Aurumin strengthens Sandstone position with new tenement grants
Aurumin (ASX: AUN) has added significantly to the footprint of its flagship Sandstone project in Western Australia with the award of three new tenements.
The three newly-granted tenements – E57/1294, E57/1302 and E57/1371 – are now part of the 881,000-ounce central Sandstone gold project.
The associated Birrigrin and Johnson Range projects bring the total gold resource for Sandstone out to 946,000oz.
These gold operations formed the centrepiece of Aurumin’s acquisition of the central Sandstone project in early 2022.
Sandstone includes significant project infrastructure and an expanding tenement footprint where the company aims to support a gold mining operation in the future.
The Johnson Range project, with a mineral resource of 64,700oz at a grade of 2.51 grams per tonne gold, is located midway between Southern Cross and Sandstone.
Added in late 2022, the Birrigrin project area is 70km north of the central Sandstone project. It has 39 mapped shafts dating to the early 1900s with recorded production grades up to 196 g/t of gold.
New tenements offer project upside
Aurumin’s new E57/1294 tenement adjoins the central Sandstone mining tenements to the north-east and contains the Hacks Creek structure running NNW through its length.
To date, the lightly-explored tenement has mainly been the target of first pass regional work comprised of surface sampling and wide spaced reconnaissance drilling.
The E57/1302 and E57/1371 tenements build on the greenstone trend that hosts the Bellchambers, Bulchina and Golden Raven mineralisation.
In E57/1371 the historical Muriel Chapman mine was worked in the early 1900s and reported 106 tonnes at 15.1 g/t for 51.5oz of gold.
The two tenements have only been explored by historical surface sampling work, although E57/1302 is largely untested by drilling with only six drill holes known to have been completed to date, while E57/1371 has had 22 historic first pass Rotary Air Blast (RAB) holes completed.
Getting ready to hit the ground running
Managing director Brad Valiukas said Aurumin is preparing to commence on-ground activities as soon as possible at the new tenements and is currently compiling and validating data for the project areas.
This includes data sourced from open file reports and from the historical Troy Resources database the company inherited as part of the Sandstone project acquisition.
“We are pleased to be solidifying our footprint in the Sandstone region with these tenement grants. These are good, prospective additions to our exploration ground, including directly adjacent to Aurumin’s existing mining tenements,” Mr Valiukas said.
“The company is narrowing its focus to the Sandstone region, following the divestment of Karramindie and with two divestments in progress at Mt Dimer. We remain committed to generating critical mass for future production at Sandstone.”
Mt Dimer sales
Last week Aurumin announced a strategic sale of its iron ore rights at Mt Dimer to allow it to focus on the area’s precious metal prospectivity and its other projects, such as Sandstone.
The company can earn $1.5 million in staged payments for the sale of iron ore rights on four of its Mt Dimer exploration tenements after signing a binding term sheet with Mineral Resources (ASX: MIN) subsidiary Polaris Metals.
Mt Dimer is located approximately 120km north-east of Southern Cross and nearby to MinRes’ Carina iron ore mine.
Beacon Minerals sale
In mid-November Aurumin executed an agreement with Beacon Minerals (ASX: BCN) for the sale of the Mt Dimer mining leases and miscellaneous licences.
Under that deal Aurumin can receive a cash consideration of $3 million payable on completion of all conditions precedent.
Aurumin will also receive a 2% net smelter return royalty on the Mt Dimer mining tenements on gold production above 12,000oz and on all other minerals.