Partial Relinquishment Report EL 31591, 7 March 2018 to 6 March 2020

Abstract

Exploration work completed in the last year was focused on the alluvial potential of the area rather than proceed with seeking drill targets. In the field a little time was spent repairing some of the access tracks washed out by previous wet season. Further prospecting was conducted with the aim of locating possible alluvial test sites. Attention returned to several sites in the Nellie Creek area (thought to be the old Nellie Creek tin mine) which showed a small amount of tin mineralisation previously. Again some of the dish concentrate was ground in a steel prospectors' dish, where upon it changed from black to a light straw colour which is an indication of the presence of tin. As before there were other minerals present as well which clouded the exercise. A further test was to isolate the material considered to be tin into a glass container with concentrated hydrochloric acid and a zinc strip. The expected result is that the tin minerals will take on a silver colour. This did occur but the quantity of matter that changed colour was varied. This is an 'old school' field test which is quick and easy giving an instant result. Ten samples of approximately twenty loose litres each were collected from as many 200mm diameter auger holes. A twenty-litre bucket was used as a measure. A swell factor of 25-30% appeared to remain constant. This is relevant for future reference as an alluvial mining operation usually calculates the throughput in cubic volume per hour rather than by weight. The samples were reduced to a slurry and screened to minus 1 millimetre and plus 6 millimetres giving three size fractions. The two plus 1 millimetre fractions were examined for course gold with none found. The undersize fraction was treated with two 'gold wheels' operating in series to produce a 'rough' concentrate. The concentrate was then reduced further by washing in a prospector's dish. Given the size of the sample and the fact that a workable alluvial grade can be as low as 0.3 grammes per cubic metre, the quantity of gold in a sample is in the order of 0.03 grammes. The influence of course gold can have a significant influence of the results obtained. Larger samples are required to provide a more accurate definition of the values contained in an area. The old adage of 'it's OK if you can see it in the dish' is still true enough but it will not translate into what might be considered a scientific report. The northern area of EL 31951 was revisited and random dish sampling in the area demonstrated spasmodic results once again for tin and gold. Larger samples are required as on occasion a repeat sample from the same site gave a different result. The erratic results obtained and the fact that EL 29862 had finally been transfer to Woodleigh it was decided to relinquish the bulk of EL 31951 and only retain the small area to the east of the Francis Creek mine site. No work was undertaken in this area this year.