Report on year 2 period ending 28-02-1988 Mt Ringwood area EL 4837

Abstract

Exploration during Year 1 of EL 4837 showed the area along strike from the Ringwood - South Ringwood line of gold workings (to the north of EL 4837) to carry free gold in surficial material. No hard rock source for this gold was identified. During Year 2 of the licence further outcrop sampling and RAB drilling were carried out in this area in an attempt to locate the gold source. Results were generally negative and it is suspected that the gold is derived from transported material on a now eroded palaeosurface.

Mapping and outcrop sampling elsewhere in the licence area failed to locate any significant gold mineralization. Despite RAB and outcrop sampling a source for the abundant free gold present in surficial material has not been defined. The single RAB sample assaying at 1.805g/t indicates the presence of hard rock gold in the area but such an occurrence is not considered sufficient to produce the spread of alluvial gold encountered. Present topography precludes the South Ringwood workings as an immediate source for gold. It is possible however that under an earlier landsurface gold could have been transported southwards from these deposits. Erosion of this paleoalluvial deposit could then have redistributed the gold. A more regional geochemistry programme using both soil traverse lines and drainage sampling is proposed. Analysis for arsenic and copper and possibly other elements, is proposed as indications for mineralization. Any anomalies will be followed up by close-spaced soil geochemistry and rock chip sampling. More intensive work viz. costeaning, RAB, RC, or diamond drilling will be carried out as required.