- North Stawell Minerals (NSM) bolsters its Victorian land portfolio with the 167sqkm Deep Lead exploration licence
- The company says 30 kilometres of this land is a continuation of the geology that hosts NSM’s flagship Stawell Gold Mine
- According to NSM, a thin blanket of sediment masked mineralisation in the new tenement from Victorian gold prospectors in the 1850s
- However, new mining and geophysical technology means the company can “see through” this sediment to find the prospective ground below
- Shares in North Stawell are up 6.06 per cent and trading at 35 cents each at 2:39 pm AEST
Junior gold explorer North Stawell Minerals (NSM) has bolstered its Victorian land portfolio with the addition of an exploration licence dubbed Deep Lead.
The licence, which was granted to NSM by the Victorian Government’s Earth Resources Regulation department, adds 167sqkm of key prospective ground to North Stawell’s portfolio.
What’s more, 30 kilometres of this land is a continuation of the geology that hosts NSM’s flagship Stawell Gold Mine.
North Stawell CEO Russell Krause said the company has “keenly awaited” the granting of this new tenement.
“There are multiple opportunities to unmask additional Stawell-style mineralisation and the company looks forward to updating shareholders as ground activities build momentum over the newly granted exploration leases,” Mr Krause said.
He said the “under-tested” new tenement comes with several exploration opportunities for the company.
Historically, 650 holes have been drilled across the tenement for 36 kilometres. NSM said while the drilling struck several regions of gold anomalism, it only partially tested previously interpreted structures in the area.
According to NSM, a thin blanket of sediment covers most of the tenement, masking the mineralisation in the area from prospectors during the 1850s Victorian gold rush.
New mining and geophysical technology, however, means the company is able to “see through” this sediment mask and into the prospective ground below.
What’s more, recent exploration in the area has focussed more on the known mineralisation at the Stawell Mine, meaning there is still potentially much to be found in the Deep Lead tenement.
In light of all this, NSM said immediately after being granted the new exploration licence, its community teams begun working to establish access to key areas at Deep Lead to prepare for exploration.
Shareholders seemed impressed with the new landholding, with North Stawell shares up 6.06 per cent and trading at 35 cents each at 2:39 pm AEST. The company has a $39.6 million market cap.