Novo Resources Discovers Broad Gold-Bearing Gravel Swales

Novo Resources Corp., a company focused on exploring and developing gold projects in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, has reported that extensive gold-bearing gravel swales have been discovered near Paradise, which is part of the company’s elaborate Egina gold project located in Western Australia.

The discovery of broad gold-bearing gravels at the Paradise and Road close to Paradise targets was initially reported before. Novo Resources has also made an additional finding of gold-bearing gravels at a recently identified target, known as Clarke, located about 10 km northwest of the test area explored in 2019.

Highlights

• Two shallow channels, or wide gold-bearing gravel swales, have been identified southwest of the Paradise terrace gravel target located at Novo Resources’ Egina gold project. The first channel, which is located immediately southwest of Paradise, has a width of about 700 m. The second channel, which is situated at about 1.5 km southwest of Paradise, has a width of about 450 m. It was understood that both channels trend northwest and remain exposed for several kilometers in both the northwest and southeast directions. Within both swales, the gold-bearing gravels have a thickness of about 2 m and appear like gold-bearing gravels that were investigated on the Egina mining lease, located at about 14 km southwest of Paradise, in 2019.
• Initially, the Paradise region was found to be a potential target via Novo Resources’ terrace targeting program, where terrace gravels were classified and prioritized based on their lateral extent and geology. The Paradise area has been subjected to prospector activity, mostly by metal detectorists who targeted along the hilly boundary of the terrace. The latest work conducted by Novo Resources is the first indication that gold is relatively more widespread over the greater terrace.
• Ground-penetrating radar suggested the apparent presence of prospective swales and this made it possible to focus the follow-up pit sampling activity across the target region.
• Back in February, Novo Resources’ personnel started to dig pit samples about every 50 m along a linear corridor that extends over the target region. While pit sampling was ceased in March owing to manpower shortage at Egina caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a few personnel have been working at Novo Resources’ Station Peak camp and processed about 1-ton pit samples stockpiled before the follow-up pit sampling stopped. The samples weighing 1 ton are being put through Novo Resources’ mobile alluvial Knudsen (MAK) concentrating plant. The MAK plant generated concentrates that have been meticulously panned down to such an extent that grains of gold can be counted and analyzed.
• MAK samples collected from both gold-bearing swales at Paradise have produced gold grain counts that match with those noted over the 50 m wide swale situated at the Egina mining lease, which was the subject of most of Novo Resources’ 2019 exploration program and the establishment site of the company’s exploration procedures. Equally significant is that nearly 50% of the MAK samples obtained from swales at Paradise have produced gold nuggets, characterized as gold particles larger than 1 mm. While the MAK samples offer only indicative data, Novo Resources is positive that the resemblance of gold occurring in samples collected from Paradise and in the MAK samples obtained at the Egina mining lease augurs well for finding nuggety gravel mineralization similar to that found at Egina in 2019. Five massive samples obtained from the swale at Egina produced about 1-1.5 g of gold/cm³ of gravel. Novo Resources has planned to carry out analogous bulk sampling of gravels from the recently identified swales at Paradise during the 2020 field season, as soon as it begins.
• The extensive nature of swales at Paradise could be a function of being well-situated north of the eroding headlands to the south. According to Novo Resources, gold-bearing swales can possibly turn out to be broader and more established if they extend further towards the northward onto the terrace.
• One newly discovered gold-bearing gravel has been made at a Clarke target, situated at about 10 km northwest of the Egina mining lease. Many MAK samples obtained from this target produced gold grain counts that surpassed 50 particles with one producing about 600 particles. This target will be assessed more systematically once the 2020 field program begins.

We are very happy with the discovery of two extensive gold-bearing gravel swales at Paradise. We are getting our first look at how these gold-bearing channels evolve further onto the terrace. Although much more work is needed, including bulk sampling to evaluate grade, swales appear to broaden as we head northward.

Dr Quinton Hennigh, Chairman and President, Novo Resources Corp.

“This is what we need to see to generate volume. Given that we have numerous areas planned for systematic MAK sampling in 2020, promising results from the first area to be methodically tested gives us high hopes the geologic model will quickly foment across the greater Terrace.”

Description of MAK Sampling

The MAK samples were obtained from pits that were spaced at about 50 m over the target regions. Using a track hoe, pits were dug that range up to a depth of 3 m. The size of the targeted sample size is about 1 ton.

Samples were loaded in wooden crates—lined with bulka bags—and delivered to Novo Resources Station Peak camp, where they were processed via a mobile alluvial Knudsen centrifugal concentrator; panned down concentrates also revealed the presence of gold for point counting and additional analysis.