ASX:AIV

Esk

Copper and Gold Project

Asset Summary

EPM’s 14079, 14476, 16265 (part), 16327 & 18717 (Esk Copper and Gold project – 327.8 km2) in the New England Orogen is located in southeast Queensland between the towns of Gayndah and Goomeri, 215 km due northwest of Brisbane. ActivEX Limited holds 100% interest in all tenements.

The prospects are situated at the intersection of the NNW trending Perry Fault zone (host to Mt Rawdon +2Moz gold deposit) and NE trending (Darling Lineament related) structures.

Project Highlights

– Five 100% ActivEX Limited owned EPMs (327.8 km2).
– Contiguous tenement package with ActivEX Limited Coalstoun Lakes Copper and Gold (176.5 km2) and Barambah Gold Projects (108.2 km2).
– Shallow, high grade supergene copper with further potential to upgrade and extend, synergies with Coalstoun Lakes Project.
– Significant potential for low grade, high tonnage copper mineralisation.
– Associated gold and copper breccia systems and epithermal gold systems.
– Potential for high grade, skarn related copper.

Project Details

The Esk Copper and Gold project is host to mineralisation with similarities to many High-K Calc-alkalic to Alkalic Porphyry copper-gold deposits, near surface supergene copper deposits, as well as potential for breccia-pipe hosted gold-copper deposits.

Significant drilling intersections from the White Horse prospect on the Booubyjan EPM include:

  • 290m at 0.13% copper from 180m incl. 30m at 0.36% Cu (ABJ014)
  • 26m at 0.85% copper from 21m (ABJ020)
  • 28m at 0.96% copper from 29m incl. 17m at 1.4% copper from 32m (ABJ021)
  • 15m at 1.09% copper from 29 metres (ABJ023)
  • 13m at 1% copper from 27 metres (ABJ025)
  • 30m at 0.53% copper from 1 metre (ABJ027)
  • 38m at 0.74% copper from 20m (BRAPD12)

Exploration targeting concepts include:

  • Potential to significantly extend and upgrade shallow high grade supergene copper mineralisation at the White Horse prospect;
  • Potential to discover copper mineralisation at depth below the White Horse supergene copper and for analogous Coalstoun/Cadia style mineralisation;

The Esk Copper and Gold project is located in southeast Queensland between the towns of Gayndah and Goomeri, 215 km due northwest of Brisbane (Figure 1).

The area is currently used for cattle grazing and peanuts are grown on the red soil basalt plains. The majority of the Esk Copper and Gold project area consists of cleared plains with timbered hills to the east and west with some areas of thick lantana and vine scrub. Access to all areas is good, with the Burnett Highway and Isis Highway running through the centre of the EPMs. Numerous secondary roads and farm tracks also provide good access. Previous exploration of the steeper areas has left a network of accessible four-wheel drive tracks.

The Esk Copper and Gold project is situated on the Maryborough 1:250,000 sheet (SG5606) as well as the Gayndah (9246) and Biggenden (9346) 1:100,000 sheets.

Figure 1: Esk Copper and Gold Project Location

The project comprises five, 100% ActivEX Limited held tenements (EPM’s 14476, 14979, 16327, 18717 & the eastern portion of 16265 – Figure 2) with a combined area of 327.8 km2.

Table 1: Summary of Individual Tenement Details

Figure 2. Esk Copper and Gold Project Tenements (also showing Barambah Gold Project and Coalstoun Lakes Copper and Gold Projects)

There have been several phases of modern exploration in the Esk Copper and Gold project area. Historical exploration highlights presented below:

Booubyjan (EPM 14476)

  • 1971: Kennecott exploration Pty Ltd defined five porphyry copper prospects (Hines, Bath, Kiwi, White Horse and Kakapo) along a 4000 foot long copper soil anomaly. Follow up trenching highlights include 100 feet at 0.75% copper at White Horse prospect and 50 feet at 0.9% copper at Kiwi prospect.
  • 1971 – 2003: All 5 related porphyry prospects have been periodically tested by a number of companies including Samantha Exploration NL, Cyprus Gold, Battle Mountain, North Limited and MIM Exploration. Significant drill intercepts include 4m at 1.1 g/t gold, 0.35% copper, 26m at 0.45 g/t gold, 0.35% copper, 88m at 0.47% copper and 0.49 g/t gold. Samantha Exploration NL calculated a supergene blanket “resource” estimated to contain 200,000t at 0.7% copper including 60,000T at 1% copper (non-JORC compliant).

Stockhaven (EPM 18717)

  • 1967 – 1970 Associated Mining and Cyprus Gold undertook detailed exploration on the Bab Ban zinc load and applied for a mining lease.
  • Esso Australia calculated a “resource” of 900,000 tonnes of 7.68% zinc (probable ore) and 600,000 tonnes of 7.06% zinc (possible ore) which was considered sub-economic.
  • 2005 – 2010 D’Aguilar: Focused on two areas; 1) the vicinity of Ban Ban Zinc Lode and; 2) Raven’s Gully prospect to the north. Exploration included mapping, stream sediment, soil and rock chip sampling, airborne VTEM, airborne magnetics and 4 RC drill holes. The VETM survey generated several anomalies around the main area in the vicinity of the Ban Ban Zinc Lode. A number of promising values resulted from the follow up soil survey, however not all were followed up. Ravens gully is an interpreted possible porphyry system with a small group of silver, lead, zinc and copper workings. D’Aguilar drilled four shallow RC holes with a best result of 12m at 18.8ppm silver, 0.85% copper, 1.17% lead and 1.24% zinc.

Dadamarine (EPM 14979)

  • 1976 Esso Australia Ltd: assessed Dadamarine for porphyry copper and gold highlighting intense fracturing and pyrite content but drill assays were disappointing.
  • 2000 – 2004 Jimbilly: 16 vertical holes for 773m.

Blairmore (EPM 16265)

  • 1981 CRAE: identified the Blairmore prospect with mapping, rock chip sampling and stream sediment sampling.
  • 1988 – 1990 NEDEX highlighted the Penwhaupell prospect with a maximum rock chip value of 10.4 g/t gold. Follow up trenching, and drilling returned lower grades of mineralization with a best assay of 0.2 g/t gold and 59 ppm silver.
  • 2000 – 2004 after undertaking detailed work Jimbilly concluded Morgan’s (Amhurst) prospect may be a distal portion of a porphyry system with a maximum drill assay of 9.1 g/t gold and costean and rock chip samples up 1.02% copper and 45.1 g/t gold.

Ban Ban (EPM 6327)

  • 1984 Poseidon Ltd identified several Breccia bodies including Eagle, Falcon and Galah.
Regional Geology

The Esk Copper and Gold Project is located within the Silurian to Triassic Northern New England Orogen (NNEO), adjacent to the Perry Fault zone, a major NW trending structure that separates large structural blocks such as the Coastal Block and the Good Night Blocks from the Gympie Block and is host to the Mt Rawdon deposit, Coalstoun prospect and White Horse prospect (Figure 3). The Coastal Block is dominated by interbedded arenite and argillite, chert, jasper, conglomerate, limestone and minor pillow basalts, with widespread low grade metamorphism to lower greenschist facies. The Gympie Block is characterised by greenschist facies metamorphosed Permian to Early Triassic clastic sediments, basic to intermediate volcanics and limestone. The Good Night Block is dominated by fine-grained metasediments (greenschist). The sediments have been intruded by Permian to Middle Triassic granodiorites, monzonites and granites, some of which formed large volcanoes, erupting large volumes of andesitic volcanic debris into the Esk Basin (formerly Esk Trough). Later granitoids developed volcanoes during the late Triassic, blanketing much of the earlier lithologies with rhyolitic volcanics which now cap many of the hill in the Esk Copper and Gold project area (Figure 4).

Figure 3: Esk Copper and Gold Project Geology

Figure 4: Esk Copper and Gold Project regional airborne magnetics

EPMs

Tenement Summary

The Booubyjan EPM consists of 5 related porphyry copper and gold targets including the highly prospective White Horse prospect. Very little exploration has been completed on the porphyry systems at depth, however extensive geophysical surveying has been completed across all of the prospects including IP, CSAMT and ground magnetics, indicating that the copper and gold system extends at depth. In 2009, a single drill hole (ABJ014) was designed to test mineralisation below White Horse, intersecting 290m at 0.13% copper. Significant potential exists for higher grade copper mineralisation in this area. Recent drilling, targeting enrichment at shallow depths, intercepted shallow, high grade copper up to 28m at 0.96% copper, resulting in an in-house resource estimate of 1.66 Mt at 0.53% copper (non-JORC compliant).

Tenement Summary

The Stockhaven EPM consists of 6.5 km2 of anomalous copper related to extensions the Ban Ban Zinc Skarn. Previous exploration companies have predominantly focused on zinc and lead mineralisation held within MDL 409, acting as a blinder to related copper mineralisation which has been delineated by ActivEX. Globally, deposits of this style (called skarns) are typically zoned in their metal content and ActivEX believes the skarn deposits found throughout the Stockhaven EPM fit this characteristic. Drilling completed outside MDL 409 is very limited. The drill holes were also vertically orientated, targeting the subvertical skarn lenses, suggesting that the drill holes failed to test extensions of the Ban Ban Zinc Skarn.

Tenement Summary

The Dadamarine EPM consists of two copper and molybdenum targets akin to the porphyry systems within the Coalstoun Lakes and Booubyjan EPMs. Previous drilling of these prospects have returned up to 3m at 0.13% molybdenum (SEF08) with only two drill holes exceeding 130m depth (maximum drill hole depth of 240.8m) allowing significant potential to remain at depth. A number of highly anomalous IP targets also remain untested.

Tenement Summary

The Blairmore EPM consists of three, heavily altered lithocap targets, believed to be caused by possible porphyry mineralisation (e.g. Coalstoun and White Horse mineralisation style) at depth. An in depth analysis of the alteration exhibited over these targets, bear similarities to alteration seen at the Far Southeast porphyry in Lepanto, Philippines (657 Mt at 0.65% copper and 0.94 g/t gold). Two drill holes were completed by CRA exploration directly below the Demonbanga lithocap with little understanding that mineralisation at depth is typically in neighbouring terrain rather than directly below altered lithocaps.

Tenement Summary

The Ban Ban EPM consists of three, lithocap targets, similar to that seen in the Blairmore EPM, suggesting that possible porphyry mineralisation at depth may extend along the Perry Fault zone. No drilling has been completed within the EPM to date.

The Esk Copper and Gold Project is located in the New England Orogen, 75km west of Maryborough in southeast Queensland.

Potential exists to extend and upgrade shallow high grade supergene copper mineralisation at the White Horse prospect. Also to discover copper mineralisation at depth below the White Horse supergene copper zone and also for analogous Coalstoun/Cadia style mineralisation.

The Esk Copper and Gold Project is a large tenement package prospective for copper and gold mineralisation and contiguous with ActivEX Limited Barambah Gold Project.