Pioneer Nickel Ltd - New South Wales Royalty Project

New South Wales Royalty Project

Introduction

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Pioneer has applied for a portfolio of tenements for gold and base metals exploration, in the Lachlan Fold Belt of New South Wales (the Mongarlowe, Gundaroo, Dalton and Muttama Projects) and in broadly geologically similar areas of Tasmania (Whyte River Project).

All of the projects are in and around historical gold fields. They all contain historical mine workings exploiting gold-bearing veins and stockworks, although much of the recorded historical production has been from associated alluvial gold workings. Many also have reports of base metal occurrences. These gold fields are under-explored, particularly when compared to the historical gold fields of Western Australia, with some having had little attention since their initial discovery and exploitation in the 19th Century.

Conceptual exploration targets include:

High-grade, narrow-vein gold systems.
Bulk minable gold (and copper) stockwork systems (including Porphyry Cu and Cu-Au systems, and Intrusion Related Gold systems).

Mongarlowe Prospect

The Mongarlowe Project is located 80km east of Canberra. The tenement covers an almost continuous area of old workings 60km in length, from 8km south of Mongarlowe to 15km north of Nerriga.

The exploration licence covers an area of outcropping Ordovician metasediments. Nearby (off the lease), the metasediments are intruded by Devonian granites. These include (to the south west) the Braidwood Granodiorite, which hosts the Majors Creek Deposit and is reported to have historically produced in excess of 1 million ounces of gold from alluvial workings. Mineralisation, including that at nearby Majors Creek is an Intrusion Related Gold deposit, with similarities to the Fort Knox and Donlin Creek deposits of the Alaska-Yukon region.

Day Dawn Mine workers, circa 1880-1908,
near Mongarlowe, NSW

At the southern end of the project are many old workings around the town of Mongarlowe, many in bedrock. It is reported that the reef workings were hampered by heavy inflows of water. The reefs are described as being lenticular, trending generally NE, but stockwork systems are also recorded. Total recorded reef production was 220kg Au, at high grades, however these records appear to be incomplete. The most substantial operation was the Day Dawn Mine, which operated from 1880 to 1908. It is reported to have been mined to the 122m level, with a shaft to 147m. Production was "estimated at 40,000oz" and it "ceased working because of depth of water in it" (Russell, 1989). There are also several alluvial workings in the area. Modern exploration is almost non-existent. Two holes were drilled in 1988, to 46m and 55.5m.

At the northern end of the project are the Spring Creek Jacqua, Nerriga and Corang areas, historically referred to as the Nerriga Gold Field. It has a mainly alluvial production history, recorded as 14,177oz from 1878-1901. Reefs have been worked in the area, including Manton's Reef and Phoenix Mine, but records are sparse.

Copper (and Ag-Pb-Zn) occurrences have been described at the Jacqua Creek, Jasper Valley and Jerralong Mines. In modern times, the only drilling has been 8 shallow holes to sample the alluvials.

Dalton Prospect

The location of the Dalton Project is around the town of Dalton, 50km north of Canberra, 30km north east of Yass, and 30km north of the Gundaroo Project.

Hodgkinson's Battery, Dalton,
which operated during the 1930s

Mineralisation is hosted in Ordovician deep water marine metasediments of the Kenyu Formation, which have been intruded by the Silurian Wyangala Batholith, and overlain by Silurian shallow water marine volcanics.

There are three lines of historic workings in the area.

Historic workings north east of the Dalton townsite, the "Red Mine/Coronation Line", includes the Coronation Mine, which is reported as having several en echelon lodes, with best assays over 0.3m of 140ppm Au and 10ppm Ag. There were Levels at 10m and 20m (No.2 shaft), and 16m and 36m (No.1 shaft), mined in the 1930s.

Historic workings in the Dalton town area, the "Dalton/Big Mine Line", includes the Dalton Mine, with a best reported assay of 51.6g/t Au. Prospecting to the north reportedly indicated anomalous gold over widths of 12-18m (possibly a stockwork).

In the area North West of Dalton townsite, the "Jerrawa Line", has reported production of 150oz but is incomplete. A brecciated quartz zone 1.5m wide extends over 500m, with rock chips to 1.3m at 2.8ppm Au, 13ppm Ag and 280ppm As.

Muttama Prospect

The Muttama Project, extend southwards for 17km from 15km east of Cootamundra, to 5km east of Muttama. Cootamundra is located 110km west of Dalton, and 120km northwest of Canberra. Historic workings on the north end of the tenement are part of the old Cullinga Gold Field, and those at the south end of the tenement are part of the Muttama Gold Field.

There are two main lines of historic workings on the tenement, which are approximately north trending and sub-parallel, 4 km apart.

The western line of workings, the Muttama West Line, are around the north trending thrust faulted contact between the Ordovician Jindalee Group deep marine metasediments, and the Silurian Blowering Formation felsic volcaniclastics to the east. The lease covers 17km of this structure, which is the same structure associated with Christmas Gift (at the north end) and Booths Reward (at the south end). The nearby Christmas Gift has "recorded production of 37,000oz", and is reported as having a "non-JORC compliant resource estimate of 144,000t at 4.6g/t". Just to the south of Christmas Gift, on the Pioneer lease, the most significant old working is the Democrat Mine, but no production records have been located as yet. At the south end of the Muttama West Line are the Muttama Reef workings, which strike north-south, and dip steeply westward. This group of workings, together with the Excelsior and Chance Reefs, and the Booths Reward Gold Mines extend over a length of 11km. Twelve lines of reef had been opened in this southern area by 1882.

The second, eastern line of workings, the Muttama East Line, is on or about the north trending Coolac-Narromine Suture. The structure is the thrust faulted contact between the Silurian volcaniclastics of the Blowering Formation, and an intrusive ophiolite of the Silurian Honeysuckle Beds. On the Muttama East Line, the most significant working is the Collis and Petersons Mine, where rich patches of gold were found in a thin quartz vein.