EPM 26893 – PALMERVILLE WEST

Diversified Mining and Resources has acquired EPM 26893 - Palmerville West from Native Mineral Resources in the 2025 / 2026 year. The tenement is situated approximately 100km to the north of the Mungana and Red-Dome copper-gold mines, and 110km north of the Chillagoe Township in North Queensland.
It is 1 of 9 tenements which form the Native Mineral Resources Pty Ltd (NMR) Palmerville Project (PROj0106) focused on the delineation of porphyry copper-gold, skarn and massive sulphide coppergold, lead and zinc style deposits within, and adjacent to, the highly prospective Chillagoe Formation which hosts the Mungana and Red Dome mines.
Exploration Permit for Minerals (EPM) 26893 was granted to NMR on 29th January 2019 for a term of 5 years and is due to expire on 28th January 2024. NMR has lodged an application to renew prior to the acquisition by Diversified Mining and Resources.
Initial desktop examination of the available data has revealed the potential for intrusive-centered goldcopper orebodies in the Chillagoe Formation and associated faulting and intrusives.

This evaluation of the available open-sourced geophysical data and the compilation of all sample geochemistry over the area has highlighted the importance of contact/structurally hosted mineralisation concentrated at the boundary between the relatively competent cherts and limestones and the surrounding metasediments.
A significant amount of GIS-based targeting has been completed within EPM 26893 with promising results, including the delineation of targets across the entire Palmerville Project area, including EPM 26893. Following the data review of the project area; EPM 26893 was evaluated for structurally hosted Cu and Au mineralisation targets. Remote sensing SWIR/LWIR Sentinel-2 satellite imagery mapping of minerals in the regolith over the entire Palmerville project was completed by Dirt Exploration. The interpretation of the results is ongoing, but several targets have been identified for follow-up investigation; Mountain Creek, Boomerang and Looking Glass Bluff.
Ground-based investigations to search for evidence of intrusive activity are yet to be completed as NMR was waiting for the completion of a whole of tenement airborne magnetic and radiometric geophysical survey which was completed in June 2023. These investigations are now planned to commence in 2024.
During 2024, NMR contracted Mitre Geophysics to carry out a structural and geophysical interpretation of the northern section of the Palmerville Project utilizing all available data including NMR’s geochemical datasets, publicly available historic datasets, and the 2023 airborne magnetic and radiometric data.
Mitre developed a number of products as part of the work, including:
• structural interpretation of the possible faulting
• geophysical interpretation of the airborne data
• magnetic 3D Inversion Modelling for selected areas
• exploration target 

Fusion Resources identified a regional anomaly including Looking Glass Bluff of 3ppb Au and 90ppm Zn. The majority of the remaining exploration activity concentrated on the potential for alluvial gold and heavy minerals such as rutile and monazite.
Three main prospects, Mountain Creek, Boomerang and Looking Glass Bluff (figure 1.) have been identified through desk top study as the main areas worthy of further exploration by NRM. In addition, The Jug, an alluvial prospect within the Mitchell River has been extensively tested and estimated to be in the region of 3mbcm @ 0.25 – 0.45 g/bcm and may be worth investigating for remaining potential.
TheMountain Creek and Looking Glass Bluff prospects lie in a central group comprising a linear zone of anomalous Cu in stream sediments over an area of 11 by 2 km. Remote sensing SWIR/LWIR Sentinel-2 satellite imagery mapping of minerals in the regolith over the entire Palmerville project was completed by Dirt Exploration. EPM 26893 was reviewed for structurally hosted Cu and Au mineralisation targets. The interpretation of the results is ongoing, but several targets have been identified for follow-up investigation. 

The Looking Glass Bluff prospects in the eastern portion are at or slightly to the west of the Hodgkinson/Chillagoe Formation boundary with anomalous Cu and Co being determined within manganiferous- ferruginous quartzite.
Mountain Creek has been observed as a locally equant body of quartz monzonite around 250m across and including several dykes of microgranite, felsite and rhyolite cut clastic sediments, chert and limestone. Quartz veined, altered and pyritized intrusive, brecciated pyritized limestone, chert with quartz stockwork and skarn have also been reported. Copper carbonates were observed in andesite exposed in costeans.
Minor mineralisation at Kangaroo Creek is contained within a shear zone in basic volcanics. Malachite, azurite and chalcocite occur along fractures, veins and vugs in narrow basic intermediate dykes. Previous work involved five costeans and pan concentrate samples producing 1.29 ppm and 1.51 ppm Au.
Many of the structural and lithological parameters associated with mineralisation in the Chillagoe district are also apparent in this area. Previous exploration in the area did not have the advantage of the geological understanding of the Red Dome type systems, particularly in regard to the multiphase paragenesis, surface expression and geochemical response (Nethery et al 1994).
The area is considered to have excellent potential for another Red Dome type system. Literature research completed to date may indicate the possibility of several potential skarn, potassic and silicification zones similar to the Red Dome and Mungana systems.

NATIVE MINERAL RESOURCES PREVIOUS WORK PROGRAM

Little to no modern exploration has been conducted within the EPM due to the western section of the tenement consisting of the older basement rocks that are west of the more prospective Chillagoe Formation, and the eastern section of the tenement being in rugged and remote terrain that is not easily accessible.
In 2021, NMR contracted Dirt Exploration to acquire and review the publicly available SWIR/LWIR Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and develop hyperspectral imagery maps for the potential for copper, gold and antimony in the regolith over the entire Palmerville project area. The hyperspectral image for Cu shows an anomalous zone that extends from west of Mountain creek prospect to south of Boomerang Creek (Figure 3), and shows a hyperspectral hot spot at the Boomerang Creek prospect (Figure 4). The hyperspectral image for gold shows a large anomaly at the top of the western section of EPM 26893 (Figure 5). To date these anomalies have not been followed up as NMR was waiting for the high resolution magnetic and radiometric data to compare with the hyperspectral images, which NMR commenced and Diversified Mining and Resources is currently undertaking.
During the 2023 to 2025 term Greg Curnow commenced as the new Chief Geologist for NMR carried out a desktop review of all the available data for EPM 26893 as a part of a regional review of the Palmerville project. Part of this work included a site visit to EPM 26893 where he visited the Mountain Creek and Boomerang Creek prospects.
In 2023 NMR completed a Palmerville Project wide airborne magnetic and radiometric geophysical survey covering 2,162km2 and comprising over 30,000-line km in length and was flown at a line spacing of 80 metres and an average height of 90 metres. The survey was partly funded by the QLD Government as part of the Collaborative Exploration Initiative (CEI) and the survey was completed in June 2023.
The survey covered the entire area of EPM 26893, and NMR expects to carry out an interpretation of the newly acquired data, along with all the publicly available historic data and generate targets from the data, in 2024 (Figure 6).
The results of the remote sensing work, which has highlighted both Au and Cu targets that will be compared to the newly acquired magnetic and radiometric data and ground truthed as part of forth coming field mapping and sampling programs.

CONCLUSIONS

The interpretation completed by Mitre Geophysical of the northern section of the Palmerville Project area included EPM 26893 and generated a significant structural map for the tenement, which will be utilized for future work (Figure 7).
The interpretation has highlighted a number of structures in or near to EPM 26893, with the main one being NP4_C which was interpreted to be a series of reverse remanent plug type magnetic anomalies along eastern flank of Palmerville Fault (Figure 7).
Additionally, focus will be directed to the area between NP2_B and NP3_B, which are just east of the western portion of EPM 26893, where several magnetic structures have been identified. NP2_B is interpreted to be a strong magnetic north-south stratigraphy, terminated in the north by a regional north-west trending fault, cut by north-east minor faults, nearby reverse remanent magnetic anomaly.
Mitre have recommended that NP2_B and NP3_B have further magnetic modelling, mapping, geochemical sampling and possibly IP. NMR will consider including the area inside EPM 26893 when this work is undertaken.

The structural interpretation highlighted several places where the north south trending faults are terminated by either north-west or north-east trending faults. Mitre has suggested that the termination sites are worthy of site investigation, mapping and sampling, especially where they are close to the Palmerville fault (Figure 7).
The interpretation clearly illustrates the dominant NS magnetic grain and major NS structures crosscut by a complex and interlaced system of NE and NW trending structures. The smaller EW structures are generally limited in strike length.

Future work will also include mapping and sampling the copper and gold anomalies highlighted by the hyperspectral imagery completed in previous work. The images will be re-examined in tandem with the newly acquired magnetic and radiometric data