The Pilbara gold rush continues apace with junior explorer Elysium Resources the latest to announce it has found “flat-pitted watermelon seed gold nuggets”.

Watermelon seed nuggets have been all the rage since July when Artemis Resources and Canadian partner Novo Resources found small, flat seed-shaped gold nuggets near Karratha in northern Western Australia.

Since then, Artemis (ASX:ARV) shares have soared from 9c to as high as 59c and now sit about 39c.

Another Pilbara explorer Coziron Resources (ASX:CZR) also told the market today that a review of historical exploration data had revealed a project  prospective for conglomerate-hosted gold.

However, investors were unimpressed with either Elysium (ASX:EYM) or Coziron’s announcements.

Elysium’s shares opened about 28 per cent higher at 2.7c before retreating to 2.1c in Wednesday afternoon trade. Coziron slipped about 6.7 per cent to 2.8c.

Elysium’s share price over the past year. Source: Investing.com

Elysium uncovered six gold nuggets (pictured above) in the Hardey Formation basalt conglomerate by metal detecting at its Bellary project, 30km North West of Paraburdoo in Western Australia.

The Hardey Basalt is a volcanic rock formation in the Pilbara’s Fortescue Basin that is known to host gold mineralisation as well as copper, zinc and uranium.

The basalt conglomerate outcrops about 30m to the north and Elysium has identified a gold-bearing structure that may be shedding from the nearby outcropping Hardey basalt conglomerate.

Also, three outcropping parallel quartz veins have been mapped within close proximity to where the gold nuggets were discovered.

Elysium said the new discovery opens up the Bellary project to both Witwatersrand paleo-placer style mineralisation and higher grade orogenic style mineralisation similar to Northern Star Resources’ (ASX:NST) Paulsens mine in the Pilbara.

The Witwatersrand Basin is a geological formation in South Africa that houses the world’s biggest known gold reserves, producing 2 billion ounces or about half of gold ever mined.

Coziron historical review

Meanwhile, a review of historical exploration data revealed Coziron’s (ASX:CZR) Croydon Top Camp project was prospective for Witwatersrand-style conglomerate at the base of the Fortescue Group.

The Fortescue Group is made up of mafic volcanic rocks found in the Fortescue Basin in the Pilbara Craton which are known to host gold and other minerals.

Coziron acquired a 70 per cent stake in the Croydon Top Camp gold project owned by The Creasy Group, which holds 72.5 per cent of Coziron (at September 11).

Mr Creasy has been credited with some of Australia’s biggest mineral discoveries such as the gold potential of Western Australia’s Yandal belt, including the Jundee and Bronzewing mines. He also recently became the biggest shareholder of base metals play Myanmar Metals with a 16 per cent stake.

Croydon covers some 317 sq km of ground in the central Pilbara. It’s in a good neighbourhood for conglomerate gold, only 30km south of De Grey Mining’s Loudens Patch and 40km west-southwest from the Becher gold discovery.

Coziron said the base of the Fortescue Group requires mapping to define intervals of conglomerate beneath the Mt Roe Basalt, but available drainage and soil sample results indicate prospectivity for “melon-seed” gold over some 25 km of strike length.

“Years of exploration by the Creasy Group on the [Croydon Top Camp project] has enabled CZR to assess significant amounts of historical data and prioritise areas and work programs that will generate basement targets for drilling and intervals of conglomerate at the base of the Fortescue Group for larger scale sampling,” Coziron chairman Adam Sierakowski said.

Also chasing conglomerate-hosted gold is Spectrum Rare Earths (ASX:SPX), which will soon begin an exploration program at the Whaleshark prospect, located at the North Eastern end of the Carnarvon Basin.

Historical drilling by WMC Resources confirmed the presence of gold in several holes.

Spectrum now plans to undertake a high-powered electromagnetic survey over priority areas followed by reverse circulation drilling.

The company’s shares did not move on the news.