South Australian drilling company, Marmota Limited has identified new gold deposits in Goshawk territory and outside the discovery zone based on the biogeochemical testing of tree leaves for minerals.
Results surrounding a December assay test at the Aurora Tank in the far north of South Australia have yielded levels of high-grade gold intersections – 88 grams per tonne of gold in existing areas.
The company also discovered new areas of prospective drilling as a result of research and development testing and the tree leaf testing.
Developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, tree leaf testing analyses leaf and foliage samples for high levels of minerals such as Antimony and Bismuth to detect gold.
The test indicates that levels of gold particles in tree samples can sit on top of gold deposits.
Marmota Limited collected over 329 tree samples over an elliptical zone of two kilometres at the Aurora Tank, which is located 50 kilometres from the historical Challenger Gold Mine and has a production history of one million ounces of gold.
The sample results revealed a link between elevated levels of gold particles in tree samples.
Executive chairman of Marmota Limited, Dr Colin Rose said the results translate to prospective drilling opportunities.
“This report has identified a number of multiple new areas which are elevated that we have not done any drilling for,” Dr Rose explained.
“I’m not saying that all of those areas are going to actually turn up gold discoveries, but for us, it’s a very exciting development.”
The success of this biogeochemical technology in conjunction with other procedures (such as the calcrete method) have been known to increase efficiency in the ore industry by reducing the need for drill holes.
Dr Colin Rose explained that foliage in South Australia’s arid landscape, like the Aurora Tank, retain samplings of these minerals because of the tree’s root system.
“Gold particles and other minerals are in the water and become mobilised,” said Dr Rose.
“They end up being sucked through the through the roots and into the tree leaves.”
“You collect a sample of leaves, pulverise them in a machine, and then test them for over 66 elements. We then measure them for gold,” he detailed.
Dr Rose does not know when the next stage of Marmota drilling will commence but said this method of research was important to continue gleaning results.
“For us, one always has to look at more than one indicator of what might be underneath,” he shared.
“We had been using the calcrete method, which has been very helpful to us – that was used to find the Challenger Gold Mine in the first place – but every method had potential ups and downs.”
“It’s always useful to have a suite of tools, like tree sampling,” Dr Rose concluded.