Higginsville

The Higginsville Joint Venture is managed by Argonaut Resources NL (80%) with Loded Dog Prospecting and covers exploration licence E15/1489, located in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia.

The Higginsville Joint Venture is exploring for gold, nickel and lithium within the Norseman-Wiluna Belt, a belt of ancient rocks endowed with gold mineralisation that lies within the broader Yilgarn Craton where approximately 70% of Australia's historical gold production has been mined.

The Higginsville Project is situated directly west of the Higginsville (+2.5Moz) gold mining camp that lies between St Ives (+15Moz) and Norseman (+10Moz) gold mining districts (Figure 1).

Figure 1.Regional gold deposits within the Norseman-Wiluna Belt

Gold Exploration

Argonaut's two primary goals are to firstly, explore for near-surface oxide gold in areas with historic shallow drilling results and secondly, to target deeper primary gold mineralisation at depths previously untested by drilling. 

In 2017 Argonaut conducted reverse circulation drilling at the Amorphous and Footes Find gold prospects that are located five kilometres to the south from the operating gold mill at Higginsville. Follow-up drilling at the Amorphous prospect was completed in 2020.

Amorphous Prospect

The Amorphous prospect contains a 1 g/t gold contour along a 1 kilometre strike length with gold mineralisation typically hosted in an altered shear zone within an easterly dipping gabbroic unit (Figure 2).

The gold envelope dips to the east at approximately 60 degrees, rather than 80 degrees as previously interpreted thus improving conceptual open-pit geometry by lowering the theoretical stripping ratio.

Highlights from 2017 drilling intersects at Amorphous includes:

• 8m at 2.07g/t Au from 26m in drill hole AMRC007, including 2m at 7.94g/t Au from 28m
• 9m at 1.21g/t Au from 71m in drill hole AMRC010, including 2m at 3.78g/t Au from 73m
• 5m at 4.03g/t Au from 21m in drill hole AMRC013, including 2m at 10.37g/t Au from 22m
• 8m at 3.27g/t Au from 17m in drill hole AMRC015, including 3m at 9.6g/t Au from 21m

Highlights from 2020 drilling intersects at Amorphous includes:

• 6m at 0.33g/t Au from 22m in drill hole AMRC022
• 7m at 0.38g/t Au from 57m in drill hole AMRC023
• 5m at 2.04g/t Au from 37m in drill hole AMRC024
• 2m at 0.92g/t Au from 71m in drill hole AMRC025

Figure 2. Amorphous Prospect gold contour grades from drilling

Footes Find Prospect

Rock chip sampling within an open pit at Footes Find returned high grade gold with samples returning up to 17.25 g/t gold. Drilling confirmed good mineralised widths with high grades.

Highlights from drilling intercepts at Footes Find include:

• 4m at 5.02 g/t Au from 40m in drill hole FFRC001
• 8m at 1.68 g/t Au from 30m in drill hole FFRC002
• 7m at 2.13g/t Au from 28m in drill hole FFRC010

Additional drilling at the Footes Find prospect is warranted to confirm continuity of grades and widths along strike.