Final report for drilling and geophysics collaboration funding Barossa Prospect

Abstract

In April 2016, PNX Metals Ltd ('PNX') submitted an application for co-funding of a drilling program at the Barossa prospect within the Burnside Project of the Pine Creek Orogen. PNX is an exploration company which has recently shifted attention towards base metals in the Northern Territory, having purchased the Iron Blow and Mount Bonnie base metal deposits, as well as earning into the substantial exploration ground held by Kirkland Lake Gold ('Kirkland Lake' ? previously Newmarket). Barossa had been identified as a new prospect with the potential for VMS (volcanogenic massive sulfide)-style mineralisation in an area which has never been drilled or explored for base metals. The target evolved largely through geophysical targeting using modern VTEM data. The objective of the proposed drilling was to test the source of the VTEM anomalies to determine whether they are indeed related to VMS mineralisation, or some other source, but primarily using Iron Blow and Mount Bonnie as known deposit analogues. A cluster of nine strong late time VTEM anomalies were identified, the cluster perhaps consistent with that of VMS deposit camps. The co-funded drilling consisted of drill testing only the most conductive two. Drilling was carried out between the 27th October 2016 and the 7th November 2016 and consisted of 328.7m HQ core drilling Drilling intersected numerous folded sulfide-rich units within the Mt Bonnie Formation, which is the most likely cause of the VTEM anomalism. 179 samples (including QAQC) were submitted for assay analysis, including gold and an 11 element base metal suite, however no significant results were obtained. Samples have been sent for petrophysical testing to determine if the conductivity of the pyrrhotite-rich units explains the strength of the VTEM anomaly.