Azure Minerals puts foot on fourth gold project in Western Australia
Azure Minerals is acquiring the Barton gold project which is close to several historic mines.
Azure Resources (ASX: AZS) is acquiring a 200 square kilometre gold project close to several large and emerging deposits and projects in the Kookynie gold district of Western Australia.
The district has hosted several historic mines but exploration has largely ignored areas under deep soil cover.
Azure is buying the Barton gold project from private company 30 Well Pty Ltd in return for 1.15 million new shares and $20,000 in cash. There are no further payments or royalties involved.
The project was last drilled in the mid-1990s, from which the best intersection returned 18m at 0.77g/t gold, including a 7m section assaying at 1.26g/t gold.
This latest acquisition by Azure follows the deal in July with the company controlled by prospector Mark Creasy which saw Azure take majority interests in three gold and one nickel-copper project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
Azure, which has the flagship Oposura zinc-lead-silver deposit in Mexico, made the West Australian move due to of the severity of the COVID-19 virus in that country and the uncertainty surrounding near-term activity there.
Azure reduces risk profile with latest WA move
Barton adjoins the Ulysses gold project owned by Genesis Minerals (ASX: GMD) which has a gold resource of 867,000oz and Kookynie (414,000oz).
Other neighbours are Metalicity (ASX: MCT) which has reported high-grades at its Kookynie ground and Saturn Metals (ASX: STN) which has a 781,000oz resource at Apollo Hill.
Azure managing director Tony Rovira said that building a portfolio of Western Australian projects has reduced Azure’s risk profile by diversifying across commodities and jurisdictions.
“This strategy has given shareholders exposure to two of Western Australia’s most exciting gold exploration areas — the Mallina district in the Pilbara and the reborn Kookynie district,” he added.
“Given recent exploration successes in the Kookynie district by other companies, Azure is confident that comprehensive and targeted exploration on the largely unexplored 200sq km Barton landholding has good potential for the discovery of significant gold mineralisation.”
Previously, Mr Rovira has said the company’s shareholders had expressed “significant” support for the Andover project and for the reasoning behind the move back into Australia.
District has long history of gold production
Barton lies adjacent to the historic gold mining town of Kookynie, located about 200km north of Kalgoorlie and 40km south of Leonora in the eastern goldfields.
Since the 1890s, the Kookynie-Orient Well-Ulysses district has produced more than 1Moz of gold.
Several historic mines were located between 4km and 15km from Barton
The larger mines in proximity to Barton included Kookynie which produced 366,000oz, Puzzle (100,000oz), Orient Well (220,000oz), Admiral/Butterfly (320,000oz) and Ulysses (50,000oz).
Azure says that most historical exploration focused on areas of outcrop and shallow soil-covered terrain.
Little effective exploration was undertaken in areas of deeper overburden.