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Challenger Area Project
Challenger Area Gold JV with Dominion
2006 to 2009 - Exploration Programs Have Earned 51% Gold Rights
In 2006 Southern Gold entered into the JV with Dominion Mining to find the next Challenger on Dominions exploration licences in the northwest Gawler Craton, South Australia. Challenger is currently one of Australia most profitable gold mines.
By the end of October 2009 Southern Gold had spent over the $2 million threshold to have earned 51% of the gold rights on seven exploration licences that cover approximately 5000 km2. Exploration Activities completed include:
131 line kilometres of surface geophysical surveys
215 air core (AC) drillholes
44 reverse circulation (RC) drillholes
1 diamond cored drillhole, and
over 2300 surface geochemical (calcrete) samples.
Summary of Three years of Discovery at Challenger
Over the last few years Southern Gold has re-visited end extended Dominions top 4 drill prospects including Golf Bore, Mainwood, Monsoon, Typhoon. Significant drill results of the numerous programs have been progressively release to the public via the ASX.
2007 AC DRILLING PROGRAM
Tested two gold targets on the Challenger Area JV project, Monsoon and Typhoon.
94 vertical AC drillholes for a total of 5264 metres.
Confirmed the higher grade intercepts from historic RAB drilling within the anomalous envelope.
Multi-element analysis highlighted the Au As association and a less coherent Au As Ag Bi geochemical signature.
Significant intercepts were returned for several broad intervals. The higher order intercepts include:
3m at 8.08g/t gold from 15m in MN07AR020
3m at 5.61g/t gold from 39m in MN07AR005
6m at 2.71g/t gold from 39m in MN07AR007
7m at 1.67g/t gold from 42m in TN07AR027
2007 RC DRILLING PROGRAM
Tested two gold targets on the Challenger Area JV project, Golf Bore and Mainwood.
31 RC drillholes for a total of 2764 metres.
Significant intercepts were returned for several broad intervals. The higher order intercepts include:
15m at 6.42g/t gold from 82m in GB311 (also see re-assays in 2009)
15m at 5.67g/t gold from 48m in GB320(also see re-assays in 2009)
9m at 2.69g/t gold from 63m in GB306
10m at 5.15g/t gold from 26m in MW329
5m at 2.71g/t gold from 45m in MW327
2008 AC DRILLING PROGRAM
Tested four gold targets on the Challenger Area JV project, Golf Bore (GB drill name), Mainwood (MW), Monsoon (MN) and Hurricane.
121 AC drillholes for a total of 6157 metres.
Significant intercepts were returned for several broad intervals. No significant intercepts (>0.1g/t) were recorded at Hurricane but low level anomalism was evident. The higher order intercepts include:
23m at 3.12 g/t gold from 24m (including 9m at 7.65 g/t from 26m) in GBAC358
29m at 3.28 g/t gold from 23m (including 7m at 9.99 g/t from 31m) in GBAC362*
30m at 2.38 g/t gold from 17m (including 7m at 7.93 g/t from 36m) in GBAC375
19m at 3.33 g/t gold from 16m (including 12m at 4.74 g/t from 19m) in GBAC377
27m at 1.17 g/t gold from 28m (including 6m at 4.35 g/t from 29m) in MWAC362*
14m at 1.07 g/t gold from 35m (including 1m at 8.02 g/t from 44m) in MNAC302*
10m at 1.02 g/t gold from 37m (including 1m at 6.68 g/t from 39m) in MNAC308
*indicates drill hole terminated in mineralisation.
2009 RC AND DIAMOND DRILLING PROGRAM
Tested Golf Bore on the Challenger Area JV project.
13 RC drillholes for 2026 metres drilled.
A single diamond drillhole of 136.3 metres (47.65m RC pre-collar and 88.65m of NQ) was completed
This program aimed at delineating and extending down plunge positions of gold mineralised shoots.
Technical success in confirming the presence of gold in the interpreted down plunge components of the shoot positions.
Significant intercepts were returned for several broad intervals. The higher order intercepts include:
33m at 1.10 g/t gold from 38m (including 9m at 2.26 g/t from 61m) in GBRC394
27m at 1.15 g/t gold from 89m (including 12m at 2.07 g/t from 98m) in GBRC395
17m at 1.00 g/t gold from 118m (including 4m at 2.06 g/t from 123m) in GBRC393
19m at 1.01 g/t gold from 47m (including 7m at 2.28 g/t from 52m) in GBRC393
18m at 1.39 g/t gold from 72m (including 11m at 2.05 g/t from 78m) in GBRC393
19m at 1.04 g/t gold from 112m (including 6m at 2.00 g/t from 117m) in GBRC387
Significant intercepts were returned for several broad intervals which had previously only been partially reported. Two significant intercepts were previously unknown (GB319) or grossly under sampled (GB308).
These intercepts include:
20m at 1.88 g/t gold from 54m (including 3m at 9.64 g/t from 59m) in GB319
26m at 1.03 g/t gold from 44m (including 8m at 2.35 g/t from 52m) in GB308
9m at 1.39 g/t gold from 42m (including 1m at 10.05 g/t from 49m) in GB311
27m at 3.43 g/t gold from 71m (including 6m at 10.09 g/t from 87m) in GB311
39m at 2.35 g/t gold from 39m (including 7m at 11.15 g/t from 54m) in GB320
Golf Bore Gold Resource
The area generating the Golf Bore estimate covers about 1.1 kilometres of lateral strike with the 102,600 ounce Inferred Resource grading 1 gram per tonne (g/t) contained within about 3.2 million tonnes of mineralised material. The Resource is summarised in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Golf Bore Gold Deposit Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (0.5g/t Gold Cut-off)
Inferred Mineral Resource
Type Tonnes Gold Gold
T g/t Ounces
Oxide 806,000 1.2 31,300
Fresh 2,430,000 0.9 71,300
Total 3,236,000 1.0 102,600
Significant potential exists to increase the size of the Resource within the immediate area at Golf Bore as the deposit is open to the northeast and at depth down dip. However, the complex folded nature of the shear zones requires close-spaced drilling to best define the overall extent of each mineralised vein.
The currently defined Resource at Golf Bore is expected to be insufficient to sustain a standalone mining operation, but may have economic potential in the future as a satellite deposit or as part of a larger operation if other mineable deposits are discovered in the vicinity.
Resource Estimation Parameters are fully disclosed in the Southern Gold ASX release of the 24th February 2010.
Challenger Area JV Tenure
Challenger Area JV Tenure
Geology in the Joint Venture
Archaean gneisses of the Mulgathing Complex host Dominion Minings Challenger Gold Mine. Outcrop of the basement is very limited and there is an extensive cover of aeolian sand, calcrete, silcrete, sandstone and salt lakes over the whole region.
In the 1990s it was found that gold at the surface in calcrete often indicated gold mineralisation in the basement. This technique was widely used within South Australia and further lead to the discovery of the Challenger gold deposit, as well as scores of other gold occurrences in the Archaean portion of the Gawler Craton.
Exploration through the cover sequences is difficult but that also means there may be ore bodies that have been missed by earlier phases of exploration.
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Challenger Area Project