Iron-Oxide-Copper-Gold ("IOCG") target Santorini is being investigated.
- anomalous surface stream sediment geochemistry
- gravity anomaly evident in regional gravity data
- infill gravity survey refines regional data and identifies drill targets.
For more on the Santorini Prospect, click here.
The Edward Creek Project area (EL 4377, EL 3505 and EL 3886) covers an area of 798 km2 in and adjacent to the Peake and Denison Ranges, 750 km north northwest from Adelaide, South Australia.
RLC was first granted title to the Edward Creek area on 28 October 1988. Initially, most of RLC's exploration was directed towards diamonds but activities since 2003 have focussed more on exploration for copper, gold and uranium. This exploration has identified:
- anomalous gold, copper and uranium geochemistry in rock chip samples
- gravity anomalies which are being investigated for iron-oxide-copper-gold ("IOCG") mineralisation.
The next phases of exploration include drilling to investigate for the presence of IOCG mineralisation.
All interests in diamonds within the project area (EL 4377, EL 3505 and EL 3886) are held by unlisted diamond explorer DiamondCo Limited. The project was explored by the Edward Creek Base Metal Joint Venture ("ECBMJV") from 30 June 2003 until the joint venture was terminated by RLC on 9 June 2009. The termination and the forfeiture of joint venture interests to RLC resulting from the termination has been disputed by the other parties to the joint venture. RLC considers the dispute to be baseless and that it holds a 100% interest in the tenements which were previously the subject of the joint venture.
The Edward Creek Project
area is located on the interpreted north-eastern boundary of the Gawler
Craton. The western parts of the Project area are on the Gawler Craton.
Along the Project's eastern side local geology is dominated by a group
of four Precambrian inliers known collectively as the Denison Inlier. The
Denison Inlier was uplifted, about 11 - 25 million years ago, by block
faulting to form the Peake and Denison Ranges. The Project area extends
eastward over the western margin of the southern most inlier (Margaret
Inlier) which forms the Davenport Range.
A transcontinental structural
zone passes through the Project area. The zone is referred to as the "G2
Structural Corridor", believed to be one of the controlling factors
in the formation of the Olympic Dam poly-metallic mine located 250 kilometres to the
south.
The rocks of the inlier are
prospective for copper, gold, lead, zinc, and uranium. In the western part
of the Project area Cainozoic, Mesozoic and minor Permian sediments outcrop
and on-lap the basement inlier to the east. Rocks comprising the inlier
within the Project area include Early Proterozoic metamorphics and Late Proterozoic
(Adelaidean) sediments and volcanics (including andesite, dacite and rhyolite).
Ordovician diapiric breccia, monzonite and dolerite dykes intrude the inlier.
Extensive chemical weathering,
represented by a widespread zone of alteration in rocks underlying the
Jurassic sediments, is likely to have leached and reduced the geochemical
signature of underlying mineralisation.
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Click here to view a simplified geological map of the Project area; or |
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Click here to view a geological map with a regional gravity image "overlay". |
The Project area is located within the transcontinental structural corridor referred to as "G2" and within the "South Australian Copper Belt". This structural feature is believed to be one of the controlling factors for the location of the poly-metallic Olympic Dam orebody located about 250 kilometres south of the Edward Creek Project. The Olympic Dam orebody has been classified as a type of iron-oxide-copper-gold ("IOCG") deposit. Past copper mining and results from regional exploration by previous explorers contribute to establishing the prospectivity of the Project for gold, copper, lead, zinc and uranium mineralisation.
Two regional gravity anomalies (Herakleion and Santorini) have been identified. Drilling at Herakleion in 2006 identified rocks which petrological studies indicate are Early to Mid Proterozoic in age. These rocks were intersected at a depth below surface of 670 metres. Such rocks are sufficiently old enough to be capable of hosting Olympic Dam style mineralisation. However, no economic mineralisation was recovered from the core sampling conducted and the exploration focus has moved to Santorini.
Roll front and unconformity related types of uranium deposits may exist
at Edward Creek. The uplifted basement rocks of the Peake and Denison Inliers are potential sources of
uranium which may have been dissolved and carried by surface waters to sites where deposition and concentration of uranium could occur
Anomalous stream geochemistry (elevated copper and zinc) in an area of complex magnetics and a coincident gravity anomaly have been identified at the Santorini Prospect. The target at Santorini is an IOCG-type deposit. Additional favourable features observed at Santorini include:
- a zone of structural complexity defined in 200 m line spaced and regional magnetic survey data
- a NW structural trend, identified in magnetic data
- the War Loan Copper mine is located 4.5 kilometres to the southeast, where mineralisation is hosted in quartz-goethite-malachite veins (rock chip assayed: 14% Cu, 1.77 g/t Au, 8 g/t Ag).
The weathered gossans and the various quartz-malachite-goethite veins that have supported previous mining activities in the eastern part of the Project area may be the result of secondary precipitation of minerals leached from a large underlying orebody.
All clearances, consents and drill pad preparation are completed for drilling at Santorini, currently planned to commence in July 2010.
Click here to view a map of the Santorini Prospect area.
Click here to view the Santorini gravity image and interpretation.
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