Leeuwin Metals is racing towards the finish line with its acquisition of Ramelius Resources’ Marda gold project. Pic: Getty Images
Leeuwin Metals races towards final stages of Marda gold acquisition
Mining
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- Leeuwin Metals advances acquisition of 500km2 of granted mining leases with proven prospectivity
- Project holds seven existing pits, open mineralisation, and underexplored high-grade potential
- Company is well prepared to mobilise on a large-scale drill campaign
- Multiple drill targets for follow up in coming months
Special Report: Leeuwin Metals is rapidly progressing plans for a maiden drilling program at the Marda gold project in WA’s Goldfields region that it is in the process of acquiring from Ramelius Resources.
It is currently undertaking an extensive review process and will seek shareholder approval on March 17, 2025, to acquire the project, which covers over 500km2 of granted mining, exploration and prospecting leases about 120km north of Southern Cross.
Marda also has proven gold prospectivity as it hosts eight open pits and numerous historical workings as well as high-grade drill intercepts such as 3.6m at 16.4g/t gold at the Evanston prospect and 5m at 7.47g/t gold at Mt King.
Leeuwin Metals (ASX:LM1) is acquiring the project for an upfront consideration of $500,000 in its shares and will make milestone cash payments of $500,000 and $1m upon the definition of JORC-compliant resources of 500,000oz and 1Moz respectively.
It is also finalising drilling arrangements and intends to mobilise drilling crews and equipment once it secures shareholder approval for the acquisition.
Marda priority gold targets
The company is undertaking an extensive data review and target generation program to devise a phased drilling program and has budgeted for 10,000m of drilling this year using proceeds from a recent $3.25m share placement.
This drilling will prioritise the vast under-explored high-grade potential across the project, which remains open and requires immediate follow-up drilling.
Marda is broken into four main areas – Marda Central, Marda North, Marda South and Marda West.
The targets within these areas represent various stages of exploration maturity from resource definition around existing open pits, historical workings, geochemical anomalies, and untested concepts.
Collectively, these enable LM1 to develop multiple work programs for 2025 to advance exploration within the project with an initial focus on more advanced target areas.
Marda Central hosts four existing pits that were previously mined by Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS) and represent a high priority for the discovery of extensions to the pits along with foot wall and hanging wall target areas.
Marda North also hosts multiple prospects with the Evanston mine area being a notable one, as it has seen little modern exploration since production ceased in 2000. Mineralisation remains open in all directions within the 1.3km trend, and more broadly within the 4.5km of strike.
Exploration targets along the Golden Orb trend in Marda South are planned to test the extension of the mine sequence banded iron formation. Mineralisation is open beneath the existing pit as well as the Golden Orb West target that extends from it.
Over at Marda West, work has focused on the existing King Brown pit with multiple high-grade drill intersections demonstrating its depth potential and the significant area at the footwall target of King Brown West.
This article was developed in collaboration with Leeuwin Metals, 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.
