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Emmerson hits another development milestone with landmark Native Title agreement
Mining
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Special Report: Emmerson has secured a landmark agreement with Traditional Owners in the Northern Territory that will allow it to eventually mine the Jasper Hills, Golden Slipper and Hermitage projects.
The areas that host the high-grade Jasper Hills, Golden Slipper and Hermitage gold-copper-cobalt projects, part of the Northern project area at Tennant Creek, were previously restricted.
However, Emmerson Resources (ASX:ERM) revealed today it had reached a mutually favourable deal with the Marnturla Aboriginal Corporation that will allow the company to advance the projects through to production.
Not only does it secure the future of Emmerson project’s in the region, but the agreement also provides Marnturla Aboriginal Corporation with an equity interest in the projects as well as jobs for the community.
Investors welcomed the news, driving shares up nearly 10 per cent to 11.5c on Thursday morning.
Emmerson (ASX:ERM) share price chart:
“The Marnturla Agreement is a very positive development in our relationship with the custodians of the land,” managing director Rob Bills said.
“It not only heralds a new era for direct participation in the success of Emmerson’s exploration at Jasper Hills, Hermitage and the Golden Slipper projects but also in providing employment opportunities that include the appointment of a Cultural Heritage Officer.
“It is envisaged that further such landmark agreements will follow across Emmerson’s extensive holdings in one of Australia’s highest-grade goldfields.”
Launching a drilling attack
With the Native Title agreement firmly locked in, Emmerson is now preparing to start a 1,000m five-hole drilling program.
“While the Jasper Hills project was discovered back in the 1930s, it received little attention at the time due to a combination of the cobalt price and focus on the nearby North Star gold mine,” Bills said.
“Emmerson’s initial program in 2018 consisted of locating the historic drill core, relogging and assaying but was terminated due to land access issues.
“Although early days, the indicative cobalt grades at Jasper Hills compares favourably with other Australian deposits and the combination with copper and gold provides potential for very high value mineralisation.”
Top re-assayed historical drill results included 28m at 5.83 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 0.17 per cent cobalt and 8.52 per cent copper from 108m; 11m at 0.22g/t gold, 0.18 per cent cobalt and 2.56 per cent copper from 117m; and 14m at 6.72g/t gold, 0.28 per cent cobalt and 2.17 per cent copper from 284m, including 2m at 1.32 per cent cobalt and 2 per cent copper.
Jasper Hills has geological similarities to the Edna Beryl gold mine in Tennant Creek, which began production in late 2018.
The Golden Slipper project, meanwhile, indicates the potential for shallow, high-grade gold mineralisation, with walk up drill targets testing extensions to the mineralisation, Bills noted.
The Golden Slipper mineralisation consists of a subvertical pipe of shallow gold and bismuth within 30m of the surface.
The mineralisation is hosted in two lenses of quartz-hematite veinlets and brecciated quartz-hematite ironstone within hematitic shale and siltstone of the Warramunga Group.
“Emmerson has considerable experience in the exploration for this style of mineralisation, with discoveries at Edna Beryl, Mauretania and Goanna — all sharing some or all common attributes of high-grades of gold, copper and now cobalt — associated with oxidised, hematite ironstones,” Bills explained.
A review of historical drilling identified that most of the drilling had fallen short of intersecting the main ore body and other drill holes were abandoned in mineralisation.
Emmerson says this provides a great opportunity to extend the mineralisation.
This article was developed in collaboration with Emmerson Resources, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
