ERL 85 Gigantic Eleventh Annual Report 16 December 1998 to 15 December 1999

Abstract

ERL 85 was applied for to cover the area containing the old Gigantic mine which had a small, but high grade, gold production from an ironstone orebody typical of many mines in the Tennant Creek goldfield. The Licence is one of a contiguous group of tenements, referred to as the Eastern Project Area, being explored by Giants Reef. The others are ELs 7636, 7985, 9372, 9408, 9645, 9685 and the Blue Moon group of ML C575, MC C377 and Hld C36. This report covers the work done on ERL 85 during its Eleventh year of tenure from 16 December 1998 to 15 December 1999. Targets are gold and copper orebodies associated with ironstone masses. Exploration during the year was focussed on the Billy Boy gold - copper deposit. A substantial work programme included RC and diamond drilling, downhole magnetic probing, drillhole collar surveying, resource calculation, petrography and metallurgical testwork. The Billy Boy mineralised and altered host rock was encountered in drillholes spread along a 300m north-south strike length, and remains open at depth and at both ends. A significant amount of further drilling is required to fully explore the Billy Boy occurrence. RC drilling was carried out at the nearby Spotty Dog (Fairway 1) prospect, where minor gold mineralisation was identified in two drillholes. At Giant Moon magnetic anomaly a previously unknown target was found from downhole magnetic probing. A Mineral Lease, ML 22284 was applied for on 9 December 1999 to cover the Billy Boy mineralised zone. The lease application is centered on Billy Boy, but includes several other prospects in ERL 85 and neighbouring tenements.