New South Wales Projects
SOUTH COBAR POLYMETALLIC PROJECT
The South Cobar Project is located along the eastern margin of the Rast Trough at the southern end of the Cobar Basin. The project captures the northern and southern extensions of the Woorara fault, along strike from Eastern Metals’ (ASX: EMS) Brown’s Reef polymetallic deposit and the Achilles shear zone, hosting Australian Gold and Copper’s (ASX: AGC) Achilles 2 & 3 Prospects.
The most advanced Prospect at South Cobar is the Achilles 1 Cu-Au Prospect which was previously drilled by Western Plains Gold (WPG) in 2005. Drillhole DDH-A1-2 intersected a broad zone of intense hydrothermal alteration, with blebs of chalcopyrite and minor chalcocite, returning peak values of 0.33% Cu from 90m to 92m, within a 64m zone averaging 0.10% Cu, from 76m to 140m proximal to target. The second drill hole was abandoned at 184.1m and failed to reach basement.
In May 2024 Australian Gold & Copper (ASX:AGC) announced the first results from a nine-hole RC program for 1,461 metres at the Achilles 3 prospect, approximately 7km north of Achilles 1 on the Achilles shear. The assay results from A3RC030 which tested to the east and down dip of previously reported results from A3RC028 and A3RC020 included 5m @ 16.9g/t Au, 1,473g/t Ag & 15.0% Pb + Zn from 112m and 3m @ 19g/t Ag & 19.5% Pb+Zn from 139m within a mineralised 43m zone of 2.2g/t Au, 196g/t Ag* & 3.6% Pb + Zn from 99m. The zone reaches a maximum grade of 45.0g/t Au, at least 3,000g/t Ag and 38.8% Pb + Zn with the announcement available here.
In October SER announced results from the first fifteen holes of a first pass >4,000m Reverse Circulation drill program at Achilles 1 which was designed to test the strong polymetallic soil anomaly defined in historical soil data, SER’s Ultrafine+TM soil program and its relationship to the prospective Achilles shear and intersecting NE-trending magnetic highs as identified in SER’s airborne magnetic survey. The assay results confirmed the fertility of the South Cobar Project and determined that mineralisation exists at relatively shallow depth along the Achilles Shear directly beneath the strong polymetallic soil anomaly on the Achilles hill. Furthermore, mineralisation was intersected to the north, east and west of the Achilles hill, opening new exploration search spaces that will be investigated for the presence of higher-grade mineralisation. The final assay results from the remaining ten holes are due mid-November.
MUNDI COPPER-GOLD PROJECT
The Mundi Project is a large-area, conceptual greenfield exploration project spanning over 1300km2 of the Curnamona Province, located approximately 115km NNW of Broken Hill. The Curnamona Province is a known iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) mineral province with the potential for other mineral systems, such as Broken Hill Type Pb-Zn-Ag. The Project area has no known basement outcrop and very limited previous exploration.
The Mundi Project area targets the shallowest portion of the Curnamona Conductor (CC), a crustal-scale conductivity anomaly that has strong similarities to MT conductivity anomalies that have been interpreted to be associated with IOCG mineralisation in South Australia’s Gawler Craton
In May 2024 SER announced results from successive MT surveys that were modelled by Professor Graham Heinson from the Electrical Earth Imaging Group at the University of Adelaide, a global leader in the use and interpretation of MT data for mineral exploration. The modelling revealed shows that the intense deep-rooted conductor that was modelled in initial survey separates into two discrete conductive anomalies at ~3km depth. The conductors persist to depths of <500m and potentially as shallow as 200m below surface, although the electrical response of shallower basement in the models is partially obscured by the effect of approximately 100m of conductive overburden.
Above: 200m, 500m, 700m and 1000m resistivity depth slices of the revised 3D MT conductivity model relative to the location of GSNSW interpreted Proterozoic and the location of the MT stations (Black dots the initial survey location and white dots marked A2 & B2 are infill survey locations).
The MT surveys successfully demonstrated that the crustal scale CC persists and extends to explorable and economically extractable depths within the Mundi project area. Two shallow conductive zones have been modelled from the MT data with peak modelled resistivities of <0.1 ohm.m, which are similar to values recorded for massive sulfide orebodies1
1 Best, M.E., 2015. Electromagnetic (EM) Methods; in Shear Wave Velocity Measurement Guidelines for Canadian Seismic Site Characterization in Soil and Rock, (ed.) J.A. Hunter and H.L. Crow; Geological Survey of Canada, Earth Science Sector, General Information Product 110 e, p. 170-180.
WEST KOONENBERRY COPPER-NICKEL PROJECT
The West Koonenberry Project covers 483.5km2 of unexplored ground that SER interprets as the western extension of the Koonenberry Cu-Ni belt. The project is located approximately 100km NE of Broken Hill and adjacent to our Mundi Project.
SER interprets the linear magnetic rocks within the project area to be analogous to the Mount Arrowsmith mafic sills of the Koonenberry belt to the east, which is a highly prospective belt for Cu-Ni rich massive sulphides. The Koonenberry belt has previously been explored by INCO/Vale and IGO and is currently being explored by S2 Resources [1] (ASX:S2R). SER is targeting the equivalent mafic host rocks on the eastern edge of the Curnamona block, rifted from the Koonenberry belt during the formation of the Bancannia Trough. The Koonenberry belt is interpreted to be analogous to the Pechenga Copper-Nickel camp in Russia.
This year SER has completed and airborne magnetic survey across the entire tenement, secured land access and completed a reconnaissance field mapping trip at West Koonenberry. SER has also engaged CSIRO as part of a Kick-start Program that will access CSIRO research expertise to investigate the prospectivity of West Koonenberry to host a magmatic Ni-Cu-Co-PGE deposit. The objectives of the project are to confirm the presence of prospective geological units, particularly the hypothesised second belt of the Mt. Arrowsmith Volcanics, and map nickel-copper sulfide targets undercover [2].
[1] S2 Resources (ASX: S2R) Announcement October 2023
[2] SER Announcement September 2024
GAREMA GOLD PROJECT
The Garema project covers a 20km long undercover extension of the Parkes Fault Zone, recognised as a major controlling structure for orogenic gold mineralisation associated with the Middle Devonian Tabberabberan Orogeny in NSW, and is associated with significant gold mineralisation along its ~150km exposed length, from Alkane’s (ASX:ALK) >2 Moz Au Tomingley gold project to the north to the extensive historical underground workings at Wheogo Mountain, approximately 30km WNW of Grenfell, for which production is unknown.
The area has seen little previous exploration, with the only significant on groundwork being undertaken by Newcrest in the early 1990’s, with the shallow drilling of 13 RC holes, between 11m and 88m in depth which intersected low-level gold mineralisation in the basement. The area is also covered by an open file high-resolution (100m line spacing, 45m sensor height) aeromagnetic dataset, which was flown in 2011.
SER has compiled and reinterpreted the existing available data (in particular the aeromagnetics) across the area and defined exploration targets for further detailed work. Landholder negotiations are currently underway in preparation for a soil geochemical survey later in 2024 using the Ultrafine+TM next gen soil techniques which has proven to be an effective tool to identify orogenic gold mineralisation. Priority targets will then be followed up through RC drilling.
