Special Report: Sultan’s Lachlan Fold Belt (LFB) projects have returned super high-grade rock chips up to 24.6 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 26.1 per cent copper. The explorer is currently zeroing in on three maiden drill targets with high potential to host ‘company making’ porphyry gold-copper and epithermal gold deposits.

Sultan (ASX:SLZ) has just acquired a 330sqkm gold-copper exploration portfolio called ‘Colossus ‘in the heart of Australia’s hottest porphyry address — the East Lachlan of NSW.

The region has become a recent hotspot for porphyry exploration, thanks to Alkane Resources’ (ASX:ALK) historic discovery at the Boda project, about 110km north of Cadia, late last year.

Porphyry deposits can produce a lot of metal, and make a lot of money, over a long period of time – a company changing proposition for any explorer.

An ongoing exploration program is designed to identify drill targets across three highly prospective targets at Big Hill, Ringaroo and Tucklan.

Geological mapping and soil and rock chip sampling is designed to identify often subtle ‘surface features’ which point to buried porphyry gold-copper style mineralisation.

In the mineral-rich Lachlan Fold, these features include large zones of low grade (anomalous) gold-copper and key ‘pathfinder’ elements and volcanic rock-types, ideally corresponding with strong magnetic signatures.

The latest results confirm all of these features at the first of three priority target domains, Big Hill.

The Gowan Green prospect, immediately north of Big Hill, is centred upon a historic gold and copper working.

Here, rock samples from old mullock heaps (loose stone left over from old mining operations) have returned spectacular results up to 24.6g/t gold, 26.1 per cent copper, and 65.5g/t silver:

 

These high-grade rock chip samples validate a newly defined large +1.5km by +100m soil anomaly, associated with a discrete magnetic high about ~300m in diameter.

And the rocks have a “volcanic arc tectonic signature consistent with being part of the Molong Volcanic Belt”, Sultan says.

Together, these features make Gowan Green “highly prospective for the discovery of porphyry related copper-gold deposits”.

At Big Hill, Sultan has defined a 2.2km by 400m soil anomaly where rock sampling has returned grades like up to 2.5 per cent copper.

This represents a compelling exploration target, Sultan says.

The surface features here are consistent with upper or outer parts of a porphyry gold-copper system, such as the high-grade Cadia-Ridgeway mine 50km to the south, and Alkane’s Boda discovery about 50km to the north.

It is also important to note that Big Hill and Gowan Green could be part of the one porphyry system.

There’s a small creek drainage which may be obscuring the effectiveness of soil sampling between the Gowan Green and Big Hill anomalies.

Sultan chairman Jeremy King says receiving such outstanding soil and rock chip results within weeks of shareholders approving the project acquisition is a timely reward.

“To have such high-grade gold and copper results returned from within new large-scale soil anomalies, coincident with the right rock types, porphyry style alteration and mineralisation, all sitting above a large magnetic complex confirms the Big Hill area as one with significant potential,” he says.

 

What’s next?

The upside for Sultan is massive. To date, no historic drilling has been recorded on the Big Hill, Ringaroo or Tucklan targets.

And with over $2m cash in the bank, Sultan is well placed to fund exploration of these targets well into the future.

Soil and rock sampling results are now pending for Tucklan. Follow up exploration at Big Hill will continue in the next quarter with a high-resolution ground IP survey, ongoing geochemical sampling and mapping to the east of the current soil anomaly to test the remainder of the magnetic complex.

A soil and rock chip sampling campaign has also kicked off at Ringaroo, which is directly along strike to the south of Impact Minerals’ (ASX:IPT) Apsley target.

NOW WATCH: RockTalk — Searching for the next Alkane in the Lachlan Fold Belt

 

 

This story was developed in collaboration with Sultan Resources, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This story does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.