Castle Minerals cements Pilbara gold holdings with Beasley Creek acquisition

Castle Minerals (ASX: CDT) has joined the throng of explorers and miners pegging up land in Western Australia’s Pilbara with the acquisition of the Beasley Creek conglomerate gold project, which includes 16km of prospective strike.

As part of the agreement, Castle Minerals has the right to earn an 80% stake from private company Rosane Pty Ltd for an initial payment of $80,000 and 2 million Castle Minerals’ shares. Further payments of cash and shares will be made upon achieving milestones.

“We are extremely pleased to have acquired, in a very competitive environment, another high-quality project where the presence of Hardey Formation over 16km strike with at least 2km strike of Geological Survey of Western Australia mapped Hardey conglomerate, coincident historical gold workings and conglomerate boulders in spoil heaps, confirm its excellent prospectivity for Witwatersrand-style hosted gold,” Castle Minerals managing director Stephen Stone said.

This latest acquisition adds to the company’s Coolyia Creek exploration applications, which also encompass the Hardy Formation, which is believed to be prospective for conglomerate gold.

Castle Minerals plans to undertake initial site orientation at Coolyia Creek and Beasley Creek and will announce its results in due course.

The recent Pilbara gold rush

Western Australia’s Pilbara region has been swamped by a modern gold rush in recent months after Novo Resources (TSX: NVO) and joint venture partner Artemis Resources (ASX: ARV) reported numerous gold nugget discoveries and conglomerate-style gold mineralisation at Purdy’s Reward.

This sparked off multiple other nugget discoveries within the region. Many of the gold nuggets discovered are shaped like watermelon seeds. Due to the shape and coarse texture, the mineralisation has been likened to the world-renowned Witwatersrand deposit in South Africa, which has produced 1.5 billion ounces of gold. It is also the world’s largest known gold resource.

Novo’s theory is the Pilbara region could be hosting a similar deposit, with many other investors and explorers buying into the theory, triggering the current attention.

In addition to its recent Pilbara acquisitions, Castle Minerals has been exploring for multiple commodities including graphite and gold at its 10,000 square kilometre Wa project in north west Ghana.