Taruga expands exploration footprint in WA’s rich Gascoyne province

• Taruga Minerals awarded three new exploration licences to expand its Gascoyne province landholding
• New permits contain high-grade historical base and precious metal workings
• Rock chip and soil sampling planned to test known prospect locations

Special Report: Taruga Minerals has expanded its footprint in WA’s highly prospective Gascoyne province on being awarded three new exploration licences that complement its Thowagee project.

The E08/3733, E08/3734 and E08/3752 permits contain numerous high-grade historical workings for base and precious metals.

Adding interest for Taruga Minerals (ASX:TAR), the permit areas have favourable geology in the form of the Leake Springs Metamorphics that are also present in Dreadnought Resources’ tenure further to the south.

Most of the workings sit in and near significant structures including the Goordeman and Uaroo Faults that run northwest-southeast through the permits while the late north-south trending mafic dykes could provide conduits for fluid movement and possible traps for mineralisation.

“The granting of these tenements covering high-grade historical workings for base and precious metals significantly expands Taruga’s footprint in this emerging and important mineral province,” director David Chapman said.

“The exceptional grades of silver, copper and associated polymetallic minerals within the historical workings combined with favourable geology and major structures within and adjacent to the tenements has attracted us to this package.”

Permit details

Of particular interest to the company is the 1km structural corridor that sits between the historical high-grade Donelly Kooline and Uaroo/Hill polymetallic mines within the Uaroo East project (E08/3734).

This corridor is part of a larger high-grade trend of polymetallic mineralisation, which spans 5km from Mount Alexander to the north and finishing at the Monte Carlo deposit to the south.

Uaroo-Hill and Donelly Kooline have outcropping high-grade lead and silver mineralisation with copper and gold also reported to be present.

Uaroo-Hil produced 19.59t of lead concentrate in 1956 at a grade of 77.7% lead and 301g/t silver while Donelly Kooline produced 4.52t of lead concentrate grading 55.8% lead and 129g/t silver in 1952.

E08/3752, which also forms part of Uaroo East, features three historical workings in the northeast and several outcropping pegmatoids that may be prospective for lithium and rare earths.

Meanwhile, Uaroo West (E08/3733) features historical copper mining from an outcropping hydrothermal vein with 2.95t of copper concentrate grading 26% copper reportedly mined in 1964.

While historical records have classified most of the mines/workings as hydrothermal vein/shear hosted deposits, Mount Alexander is listed as a strataform base metal deposit with numerous outcropping gossans.

Further work will be required to investigate the geological model that applies to workings at the new permit areas.

The company will also review the lithium and REE potential of the new permits.

It intends to start low-impact exploration with rock chip and soil sampling to be undertaken at known prospect locations.

This article was developed in collaboration with Taruga Minerals, 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.