Taruga Minerals to acquire Curnamona polymetallic project
Norfolk Metals has applied for ground contiguous to its Orroroo uranium project in South Australia.
Taruga Minerals (ASX: TAR) is set to acquire the highly-prospective Curnamona project over a 491 square kilometre tenement package in the northeast of South Australia – pending final approvals by the state’s mining regulator.
The project is comprised of 15 blocks centred around the McArthur Fault and its associated underexplored magnetic anomaly, along the southwestern edge of the Curnamona Craton.
According to Taruga, the blocks are highly-prospective for copper, gold, uranium and rare earth elements (REE).
The acquisition of the Curnamona project is consistent with Taruga’s focus on underexplored prolific polymetallic mineral provinces close to world-class copper, gold and uranium resources.
Established province
The Curnamona region is an established copper-gold-uranium province and home to Havilah Resources’ (ASX: HAV) Kalkaroo project, which is currently Australia’s largest undeveloped open cut copper-gold-cobalt deposit and is in the process of being acquired by OZ Minerals (ASX: OZL) for up to $405 million.
Taruga’s new Curnamona project is in proximity to several major deposits. It sits 53km from Havilah’s Mutooroo massive sulphide deposit which contains 195,000 tonnes copper, 20,000t cobalt and 82,000 ounces gold; 40km from Boss Energy’s (ASX: BOE) Yarramba deposit, with 33 million pounds uranium oxide; 50km from Honeymoon, also owned by Boss and containing 35Mlbs uranium oxide; 9km from Crocker Well, with 15Mlbs uranium oxide; and 20km along strike from the historic Radium Hill mine, which produced 18Mlbs uranium oxide between 1906 and 1961.
The region also hosts a high concentration of underexplored copper, gold and uranium occurrences and is also considered an emerging REE province with strong associations between copper-gold mineralisation and REE.
Copper-gold exposure
Taruga chief executive officer Thomas Line said the Curnamona project would provide exposure to copper-gold tenure which remains considerably underexplored.
“The Curnamona province is one of the most competitive regions in Australia, with virtually no available ground we are very pleased to be adding this tenure to our portfolio,” he said.
“The project is close to world-class deposits and has favourable geology and structure … we will be reviewing the best way to realise value from this ground including joint venture and farm-out opportunities.”
On granting of the tenement package, Mr Line said the company would commence an exploration program comprising a desktop review of historical reports and datasets; the acquisition and re-processing of existing geophysical data; field reconnaissance and mapping; identification of drilling targets; and land access and native title negotiations.