MINOTAUR MINOTAUR EXPLORATION LIMITED ACN 108 483 601 ASX: MEP
MINOTAUR
EXPLORATION
Quarterly ReportPeriod ended
31 December 2015
www.minotaurexploration.com.au
Exploration
Minotaur and OZ Minerals entered into a collaborative agreement for the Mt Woods area adjacent to Prominent Hill copper-gold mine.
Drilling commenced in the Gawler Ranges under the South Australia government's Minerals System Drilling Program 2015 (MSDP) targeting gold, silver and base metal mineralisation.
Exploration commenced on the new Osborne JV near Cloncurry with ground-based and airborne geophysical surveys conducted.
Very encouraging results from follow-up IP geophysical surveys completed at Eloise copper project near Cloncurry.
Minotaur and OZ Minerals entered into a $10M farm-in agreement over the Eloise copper project.
Corporate Review
The Company's share register was significantly restructured with the managed exit of Norilsk Nickel and GFR, as #1 and #4 shareholders respectively.
Sprott Inc, a leading North American asset management firm, replaced Norilsk and increased its stake through
a $1 million placement. The placement included other new and existing shareholders, raising $1.6 million
in total.
An entitlement offer was made to all shareholders, in which Sprott and other key shareholders participated, raising a further $0.7 million with a shortfall of
$0.7 million to be placed at the directors' discretion prior to the end of March 2016.
At Quarter end Minotaur held $4.9 million in cash and listed company investments of $0.74 million (see Table 2 for details), positioning Minotaur for another active year in the field through 2016.
LEVEL 1, 8BEULAH ROAD, NORWOOD SOUTH AUSTRALIA 5067 T +61 8 8132 3400 F +61 8 8132 3499 E admin@minotaurexploration.com.au
www.minotaurexploration.com.au
Figure 1: Minotaur Exploration's project locations
Project Location | Tenement Area km2 |
South Australia§ | 12,575 |
Queensland§ | 3,573 |
Victoria§ | 415 |
Western Australia� | 382 |
Total Area | 16,945 |
Table 1: Minotaur Exploration Limited's | tenement areas, under |
application and/or held 100% and/or in joint venture§ or within Minotaur Gold Solutions Ltd� (Minotaur Exploration as to 60%)
QUEENSLAND
Minotaur is actively exploring along the Cloncurry copper belt of Northwest Queensland where an extensive package of iron oxide copper-gold prospective tenements has been assembled (Figure 2).
The Company's approach, here and elsewhere, is to maximise joint venture participation as a means of defraying exploration risk and operational expenses.
A new joint venture was implemented with JOGMEC over tenements surrounding the Osborne mine where field work commenced in October. Minotaur also attracted OZ Minerals (OZL) as a new farm-in partner for the Eloise project where OZL can spend up to $10 million on exploration activities to earn up to 70% in the project. Discussions are ongoing with third parties to potentially join with Minotaur in the Red Metal JV over the Corkwood tenements in the far north of the Cloncurry belt, exploring for IOCG's under cover.
Figure 2: Location of Minotaur tenements in the Cloncurry region of Northwest Queensland.
EPM 17838, 18442, 18624, 19500, 25237, 25238, 25389,
25801, MDL431; Minotaur 100% (except on those parts of MDL431 and EPM17838 where Sandfire Resources NL can earn 80%), Area 728km2
Minotaur entered into a farm-in agreement with
OZ Minerals (ASX: OZL) in mid-December to explore the Eloise copper-gold project, located southeast of Cloncurry in Queensland (Figure 2). Under the agreement OZL will sole fund an initial A$1.5M in exploration over 2016. The agreement provides OZL the option to earn a 70% interest in the project by investing a total of A$10M over a 6 year term. OZL is currently conducting due diligence to be completed by 29 January 2016.
Prior to entering into the farm-in agreement with OZL,
Minotaur conducted a follow-up induced polarisation (IP) geophysical survey over the Artemis- Sandy Creek- Bullwinkle and Olympus areas to infill and extend the coverage in both areas where large, high-amplitude chargeability anomalies were defined in an earlier survey (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Artemis, Sandy Creek, Bullwinkle and Olympus targets with completed IP survey lines over satellite image.
Eight east-west lines spaced at 150 to 250m intervals now cover the Artemis- Sandy Creek- Bullwinkle copper-gold-zinc prospect area. New data was collected on one line over the Bullwinkle anomaly and on two line extensions east of Bullwinkle and Sandy Creek (Figure 3).
Eloise Copper Project continued
Geophysical inversions of all IP data over the Artemis- Sandy Creek- Bullwinkle area reveal three main anomalies with observed IP values up to 24 msec (Figure 4). The Artemis anomaly now extends over 150 metres south and up to 450m north of the known extent of the massive sulphide zone currently defined by drilling; at least 700m in total. The Bullwinkle anomaly, not drilled, is now mapped over at least 250m of strike.
Figure 4: Artemis, Sandy Creek and Bullwinkle prospects with IP chargeability inversions. The red areas are zones of strong chargeability mapping out sulphide occurrence.
Five east-west lines spaced at 150m intervals now cover the Olympus prospect area. New data has been collected on two eastern line extensions and on two new lines south of those collected previously (Figure 3).
Geophysical inversions of all IP data over the prospect area reveal a very large and coherent chargeability anomaly up to 400m wide and 500m long, still open to the south, with observed IP values up to 24 msec (Figure 5); these results are highly significant given the observed IP values are comparable to those at Artemis. Previous mapping at Olympus revealed a minor gossan with elevated copper and gold within a quartz-filled fault that lies above the discrete EM conductor that was the original target of Minotaur; the gossan lies on the western edge of the much larger IP anomaly (Figure 5).
More recent mapping over the wider prospect area to the
east has failed to reveal any other indications of surface mineralisation that could at least partly explain this very large IP anomaly despite the area being mostly outcrop. This suggests the source of the IP anomaly is blind at surface. There is no historic drilling in the prospect area.
Figure 5: EVT61 Olympus prospect with IP chargeability inversions. The red areas are zones of strong chargeability.
Drilling and geophysical surveys are expected to commence toward the end of March 2016 when the wet season abates.
MDL432, parts of MDL431 and parts of EPM17838; Sandfire Resources NL earning 80%
The Altia joint venture project, operated by Sandfire Resources NL (ASX: SFR) and located immediately south- west of the Eloise copper-gold mine (Figure 2), includes an option with Minotaur subsidiary Breakaway Resources Pty Ltd to joint venture into two areas encompassing 43.7km2, whereby Sandfire may earn up to 80% of the project. Sandfire completed its first earn-in during the Quarter to hold 60% interest in the JV area. Sandfire elected to sole fund the second earn-in period through additional $4M expenditure to earn an 80% interest.
Hole 15ALDD001, drilled by Sandfire in the previous quarter, was planned to test a potential extension of the Altia Main orebody to the north of the mineralisation, and down dip of existing drilling. It intercepted the expected host rocks which are BIFs and garnetiferous sediments, however the development of mineralisation in the units was of a lower tenor to that seen within the Altia Main orebody and no significant mineralisation was encoun- tered. Assays that were returned this Quarter confirm the low tenor of base and precious metal accumulation.
Minotaur Exploration Ltd. issued this content on 27 January 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 27 January 2016 13:02:20 UTC
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