Advertisement
Geology
The Archaean aged Matsiloje Formation forms the generally north to south striking, but arcuate, Matsiloje Mountains and is made up predominantly of mafic volcanics with subordinate chemical sediments, known as Banded Iron Formations ("BIF"), which form the resistive rocks making up the mountain ridge.
The gold mineralization at Jim's Luck is located within two parallel BIF units, some 50m apart, which are distinctive:
-- the more deformed, Eastern Banded Carbonate Chert ("EBCC"); and-- the less deformed, Western Banded Magnetic Chert ("WBMC")Historically the former has attracted the majority of the exploration attention. The latter, which is now known to carry mineralisation, is being reviewed as part of the 2013 exploration work program. Sporadic gold mineralisation is known to extend for some 3.5km along strike, making a total of 7km of strike for the two BIF horizons. The whole area is cross cut by, east to west striking, younger dolerite dykes.
Historic workings
In the area there is evidence of old workings (early 1900s) and there is also a fines dump of some 8,000 tonnes, at unknown grade, dating from the same period. In the 1980s Gold Fields Ltd. of South Africa examined the property and drilled diamond core holes MH 1 to 4 beneath the old Jim's Luck mine which is located on the WBMC. Subsequently Gallery Gold in the late 1990s carried out the excavation of 28 trenches (1,935m) and the drilling of 42 RC holes (3,215m). Finally in 2006 IAMGOLD drilled approximately 100 RC holes for approximately 9,000m and 7 diamond core holes for 1,212m. Of these, 77 (8,116m) were drilled into an enriched zone extending along some 830m of strike to the south of the main road, on the EBCC only. Data from all of these previous drilling programs is available to Galane Gold and it was used in the planning of the new drill program.
Additional Findings
A third zone of mineralisation parallel to the 2 BIF horizons has been identified during this work. This "Western Parallel" is not hosted in BIF, but quartz sericite schist in a fault zone. A subtle induced polarization anomaly on this structure suggests that it could be present along the full strike of some 3.5 km. A similar looking unit in a similar stratigraphic setting, has been exposed and sampled in old trenches 1.0 km to the north, which yielded low grade gold values. Other drill holes have also intersected this zone while drilling deeper into the two ironstone horizons (EBCC & WBMC). Another new discovery from the work is a strike extension to the south which was missed by previous exploration. This could add significant strike length to the mineralisation. Both the Western Parallel and the Southern strike extension are currently being followed in the 2013 exploration program.
Comment
Charles Byron, Galane Gold's Chief Geologist commented as follows on Jim's Luck and the work program for 2013:
"The 2012 work program at Jims Luck was an infill drilling exercise to confirm the known gold mineralisation on the prospect and adds valuable data to the historical drilling. What is most exciting to me is the confirmation of some 7km of strike coupled with the discovery of two new mineralisation zones. Work in 2013 will initially be focused on the resource compilation and then on drill testing of the two new gold bearing horizons discovered.
In addition, the Company's exploration program for 2013 is focused on extending the mine life by defining depth extensions for potential underground mining of both operating and mined-out open pits, and by following up on targets generated by the 2012 work. There is also an element of 'blue sky' work planned on new prospects like 'Orapa Road' where the 2012 soil geochemistry survey has yielded distinct anomalies that look encouraging."
