More gold discoveries in the Pilbara for Artemis Resources
8.3 grams of watermelon seed gold nuggets found at Artemis Resources’ Mt OscarWits.
In yet another Pilbara gold discovery, Artemis Resources (ASX: ARV) has found gold nuggets at its Mt OscarWits project about 16km from Purdy’s Reward in Western Australia.
In this latest gold find, prospecting at the Fairmont prospect within the 117.8 square kilometre Mt OscarWits project detected 8.3 grams of watermelon seed shaped gold nuggets across 14km of strike.
Artemis executive director Ed Mead said the discovery was “significant”. He added the watermelon seed shaped nuggets were smaller than those typically uncovered at Purdy’s Reward.
This recent discovery comes after the company reported it had secured a binding agreement to acquire a controlling stake in 302 square kilometres of prospective conglomerate gold land in the Pilbara.
“We have signed a binding agreement to acquire the controlling interest in the last significant tenements on the Purdy’s Reward, Comet Well, Whundo and Munni Munni projected conglomerate trend that were not under the control of Artemis or Novo Resources previously,” Artemis executive chairman David Lenigas said.
“This plugs a very big gap in the map and provides Artemis with the exploration potential along strike from Comet Well and in the heart of the main play,” he said.
Mr Lenigas also stated Artemis would be securing a land position around its Radio Hill site, which hosts the company’s 425,000 tonne per annum processing plant.
The new tenement package includes two granted exploration licences, eight exploration licence applications plus three prospecting licence applications south of Karratha.
Map of Artemis land holdings in the Pilbara.
The tenement package involves several vendors including Sorrento Resources, Elysian Resources, Hard Rock Resources, Hamersley Gold and ACN 622 635 483.
Agreement terms vary with each vendor but will comprise acquiring 100% of Elysian and Hard Rock and a 70% interest in Sorrento’s exploration licence application.
Once Artemis has acquired Elysian and Hard Rock, it will set up a joint venture vehicle the Karratha Gold Joint Venture.
Under this joint initiative, Artemis will possess 70% via its ownership of Elysian and Hard Rock, while the remaining parties Hamersley and ACN 622 635 483 will share the remaining 30% holding.
As part of the agreement, Artemis paid an initial total of A$500,000, with further cash and share payments amounting to A$1 million cash and 33 million Artemis shares due by the end of January.
Purdy’s Reward and the Pilbara gold rush
Purdy’s Reward came under the international spotlight a few months ago when Artemis and joint venture partner Novo Resources (TSX: NVO) discovered the watermelon seed shaped nuggets at the deposit.
A modern gold frenzy has since swamped the Pilbara with many believing the nuggets are similar to the Witwatersrand mineralisation in South Africa due to the coarse texture and watermelon seed shape. What makes speculators so excited is that Witwatersrand is the world’s largest known gold resource and has produced 1.5 billion ounces of gold with much more to come.
Since the initial discovery, many companies in the region have reported finding similar gold nuggets at nearby tenements including Artemis and other aggressive Pilbara explorer De Grey Mining (ASX: DEG).