Projects
PRIMROSE GOLD PROJECT
Named after Thomas Payne who discovered gold and pegged the first lease in 1911. After discovering gold at Pansy lease in June 1911, Thomas Payne wandered north-west about 2 kilometres, and discovered more gold at what would become the Carnation lease.
There has been activity on the field to some degree from 1911, with increased activity in the late 1930’s. At this time around 500 people were prospecting or mining gold in the area. Reports up to World War Two indicate it was a rich field. Between 1911-1982 69 000 tonnes of ore had been mined for 63 000 oz of gold averaging 25 g/t.
Geologist E de C Clark revisited the area for the Mines Department in 1920, largely at the insistence of the stake holders on the field, who needed a more detailed geological report of the deposits. The goldfield, he states, is on the eastern slopes of a rise made up of relatively small lenses of basic rocks surrounded by granite. The goldfield contains epidiorite, hornblende schist, serpentine, and foliated quartz porphyries, in addition to hornblende-biotite gneiss forming the matrix of the ore body. The gold quartz veins are found mainly in the epidiorites and hornblende schists, and only rarely in the serpentine.
Some of the gold bearing quartz veins go a considerable length, the Carnation Bluebell vein 1200 feet. Most range from mere threads to 9 feet wide. The gold is deposited in lenticular or elliptical masses of quartz down to the extent of the workings, a depth of 300 feet, dipping west south-west and pitching south. The gold shoots are very narrow, greatly elongated vertical pipes. Quartz is the dominant gangue, with gold, iron pyrites, some galena and sphalerite, in addition to siderite and chalcopyrite.
The main historic mines 5 kilometres north-west of Paynes Find are Goodingnow, Mariposa, Havela/Sumpton, Princess Mary, Aster Consolidated, Oversight, Oversight North, Lakeview West, Trey Bit, Paynes Future, Orchid, Carnation Alluvials, Sweet William, Paynes Find/Taylor, Margarite, Marigold, Adeline and Bluebell. Goodingnow, Carnation and Orchid were the most active and largest producers. South-east of Paynes find are Pansy, Pansy North, Daffodil and Shamrock.
There are ten main reefs. Gold is hosted in dense quartz veins, in strongly deformed quartz diorite outcropping along a 2,000 metre strike. Additional gold mineralisation is said to extend to 3,000 metres and within various rock types flanking the main deposits. Most of the historic gold mines are along the eastern contact of the Primrose Fault, and between this and the Daffodil Fault both roughly parrallel north-west to south-east trending, in the Paynes Find Gneiss.
Government geologist E de C Clark confirmed base metals on the goldfield in 1920. A multi quartz vein, supergene, shear zone Cu-Pb-Zn prospect of shallow workings hosted in sheared amphibolite consists of massive sulphides and oxides near the surface. Ferguson in 1999 also refers to quartz veins in gabbro with minor galena, acanthite, chalcopyrite, cerussite, malachite, gold, and goethite.
The gold bearing gneiss is east of the greenstone belt, and are of two lithological types 1) biotite dominant with quartz parallel to the foliation planes 2) mica subordinate to the hornblende. The field is traversed by a large number of narrow late stage pegmatites trending north-west. E de C Clark compares the geology as similar to Westonia (Edna May Mine) elsewhere in the State.
Paynes Find Goldfield
The Carnation Gold Mine is the best known, or remembered gold mine on the Paynes Find goldfield, largely for its central position, long mine life, and connections to Thomas Payne. Numerous shafts and trenches are in the area, from the mine and neighbouring leases, trending north-west to south-east. The mine operated more or less continuously from July 1911 until around 1950, and was the most consistent producer on the field. It is hosted in decomposed schist, with cleavage planes striking north. The reefs cross at an acute angle, being a little more to the west. The east line is a well defined laminated amber coloured quartz body 2 feet to 2 feet 6 inches wide, dipping 70o west. The reef is exposed on the surface for 300 feet. Various small trenches had been opened across the lease on the main and minor reefs. Thomas Payne had picked up a slug from the surface here of 2.5 oz.
In 1947 the mine was owned by a syndicate of J. Green, J. Martin and party. Production totalled 17,205 tonnes of ore crushed for 12,615 oz at 14 dwt average. In 1982, 230 tonnes of ore was produced from the Carnation and Daffodil mines at an unknown grade. Exploration of the field after 1950 include 1985 GR Dales and Assoc, 1986-1987 Forsyth NL, 1987 Falcon Australia Ltd, 1996-1998 Kirwood Gold NL, 2002-2003 Hallmark Mining, and 2012-2015 Paynes Find Gold NL.
Falcon Australia Ltd and Paynes Find Gold NL were the only companies through this period to do any systematic exploration. They found that the Carnation mine contains felsic to mafic rocks intruded by quartz-biotite feldspar porphyry, dipping west. The workings are on the west side of a number of sub-parallel shear zones, converging to the south. The shear zones are up to 2 metres wide, in association with one major 1.2 metre wide quartz vein. High grade zones are separated by low grade areas. The gold is structurally controlled by distinct high grade ore shoots, within narrow tight shear zones, having variable limited wall rock alteration. The weathering is minimal, but on the southern part of the lease it is weathered to 10 metres from the surface.
In 1987, Falcon Australia Ltd commissioned geologists KH Morgan & Associates to conduct a review of the Pansy prospect (now within M59/662). From an assessment of 22 percussion drill holes (PO01–PO22), identified 18,500 tonnes at a grade of 4.5g/t gold for blocks remaining in the underground workings at the Pansy prospect. Recommended work includes a more detailed investigation of PC1 costean, where a 3m channel sample returned 18.3g/t Au.
PRIMROSE GOLD PROJECT
The Pansy, Carnation and Blue Bell are contained within the company’s current project area, while the Carnation and Blue Bell are to the North of the project area, the Pansy is at the southern end of the Primrose Fault. The fault is estimated to be anywhere from some 4km to 9km long and strikes from North to south along the entire Project area, and is a high-value target in our future exploration.
The Company considered a range of factors in assessing the Paynes Find Gold Project, including but not limited to;
Sovereign Risk: Located in one of the most supportive and friendly mining States and Countries in the World
A Head Start: This is not a Greenfields project with large risk factors. It is a well known Gold Field discovered in 1911 with numerous mines worked by old miners using basic equipment and only chasing 25g/t plus workings. Old and recent Drilling programs have verified substantial gold existence at shallow depth and some high-grade intercepts, which could allow an early JORC resource.
Processing Facilities: Whilst the eventual resources may very well support a standalone plant, 2 mills exist in the district seeking ore.
Early cash flow: In addition to the potential as outlined of an agreement with local mills, the project area has substantial alluvial areas, which have previously been successfully worked by locals.
Running Costs: The costs of running exploration programs for remote areas, especially in other countries can be excessive and especially for flying in and out staff and mobilising and demobilising equipment. None of these costs exists for this project.
Easy Access and infrastructure: This project is only 4.5 hours drive North of Perth on bitumen roads. The local Roadhouse, with accommodation, adjoins the project area. The roadhouse provides earth moving equipment. And maintains an airstrip nearby.
PREVIOUS EXPLORATION RESULTS PAYNES FIND GOLD PROJECT
The Payne’s Find Gold Project was actively explored by Payne’s Find Gold NL from 2011 through 2013. During this period, two phases of drilling were undertaken in 2011 and 2012, amounting to 120 RC holes for 9,126m and 6 diamond holes for 1,540m.
Prior to this, several other firms had completed drill holes that fell within the area and have been previously reported. These include:
-
Hallmark Resources – 2002
-
Kirkwood Gold NL – 1997
-
Falcon Australia Limited – 1987
-
Forsayth Mineral Exploration – 1987
Significant Intersections of gold from these various drill campaigns, that have been previously announced include:
-
12m at 6.61 g/t from 115m (PFRC116)
-
3m at 8.04 g/t from 45m (PFRC134)
-
3m at 5.21 g/t from 140m (PFRC134)
-
3m at 8.05 g/t from 77m (PFRC135)
-
4m at 6.28 g.t from 79m (PFRC150)
-
6m at 3.56 g/t from 120m (PFRC150)
-
3m at 4.94 g/t from 114m (PFRC112)
-
2m at 4.94 g/t from 82m (PFRC135)
-
*3m at 92.1 g/t from 41m incl. 1m at 271 g/t (PFRC120)
-
6m at 2.4 g/t from 39m (PFRC059)
-
20m at 1.8 g/t from 20m (HPFRC019)
-
13m at 1.4 g/t from 60m (HPFRC021)
-
9m at 1.6 g/t from 24m (HPFRC025)
-
11m at 0.9 g/t from 83m (HPFRC027)
-
10m at 1.8 g/t from 18m (PFRC010)
-
6m at 1.9 g/t from 20m (PFRC018)
-
6m at 1.9 g/t from 28m (PFRC005)
-
5m at 1.6 g/t from 26m (PFRC069)
-
7m at 2.43 g/t from 115m (PFRC115)
-
3m at 3.21 g/t from 30m (PFRC142)
-
4m at 2.64 g/t from 99m (PFRC133)
HISTORICAL ESTIMATE OF MINERALISATION
Despite a long history of mining, no Mineral Resource Estimates compliant with the JORC 2012 code or previous iterations have ever been calculated or published within the Payne’s Find Project area. However, one Historical Estimate of Mineralisation was published on the small Pansy Deposit, south of the main Payne’s Find field (M59/1957), which was mined up until the mid-1980’s.
Falcon Australia undertook a 22 hole RC drilling program for 795m in 1987 to test the depth extension of mineralisation beneath the many small pits that dotted the area. The deposit was mined as a small pit, extending to a depth of between 4 and 8m, but no reliable production results are available. The original drill holes were shallow – with the deepest reaching a down hole depth of only 63m. These holes intersected gold mineralisation at a maximum depth of some 30m, but with mineralisation remaining open at depth.
Categories of Mineralisation: The Historical Estimate outlined in the above report was before the JORC code came into common use and as such the “Indicated” classification quoted is not considered to be reliably comparable to the current JORC 2012 categories. It is not known how this category was defined.
Relevance and Materiality: The Historical Estimate is both relevant and material to the company as a demonstration of the continuation of potentially economic mineralisation beneath a previously mined pit. As such, this work represents a high priority exploration target.
Reliability: The Historical Estimate was based upon drilling undertaken in 1987 for which no QA/QC records remain.
In addition, the company feels that the Historical Estimate is based upon a geological interpretation that may require modification as a result of additional information that has become available from later drilling in the region. As such, while the data behind this Historical Estimate is considered reliable, the Historical Estimate requires modification to take into account additional information.
Details of Previous Work Program: This Historical Estimate was based upon assay results from 22 percussion holes drilled in 1987 by Falcon Australia Ltd. Paper geological logs of the drilling are available but no information is available relating to any QA/QC procedures and it is thus likely that none were undertaken. Estimation was carried out on the basis of a rudimentary tabular geological interpretation that assumed one broad mineralised zone. It is felt by the company that this interpretation requires modification to take into account later information.
Future Work Programs: The company intends to undertake work programs that, if successful, may move this Historical Estimate into compliance with JORC (2012).