EPM 26894 – PALMERVILLE EAST

(Palmerville Project, Queensland)

EPM 26894 forms part of the Palmerville Project recently acquired by Diversified Mining and Resources Pty Ltd from Native Mineral Resources Holdings Limited (ASX: NMR), with the tenement now under the management and strategic direction of DMR.

EPM 26894 is situated in the south-eastern portion of the Palmerville project and geologically it lies within the Paleoproterozoic Dargalong Metamorphics of the Yambo Sub-province (1,550Ma) which is represented by the Chelmsford Gneiss. The Chelmsford Gneiss is overlain by Quaternary alluvial deposits along most of the south and western sections of the tenement.

The remaining sub-blocks on the eastern side of the EPM are primarily comprised of Silurian to Devonian Chillagoe Formation and Devonian meta-basalts of the Kitoba Member. Remnant Jurassic sandstones are present.

The western sub-blocks are partially separated from Chillagoe Formation to the east by the Palmerville Structure, a major NNW trending fault structure (Figure 1). The Palmerville structure is referred to as a fault system, as it comprises an extensive and complex array of numerous, anastomosing faults and/or shear zones. Primary prospects, Red Hill and Pinnacle Hill, lie on the boundary between Chillagoe and Hodgkinson

Formations and comprise slates and schists striking between north 40⁰ west and north 30⁰ west and either dipping vertically or very steeply towards the north-east. The carbonate zone is reported to have yielded parcels containing as much as 25.6% copper from a gossan that was 4 feet wide and the depth to any primary sulphides was not determined.

The Big Bend Prospect lies over a concealed section of the Palmerville Fault separating the Proterozoic metamorphics, on the west, from the mid-Palaeozoic sediments and volcanics of the Hodgkinson Basin to the east. Carboniferous to Permian igneous rocks intrude both sequences and are accompanied by co-magmatic terrestrial, felsic dominated volcanics (Bultitude et al., 1995).

Specifically, DMR is targeting copper, gold, and antimony mineralisation throughout the Palmerville project as the northern Chillagoe Formation is considered extremely prospective for copper mineralisation and DMR plans to discover and develop a mining target within this region; the 1,820km2 Palmerville project is host to more than 63 prospects that DMR will interrogate and explore. The work to date has only focused on a small number of these prospects which have surface mineralisation.

DMR plans to follow up on the detailed airborne geophysics survey over EPM 26894 that was completed in 2023 with future exploration targeting features highlighted in the modelling of the geophysical data.

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 regarding the multiphase paragenesis, surface expression and geochemical response (Nethery, J E, and Barr, M., 1998).

The area is considered to have excellent potential for another Red Dome type system. A literature search, completed to date, suggests the possibility of several potential skarn, potassic and silicification zones like the Red Dome and Mungana systems

PREVIOUS EXPLORATION

Little to no modern exploration has been conducted within this tenement area due to the tenement overlying the older basement rocks to the west of the more prospective Chillagoe Formation. Nevertheless, recent analysis of remote sensing results has highlighted both Au and Cu targets to be followed up in the field by NMR. All previous exploration has been desktop focused.

NMR is undertaking a new, high resolution airborne magnetics survey over the project area, including EPM 26894 in mid-2023 and the additional data will help resolve structural and compositional variations and hopefully resolve targets.

Auralia Resources and Ross Mining both identified copper at Red Hill, with Auralia reporting 1.1% Cu in sampling. Red Hill is located east of Pinnacle Creek in the OK Mine sequence, which is a number of old workings in a broad north-westerly trend from OK Mine to the Hannahbelle mine.

Other reports for Red Hill record results of up to 4.7% Cu from ore occurring in steeply dipping slates and sandstones with mineralisation composed of pyrite and chalcopyrite in quarts/carbonate veins.

At the Big Bend Prospect, Battle Mountain felt that the magnetic anomalies in the hinge of the Palmerville Fault were covered by alluvium had not been adequately explored for sub cropping intrusives/skarns or fault related sulphides.

In 1994 Newcrest tested for gold mineralisation in a suspected porphyry underlying the Wrotham Park Sandstone. The company had planned to drill four anomalies but abandoned when a drill rig was not available.

Kagara completed a VTEM survey over the Big Bend area interpreting ten targets of interest for drill testing and drilled eight RC holes (for 764 metres) to a maximum depth 129 metres. No significant geological or geochemical results were reported, though a seven metre intersection of limestone at the bottom of one hole and a few minor fossilized wood/coal intercepts hosted by Nychum Volcanics were logged.

A further three RC drill holes (for 240 metres) targeted FLEM anomalies with two of the holes abandoned due to excessive water flow. The remaining hole intersected inter-layered graphitic siltstones and lesser rhyolitic, dacitic and andesitic flows along with ignimbrites over the 57-167m interval.

The VTEM conductivity anomaly was attributed to the graphitic siltstones and the consensus was that anomalous gold results found in stream and sediment samples within the area were result of shedding off the Wrotham Park Sandstones.

NMR Exploration

Desktop Studies

Desktop examination of the available data for EPM 26894 has revealed the potential for intrusivecentred gold-lead-zinc orebodies associated with the contact between the Dargalong Metamorphics, Palmerville Fault system, intrusive granites and the Chillagoe Formation.

The Exploration rationale on the EPM is focused on the delineation of copper, gold, lead and zinc style deposits. There has been moderate coverage by stream sediments for copper, lead, zinc and gold and only a sparse density of gold geochemistry stream data. However, the data has enabled the identification of several areas of interest at the Pinnacle Hill prospect and Pinnacle ridge areas for
follow up exploration.

The Remote sensing survey completed by Dirt Exploration has produced potential new targets over many areas of the project; further processing is required to adjust for ground disturbance etc.

Magnetics and Radiometric Correlation Mapping NMR has carried out a correlation between mappable units of the Chillagoe Formation and key lithologies as part of its prospectivity mapping. In addition, all geological units were ranked according to U, K- Th, Gravity, TMI Magnetics and RTP magnetics.

Hyperspectral Survey

The hyperspectral results were generated for different mineral phases. The results have not been presented here as they have not been suitably filtered for features such as roads, sandbanks for example which add significant weighting and erroneous results in many cases.

Additionally, the results were stacked over known copper occurrences and then maps for similar criteria were generated such as Figure 7 below, which shows that the strong anomaly in regolith response to SWIR correlates favourably with the two copper breccia prospects at Pinnacle Hill.
The two maps showing copper potential are presented below in Figure 6 and Figure 7.

Airborne Geophysical Survey

Also completed during the current term was a Palmerville 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 26894, and several other NMR tenements that are adjacent to EPM 26894.

Modelling of Geophysical Data

During the reporting period, an interpretation of the airborne geophysical data covering EPM 26894, as well as other NMR and third party tenements, was completed by a contract geophysicist who interpreted a number of lineaments, structures and targets in the southern section of EPM 26894 (Figure 9).

The interpretation also includes all publicly available geophysical, geological and geochemical data and the report stated that the airborne magnetics at Big Bend clearly define a diamond shaped zone of complex magnetic responses with bounding structures in the NE and NW directions. This is seen clearly in the VRMI (Figure 7).

There are also numerous NE and NW structures cutting across and through the magnetic zone. The interpretation of this signature is fairly straight-forward with the complex likely to be due to magnetic intrusive rocks which have been subsequently deformed by the NE and NW structures. The age of the intrusives is likely to be Late Carboniferous to Early Permian indicated by the presence of reverse remanent magnetisation.

The trace of the Palmerville Fault is well defined particularly in some of the derivative images (not provided here, see images previously provided) and can be mapped across the whole Big Bend study area including where the fault zone changes direction. There are also some discrete circular magnetic zones down the eastern side of the study area to the east of the Palmerville Fault.

The geophysical interpretation was completed using various images of the magnetic data, the radiometric data, and included the development of a 3D inversion model for the area.

The interpretation has concentrated on mapping primary structures, areas where the intrusives are potentially shallowest, and any other anomalous features in the magnetic and radiometrics.

The interpretation shows that the most magnetic and shallowest parts of the intrusive complex occur around the edges of the system, particularly along the SE, SW, and NE margins. This is also illustrated in the depth slices through the 3D inversion model. The inversion model suggests that these marginal magnetic zones are steep-sided and sub-vertical.

There are numerous cross cutting faults through the system which are dominantly either NE or NW trending and the complexity of the magnetic response makes it difficult to determine the relative timing of these two fault directions from the geophysical data.

BIG BEND 2007 VTEM SURVEY

The Big Bend VTEM survey was one of six survey blocks flown on the Kagara Zinc Ltd Chillagoe/Boyd project in 2007 by Geotech Airborne. The Big Bend block was flown using 100m spaced EW lines for a total of 706 line kilometres. Survey coverage is shown in Figure 1

The relevant Kagara Zinc Annual Report (EPM14602 Annual Report to 6th April 2008; CR53114) states that data analysis and modelling was completed for Kagara by Southern Geoscience Consultants (SGC) who identified 10 targets of interest for drill testing. A full report from SGC was not included, however a table of proposed drill holes to test the ten targets, and the SGC modelling plots were in an Appendix. Follow up work completed by Kagara included Fixed Loop Electromagnetic (FLEM) surveys over some of the VTEM anomalies, and subsequent drill testing of six targets.

Initial review of the VTEM data by Mitre suggested that there were many more anomalies in the VTEM data than the ten listed in the Kagara report. Mitre decided to complete a new full anomaly picking exercise on the VTEM data to ensure that all anomalies were considered in the current review.

The anomaly picking was completed in two main stages :

• The data is analysed in profile and image form and any anomalous or interesting response is marked on the profiles (anomaly “picks”). The output from this process is a SHP file including locations and parameters for all of the anomaly picks.
• The picks are then turned into Anomaly Groups by drawing a polygon around each set of picks which belong to the same conductor. This is an efficient way to synthesize all of the picks into a more transparent and efficient targeting dataset. The anomaly groups are attributed with a description, likely source, geophysical rank, and generalised recommended follow up and is provided as a polygon SHP file (and a KML file).

The final ranking of the VTEM anomalies includes comparison with other exploration data such as magnetics, geology, geochemistry, drilling etc, using roughly the following rationale (this is the Rank attribute in the Anomaly Group SHP file):

1. Limited strike length moderate to strong conductors are considered higher priority targets, especially if upgraded by interpreted structures or other geophysical responses, such as the magnetics.
2. Limited strike length weak to moderate responses are considered moderate priority.
3. Broad, smoothly varying, high amplitude responses are most often due to conductive overburden or stratigraphic conductors, especially if over a large area. However, there is potential that good conductors can be buried beneath the cover, so these anomalies cannot always be completely ignored.
4. Targets previously investigated by SGC and Kagara, and adequately explained, are included in this rank. Twenty-five (25) anomaly groups have been identified by this process.

These are illustrated in Figure 11. There are seven VTEM Anomaly Groups which are ranked highest and a further four ranked second
highest. The anomalies have been checked against the modelling of the VTEM and FLEM data completed by SGC as well as drilling results to determine whether the anomalies have already been adequately explained.

In three cases the anomalies that were initially ranked highly have been fully tested and explained by Kagara drilling, and thus had their final ranking reduced to the lowest level.

Anomaly summary sheets are provided in Table 4 for the anomalies with the highest ranking being 1 & 2.

CONCLUSION

The southern section of the tenement is mostly covered by Mesozoic sediments that range in thickness of 20 to 100 metres and obscures the bedrock geology as well as a major flexure in the Palmerville fault, which is characterised by a large magnetic feature known as the Big Bend anomaly (Figure 9 and Figure 10).

Initial reviews of the raw magnetic and radiometric geophysical data revealed a circular magnetic body located just north-west of the Big Bend anomaly in the western section of EPM 26894, though the follow up structural and geophysical interpretation did not find the magnetic structure to be a viable exploration target.

The best targets in EPM 26894 are the VTEM derived targets south-east of the Big Bend anomaly, which NMR intends to test with drilling and further geophysics. 

Additionally, a reassessment of the alluvial gold resources will be undertaken in lieu of the current high gold price.