Caeneus Minerals survey at Yule River identifies prospective targets for follow-up

Caeneus Minerals (ASX: CAD) has provided an update on its hunt for gold, platinum group elements (PGEs) and base metals at its wholly-owned Yule River project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

The 125sq km project is comprised of two separate exploration blocks, located some 40km southwest of Port Hedland along the unexplored Sholl Shear Zone.

The junior explorer today announced it has completed a preliminary assessment of geophysical data acquired from a low-level detailed aeromagnetic survey flown over the entire Yule River blocks in late September.

The survey was conducted at an average height of 35m above ground and at 50m line spacings with flight lines aligned in a north-west direction, somewhat perpendicular to the anomalous Sholl Shear Zone.

It was carried out by Thomson Aviation under the supervision of Southern Geoscience Consultants of Perth, which is continuing to assist in the enhanced processing and interpretation/analysis of the acquired geophysical data.

Survey results

According to Caeneus, the total magnetic intensity (TMI) data “clearly identified” the Sholl Shear Zone within the company’s tenement boundaries, including interpreted nearby intrusive features, structural displacements and alteration zones.

This zone, which is a near-vertical feature traceable for more than 250km, is a dominant major crustal scale shear zone within the Archaean Pilbara Craton.

As deformation structures such as this zone are often coincident with mineralising events, Caeneus said it will investigate specific magnetic anomalies with further interpretation assistance from Southern Geoscience Consultants with a view to identifying targets for an air core drilling program.

The company is planning and obtaining relevant approvals for its Pilbara exploration program in 2021 and is expected to provide a timetable to the market containing the details of this around mid-January.

Other gold assets

Caeneus’ main focus, however, is on the Mallina Province projects it acquired earlier this year.

Comprising the Roberts Hill project and the Mt Berghaus project, the tenements were granted after being divested many years ago by De Grey Mining (ASX: DEG), which went on to make the nearby Hemi gold discovery in 2019.

Prior to the survey flown over Yule River, the company conducted an airborne magnetic survey over Roberts Hill and Mt Berghaus.

In late October, Caeneus reported the survey identifying priority drilling targets at Roberts Hill. An initial 20,000-25,000m scout air core drilling program is being proposed to test many of the identified geophysical features.