282 (south), and 7285. Exploration licence EL007271 offers excellent opportunity to explore for the southern extensions of the west and east west lines in the Ballarat Goldfield. Numerous historical alluvial and vein-hosted gold locations occur in two approximate north-south lines, about 3.7 km apart, and which trend northward of EL007271 into the Ballarat Goldfield, continuing about 13 km to the Ballarat Gold Mine. In addition, known and interpreted geology that underlies the tenement also supports this interpretation of the two Ballarat lines extending onto EL007271. The hangingwall (west side) of the north-south trending Williamson Creek Fault, which occurs along the eastern part of the tenement, offers an additional exploration target.  Structures within the hangingwall of major thrust faults are considered to be excellent targets for gold mineralization. The Williamson Creek Fault is considered to be a major structural feature controlling mineralisation and may in turn parallel the numerous reverse faults that define the Ballarat Goldfield to the west (Holden, 2020).

Exploration licence EL007281 is located about 2 to 3 km west of the southern Ballarat Goldfield. This tenement is prospective for southern extensions of the Ballarat West line and in the southwest part of the exploration licence, the northeast extension of the Enfield Goldfield. Additional opportunity lies within the southeast part of the exploration licence where the potential western extension of the east-west structure that hosts the historical Monmouth Gold Mine, may be found.

The southern portion of exploration licence EL007282 is covered by extensive Tertiary volcanic flows that post-date gold mineralization. Given that historical goldfields that occur east (Gordon, Mount Egerton), south (Mount Doran), and west (Ballarat) of EL007282 are hosted by Ordovician sedimentary units, it follows that Ordovician sedimentary units with potential gold mineralization could extend under the Tertiary volcanic rock cover. This extensive Tertiary cover offers an excellent exploration opportunity as the underlying host rocks have received almost no past exploration. The hangingwall (west side) of the north-south trending Muckleford Fault, which occurs along the eastern part of EL007282, offers an additional exploration target.

Exploration licence EL007285, although limited in size, offers an opportunity to explore for the northern extension of the Ballarat West line, particularly in the eastern part of the licence, where geological evidence suggests the presence of a thick graphitic shale unit with pyritic black slates, pyritic mineral seams, laminated quartz lodes, and crushed quartz (Holden, 2020). Although the target Ordovician sedimentary units are only mapped in the far eastern part of this tenement, it is likely that these target sequences with potential gold mineralized underlie the entire tenement beneath Tertiary volcanic rocks.

Daylesford-Yandoit Gold Property

The Daylesford-Yandoit Gold Property comprises exploration licences, EL007271, 7281, 7282 (north), and 7285. The southern part of the northern portion of EL007282 parallels the southern part of the Daylesford Goldfield to the east. Ordovician sedimentary units, here underlying Tertiary volcanic flows, could host gold mineralization similar to that in the Daylesford field. This tenement is widest in the northern part where it covers a large portion of the Yandoit Goldfield, and along with EL007385 offers a number of excellent "Yandoit-style" exploration opportunities. Exploration licence EL007282 is also located in the hangingwall (west side) of the north-south trending Muckleford Fault, which occurs within the northern part of EL007282, east of the Yandoit Goldfield, and east of the southern part of this tenement.

The southern half of exploration licence EL007330 overlies a substantial portion of the historical Daylesford Goldfield, including the Ajax and Cornish lines (average historical production grade of 10.8 g/t Au).  The lines extend for at least 5 kms, offering excellent exploration potential with respect to "Daylesford-style" gold mineralization. The northern half of exploration licence EL007330 extends north into the Newstead Goldfield, offering additional exploration opportunities in this prospective area.

Kilmore-Donnybrook Gold Property

The Kilmore-Donnybrook Gold Property comprises exploration licences EL007329 and EL007460. Located largely within the Melbourne Zone where timing of gold mineralization is considered to be younger than that which occurs in the Bendigo Zone, historical gold mineralization is strongly associated with antimony, suggesting a lower temperature gold deposition. The association of antimony with gold offers the opportunity to use it as a vector element for gold exploration. 

Exploration licences EL007329 and EL007460, together cover the historical Kilmore Goldfield and most of the historical Donnybrook Goldfield in the south. Both goldfields offer exploration opportunity within strongly folded and sheared Middle Silurian to Early Devonian sedimentary rocks that have not seen systematic modern-day exploration.

The Heathcote Fault Zone (aka Mt William Fault), the structural boundary between the Bendigo Zone to the west and the Melbourne Zone to the east, cuts through both EL007460 and EL007329. In addition, secondary faults parallel to the Mt William fault have been mapped on both licences, offering numerous exploration opportunities (Sharp, 2020f). Holden (2020) suggests that this exploration licence could host mineralization similar to that found at the historical Heathcote Mine and/or the operating Costerfield gold-antimony Mine about 30 km and 35 km, respectively, to the north of the Kilmore-Donnybrook Property.

Conclusions

Recent positive developments at the Fosterville Gold Mine (Kirkland Lake Gold) and the go-public event (TSX Venture Exchange, 14 April 2020) by Fosterville South Exploration have triggered renewed interest in the historical goldfields of central Victoria. This renewed interest has led to a new way of thinking about the gold potential in the Victorian Goldfields, particularly in areas under cover of overburden or Tertiary volcanic rocks (blind targets), and in mature gold districts where re-interpretation of structural information has provided new models for targeting shallow (<200 m) and deeper (thousands of metres) gold mineralization.

Red Rock Australasia Pty Ltd holds an extensive land position through licence applications in the historical goldfields of Victoria, Australia. The Company has developed a focused exploration strategy targeting high-grade, quartz-hosted gold vein systems in areas that present well understood exploration models and targets. Many of these exploration licence applications have seen limited modern exploration techniques applied to them in the search for gold systems.

The Company's licence application property portfolio which comprises the BMV Gold Project includes eight exploration licence applications that are the subject of the Report and four additional exploration licence applications which have not been reviewed by the Authors. The recommended exploration focus is on hard rock gold (lode) in the Victorian goldfields and is based upon the following criteria and methodologies:

· folded sandstones, siltstones, and shales of Ordovician to Early Devonian age metamorphosed to lower greenschist facies.

· target reverse faults that are variably conduits to mineralisation formed from the continued east-west compression responsible for the folding of the sedimentary units.

· proximal to and within the hangingwall to major thrust faults and associated fault splays, in particular the low-angle portions of thrust faults which present the highest potential for gold mineralization.

· direct targeting of structural features such as saddle reefs, laminated quartz veins parallel to bedding, and west dipping vein arrays with or without flat lying late stage veining which are regularly gold rich with a strong sphalerite/ galena association.

· identification of structural targets east and parallel to the regional Mount William Fault that is mapped through the southwest area of Kilmore exploration licence EL007329, a similar geological setting to that of the Costerfield Gold-Antimony Mine.

· 3D modelling at the Ajax and Cornish lines (Daylesford area, EL007330), two areas considered high priority targets.

· prioritize testing for gold disseminated in the wall rock to quartz vein hosted systems, similar to the high grade Fosterville Gold Mine and exampled by the mineralogy and potential at the  Ajax Mine property (Daylesford, EL007330).

Based on the historical information reviewed to date, the best opportunities for future exploration success and potential development toward mining, are the Ajax and Cornish lines in the Daylesford Goldfield (EL007330), the Ballarat West and East lines that appear to extend south from the Ballarat Gold Mine region into the South Ballarat (EL007271) area, the north and south Yandoit Goldfield region underlying EL007385 and EL007282, and the structural targets identified on the Kilmore-Donnybrook Property (EL007329) to the east.

It is the opinion of the Authors that, after reviewing historical results and other publicly available information and data from the BMV Gold Project, the Project presents an excellent opportunity for the Issuer and is worthy of additional exploration work, targeting high-grade, orogenic gold mineralization in the Bendigo and Melbourne structural zones.

END OF EXTRACT NI 43-101 REPORT

COMPETENT PERSON STATEMENT

The technical information contained in this disclosure has been read and approved by Scott Jobin-Bevans, P.Geo., a member of the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario and the author of the Report. Mr Jobin-Bevans has authorised the release of this extract from the Report in the form and context in which it appears.

FURTHER JOINT VENTURE INFORMATION:

Joint Venture Company - RRAL

RRAL is a joint venture company 49.9% owned by POW and 50.1% by Red Rock Resources plc (LON:RRR). Paul Johnson, CEO of POW and Andrew Bell, Chairman of RRR and POW, are directors of RRAL.

RRAL has lodged applications for twelve new gold exploration licence areas covering 2,188 km² in the Victoria Goldfields of Australia as follows:

Licence Application Number	Project Name	Report Name	Area (km2)
EL007271	Blue Whale	South Ballarat	133
EL007281	Blue Chip	Ross Creek	74
EL007282	Blue Sky	Dunnstown - Yandoit	489
EL007285	Blue Ribbon	Ballarat North	8
EL007294	Red Queen	Talbot	130
EL007301	Mt Bute	Pitfield	85
EL007327	Blue Stocking	Dereel	60
EL007328	Blue Yonder	Elaine	168
EL007329	Evergreen	Kilmore	486
EL007330	Blue Angel	Daylesford	202
EL007385	Sardinia		4
EL007460	Kilmore West	Lancefield	349
Total			2,188

Further information in respect of the Australia gold JV, including historical reports and targeting assessments prepared for each project, may be viewed through the following link to the Power Metal website: https://www.powermetalresources.com/s/52/australia

In addition, an online map of the current application footprint may be viewed through the following link: https://www.powermetalresources.com/p/207/rrraustralasia-gold-project-footprint

REGULATORY STATEMENT

The information contained within this announcement is considered to be inside information prior to its release, as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation No.596/2014 and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of those Regulations.

CONTACT INFORMATION

For further information please visit https://www.powermetalresources.com/ or contact:

Power Metal Resources plc
Paul Johnson (Chief Executive Officer)	[phone]
SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nomad and Joint Broker)
Ewan Leggat/Charlie Bouverat	[phone]
SI Capital Limited (Joint Broker)
Nick Emerson	[phone]
First Equity Limited (Joint Broker)
David Cockbill/Jason Robertson	[phone]

NOTES TO EDITORS

Power Metal Resources plc (LON:POW) is an AIM listed metals exploration and development company seeking a large scale metal discovery.

The Company has a global portfolio of project interests including precious metal exploration in North America and Australia together with base metal exploration in Africa. Project interests range from early stage greenfield exploration to later stage drill ready prospects.

The Board and its team of advisors have expertise in project generation, exploration and development and have identified an opportunity to utilise the Company's position to become a leader in the London market for investors wishing to gain exposure to proactive global metals exploration.

 

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