EPM 27607 - FISH CREEK 

Location

EPM 27607 is situated predominantly within Palmerville Station, a large pastoral and mining district in Far North Queensland. Portions of the northern sub-blocks extend into the Quinkan Country National Heritage Area, renowned for its internationally significant Indigenous rock art. Along the eastern boundary, parts of the tenement overlap into the Palmer Goldfield Resources Reserve, an area historically central to Queensland’s alluvial gold boom.

The project lies in a remote region of the Cook Shire, accessed via unsealed routes including Palmerville Road, Maytown Road, and White’s Creek Road, all connecting from the Peninsula Developmental Road. On-site vehicle movement is limited to rugged station tracks, many of which require ongoing maintenance due to seasonal conditions, steep terrain, and creek crossings.

EPM 27607 also shares its western boundary with EPM 27396, part of the former Native Mineral Resources Palmerville Project, positioning the tenement within a broader mineralised corridor of high geological interest.

Exploration Rationale

Diversified Mining and Resources acquired this tenement with a clear objective: to evaluate both hard-rock and alluvial gold systems within the highly prospective Hodgkinson Province. This region forms the northernmost exposed segment of the Tasmanides—a structurally complex mineral belt stretching over 500 km long and up to 150 km wide through the Cairns hinterland. Its geological history, dominated by orogenic deformation and quartz-vein emplacement, has long been recognised as fertile ground for gold mineralisation.

Historical literature and geological research highlight the significance of the surrounding district. The seminal work River of Gold (Holthouse, 1967) recounts the Palmer River Gold Rush of the 1870s—Queensland’s richest alluvial gold field—which attracted more than 50,000 people at peak production. More than half of all alluvial gold ever recovered in Queensland originated from the Palmer River catchment, reflecting the richness and scale of the system. Previous studies (Jack 1899; De Keyser & Lucas 1968) suggest that the exceptionally fine, consistent gold recovered from the upper Palmer River was likely sourced from numerous small orogenic lodes dispersed through its headwaters.

Modern interpretations further reinforce the exploration opportunity. Lisitsin et al. (2013) identify three principal styles of primary orogenic gold mineralisation within the broader Mossman Orogen:
(a) gold–quartz veins,
(b) refractory gold associated with quartz–pyrite–arsenopyrite stockworks, and
(c) stibnite–quartz ± gold veins.

Importantly, the authors estimate a 50% probability that at least 20 tonnes of contained gold remain undiscovered within 1 to 10 refractory (type-b) gold fields hosted in the Hodgkinson Province. While major new gold–quartz vein discoveries (type-a) are considered less likely due to thorough historical exploration, the potential for undiscovered refractory systems and structurally controlled stockworks remains strong.

This combination of historical production, favourable geology, and modern exploration rationale positions the tenement as a compelling target for new gold discoveries—both in bedrock and within the extensive alluvial pathways feeding into the Palmer River system.

Local Geology

EPM 27607 sits across a major geological transition zone, straddling the Chillagoe Formation to the west and the Hodgkinson Province to the east. This juxtaposition of two highly prospective geological domains—divided by the Palmerville Fault corridor—creates a structurally complex and mineral-rich environment ideal for diversified exploration.

To the west, the Early Silurian–Early Devonian Chillagoe Formation comprises predominantly shallow-marine sedimentary facies. To the east, the Late Silurian–Late Devonian Hodgkinson Formation is dominated by laterally discontinuous greywacke, siltstone and shale units, with lesser conglomerate, chert, basalt and limestone. These rocks are characteristic of deep-marine turbidity flow deposits formed within a submarine fan system, providing excellent structural and stratigraphic traps for mineralisation.

The Hodgkinson Formation has undergone a long and complex structural history from the Late Devonian to Early Permian, involving at least four deformation phases. Early isoclinal folding and brittle–ductile shear zones with north–south axial planes were progressively overprinted by more open, steeply plunging folds and reverse faults. Regionally, major structures trend northwest to north, providing the principal conduits for fluid flow and ore deposition.

The wider Hodgkinson Province hosts significant historic production centres, including the Palmer and Hodgkinson goldfields. Mineralisation is widespread, with tungsten occurring mainly as wolframite and scheelite, often closely associated with gold-quartz veins. Gold occurs in multiple settings:

• Skarn systems of the Chillagoe district

• Epigenetic gold–quartz veins within the Hodgkinson and Palmer goldfields

• Stockworks, laminated veins, and breccia lodes along fissures and reverse faults

  These systems frequently host pyrite and arsenopyrite, with late-stage galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite and stibnite overprints.

Historical Exploration

The central sub-blocks of EPM 27607 show very limited recorded historical mineral occurrences, with only two mapped sites—Mun Gin Creek and Boolays—both interpreted as alluvial gold workings within the eastern portion of the tenement. Two historical mining leases were previously held over Fish Creek for alluvial gold and tin, the last of which was abandoned in 1991. A more recent mining application was lodged in 2020 by Malcolm Pryce, though it remains ungranted. Overall, historical exploration across the tenement area is sparse compared to the well-documented mining history aligned with the Palmerville Fault to the west.

Early exploration efforts across the broader district focused heavily on the highly mineralised Palmerville corridor running from Chillagoe to Glenroy. Copper, antimony, and mercury (as cinnabar) have been reported from altered basalts of the Chillagoe Formation along the western edge of EPM 27607 (Rattigan, undated). The nearby Palmer River alluvial field, discovered in 1872, produced more than two million ounces of gold before being largely abandoned by the late 1870s. As alluvial deposits diminished, miners shifted attention toward vein-hosted mineralisation at Maytown, as well as conglomerates further upstream.

Conglomerate-hosted gold was worked extensively—primarily by Chinese miners—though grades were considered erratic and structurally unconstrained. Dr R.L. Jack recorded that the best results occurred in the headwaters of Fish Creek, where miners drove adits into clay-rich sandstones and conglomerates along the flanks of an eastern tributary. Jack (1895) documented several nuggets from these workings, including specimens up to six grammes, along with occurrences of “black gold,” likely a bismuth-rich alloy.

In the northern third of EPM 27607, flat-lying Cretaceous sedimentary units of the Dalrymple Sandstone sequence overlie the steeply dipping schists and slates of the Hodgkinson Formation. Reports from Vukotich (EPM 2318, 1980) described basal conglomerates present in paleo-valley depressions above schist bedrock, locally hosting fine to coarse gold and occasional small nuggets. These conglomerates consist of rounded quartz clasts 5–30 cm in diameter, with thicknesses ranging from a few centimetres up to 1.5 metres.

During the late 1980s, Bremar Minerals Pty Ltd, in joint venture with Regency Resources, held EPM 5024 over Fish Creek and surrounding basal conglomerates. Their program targeted gold-bearing Jurassic conglomerates and associated alluvial systems. Due to extreme access difficulties—similar to those that persist today—exploration required helicopter access and rope descent off the sandstone escarpments. Their persistence resulted in direct observations of visible gold from panned alluvials and hand-crushed conglomerate samples (Evans & Duck, 1988), although no assays were collected. They also successfully relocated Jack’s original adits.

Subsequent modern exploration has been limited. Dominion Mining Ltd held EPM 8548 (1991–1992) targeting anomalous Au/Cu geochemistry proximal to the Palmer Fault and Red Dome-style skarn systems. Although the tenement overlapped the western boundary of EPM 27607, none of the identified prospects fell within the current permit area. Dominion collected 282 stream sediment samples, 625 soil samples, and 427 rock chip samples, identifying patchy anomalies and one >10 ppm gold anomaly associated with the Aquitaine Granite before relinquishing the ground.

Exploration Permit 11085 was held by I. and D.I. Sipos (1996–1997) overlapping the western margin of EPM 27607, but the tenement was relinquished after follow-up work returned disappointing results. Later, EPM 17727 was held by Gilbert Kelly and Matthew Vaughan (2011–2012) for alluvial prospecting, but no work was undertaken due to landholder access issues at the time.

Mungana Gold Mines held EPM 19225 from November 2012 to November 2013, focusing on data compilation and desktop targeting. The company reviewed magnetic and radiometric datasets and undertook structural interpretations to identify potential new targets beyond those previously recorded. Of the areas examined, only the Perseverance and Mt Emma North prospects—located near the northwestern edge of EPM 27607—were considered relevant. These were viewed as prospective for mesothermal vein arrays and intrusion-centred gold systems, with Mungana noting that “the redox setting is very good, and fault configuration is favourable, although there may not be significant fault lock-up zones present” (McArthur, 2013). Their work also identified zones of apparent hydrothermal activity, reflected in magnetite alteration and radiometric anomalies. While the ground warranted further field investigation, Mungana ultimately relinquished the tenement in favour of higher-ranking opportunities.

Mungana also held EPM 19070 until November 2013, overlapping the southwestern boundary of the current EPM. This ground, lying directly along the Palmerville Fault, was considered prospective for mesothermal gold and intrusive-related gold–base metal mineralisation. As with EPM 19225, their program was limited to data compilation and geophysical/geological reviews.

Between 2012 and 2016, Territory Minerals Limited explored for economic gold mineralisation within the Maytown EPM 11540, originally granted to BHP Billiton Minerals Pty Ltd in 2006. This permit covered the southeastern corner of the current EPM. Territory Minerals’ work centred on the Tregoora and Northcote prospects, and consisted largely of literature reviews, GIS assessments, historical data collation, and geophysical reprocessing (Jackson, 2016). A regional assessment by Dr Andy Tomkins prioritised several prospective targets for refractory, lode-style quartz-vein gold systems, identifying five regional targets based on geochemistry, geophysics, potential deposit size, and access considerations. None of these targets fell within the boundaries of the current EPM. One circular feature west of Cradle Creek identified through gravity modelling generated interest due to coarse alluvial gold reports from prospectors, but the tenement subsequently lapsed due to unpaid annual rentals, terminating the exploration program.

EPM 25407, held by Plethora Pty Ltd, was relinquished in 2015 after only a year. Although 12 sub-blocks were included, only one overlapped the current tenement. Work was limited to desktop reviews before the company shifted its focus closer to the Palmer River.

Malcolm Scott held EPM 19278 for five years until 2020, concentrating primarily on alluvial gold potential. Limited field investigations were carried out around Fish Creek to identify the source of fine placer gold detected through pan sampling. Results suggested the gold was being transported from further upstream, outside the boundaries of EPM 19278.