Power Metal Resources plc (LON:POW), the London listed exploration company seeking large-scale metal discoveries across its global project portfolio, announces an exploration update from the Wallal Project (the “Project”) located in the prolific Paterson Region of Western Australia.
Paul Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of Power Metal Resources plc commented:
“It is important to articulate clearly the work completed in the Paterson Region to date and below we provide a summation of our overall exploration rationale, current findings, and future exploration plans. I would encourage shareholders to review this information which demonstrates the reasons for our building excitement.
We have identified geological and geophysical features within our Wallal licence that bear similarities to two major and recently discovered deposits within the Paterson Region at Winu and Havieron, both of which are under development.
Whilst awaiting licence grants at the Wallal Project we have continued to advance our review of all available existing data. We are now moving to the next stage with our own work programmes to generate new data and refine target information purposed specifically for a planned deep drilling programme.
In our view there is increasing potential for a major metal discovery at the Wallal Project, and as one would expect we are pushing ahead with some enthusiasm.”
Exploration Rationale
The Paterson Region is host to major gold-copper deposits including Winu (Rio Tinto) and Havieron (Newcrest Mining – Greatland Gold JV).
To date, Power Metal has undertaken in-depth desktop analyses with the aim of comparing the geological and geophysical features of both Winu and Havieron to those found within the Wallal Project.
Our hypothesis was that if we were able to identify geological and geophysical similarities of areas within the Wallal Project to established large-scale deposits elsewhere in the Paterson Region, it would increase the chance of a discovery and justify more detailed exploration.
Exploration Findings to Date
Important geological similarities to both Winu and Havieron have been found within Wallal Project.
Notably, as detailed in the Company’s announcement on 1 September 2021 three major buried magnetic anomalies have been confirmed within Wallal Project (Western, Eastern and Border anomalies or “Anomalies”). The announcement may be viewed here:
In particular, the Eastern anomaly posseses a similar magnetic amplitude to that found at Havieron, which is approximately 100 nanoTesla (nT) for Wallal Eastern anomaly compared to 80 nT for the magnetic anomaly which led to the discovery of the Havieron deposit.
Importance of Exploration Findings
Greatland Gold’s Havieron deposit discovery is located in basement rocks hidden below roughly 420m of post-mineral sedimentary cover which resulted from the drilling of a distinct magnetic geophysics bullseye target
Review of unprocessed 2D-seismic and ground gravity datasets have provided very rough estimations of the target depth to basement rocks of the three anomalies at Wallal Project. The depths indicated by this analysis indicate that the Eastern and Border anomalies are possibly located at depths more comparable to the Havieron deposit.
Next Steps
The Company’s progress to date has centred around the review and analysis of all publicly available historic exploration and related data at Wallal. We are now moving forward with our own Phase I work programme with the aim of generating new and more targeted information.
The geopohysical anomalies identified at Wallal represent deep targets located under post-mineral cover, therefore our Phase I work programme is focused on the development and refining of these targets prior to a potential deep drilling programme.
Phase I Work Programme
The Phase I programme includes reprocessing of three historic northeast-southwest oriented 2D-seismic lines which broadly cover the Western and Eastern magnetic “bullseye” anomalies.
The Western and Eastern anomalies measure 5km x 5km and 2.5km x 2.5km, respectively.
The reprocessing will be carried out by Velsis Inegrated Seismic Technologies Pty Ltd based out of Darra, Queensland. This desktop component of the work programme is underway.
Following the completion of the seismic reprocessing and subject to appropriate local access arrangements and work approvals, a passive seismic survey will be undertaken centered over the Eastern and newly discovered Border anomalies. The passive seismic survey will be carried out by Atlas Geophysics Pty Ltd out of Morley, Western Australia.
Phase I Expectations
The combined dataset generated by the Phase I work programme will provide critical information, including more precise depth to bedrock measurements over the Eastern and Border “bullseye” anomalies, which will be used for the planning of future work programmes, including a potential deep-diamond drilling campaign aimed at testing the two prospective anomalies.
The passive seismic survey represents the Company’s first ground exploration on the Project and will play an important step in determining various logistical aspects (e.g. access, project infrastructure, location of water sources) which will be critical for future work programmes on the Project.
BACKGROUND
The Paterson projects are held by First Development Resources Pty Ltd (FDR Australia) and include Wallal Project (three licence applications being Wallal-E45/5816, Wallal West 1-E45/5853 and Wallal West 2 – E45/5853), Braeside West Project (one licence application) and the Ripon Hills Project (one granted licence).
On 28 April 2021 Power Metal announced a conditional acquisition of FDR Australia and this may be viewed through the following link:
An updated information presentation covering FDR Australia and the Company’s plans may be viewed through the following link:
https://www.powermetalresources.com/presentation/first-development-resources-pdf/
COMPETENT PERSON STATEMENT
The technical information contained in this disclosure has been read and approved by Mr Nick O’Reilly (MSc, DIC, MIMMM, MAusIMM, FGS), who is a qualified geologist and acts as the Competent Person under the AIM Rules – Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Mr O’Reilly is a Principal consultant working for Mining Analyst Consulting Ltd which has been retained by Power Metal Resources PLC to provide technical support.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (“MAR”), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company’s obligations under Article 17 of MAR.
For further information please visit https://www.powermetalresources.com/ or contact:
Power Metal Resources plc |
|
Paul Johnson (Chief Executive Officer) |
+44 (0) 7766 465 617 |
SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nomad and Joint Broker) |
|
Ewan Leggat/Charlie Bouverat |
+44 (0) 20 3470 0470 |
SI Capital Limited (Joint Broker) |
|
Nick Emerson |
+44 (0) 1483 413 500 |
First Equity Limited (Joint Broker) |
|
David Cockbill/Jason Robertson |
+44 (0) 20 7330 1883 |