Spalding Project

(EL 3686)

XRF analysis continued throughout the June 2009 quarter. 4,435 FPXRF analyses were taken north, south and west of previous work and many anomalies were defined. The strongest and most consistent anomalies were the Ardincaple, Fenceline, Eyres, Quarry, Frome and Broughton trends. Similar conditions exist at Spalding to those observed and mapped at Burra, including the mapped presence of NMS9 – the rock unit identified by PIRSA as the host rock to copper mineralisation at the Monster Mine in similarly aged rocks and geological environments. The FPXRF analsyes taken during the quarter have better defined six strong anomalies centered within and on the fault bounded eastern edge of the Spalding Inlier.
These anomalies include:

• Ardincaple, values up to 9000ppm Cu hosted in a 2.5km long North South striking siltstone unit of the Neoproterozoic Saddleworth Formation centered 4.7km south south west of Spalding around the old Ardincaple mine workings.
• Fenceline, values up to 203ppm Cu hosted in a 3.7km long North South striking siltstone unit of the Neoproterozoic Saddleworth Formation centered 3.5km south west of Spalding.
• Eyres, values up to 7200ppm Cu hosted in a 4.5km long portion of the North South striking Anama siltstone unit of the Neoproterozoic Rhynie Sandstone, close to the faulted contact with overlying Skillogalee Dolomite to the east. The Eyres prospect is centered 2km west of Spalding.
• Quarry, values up to 265ppm Cu hosted in a 4.0km long North South striking package of siltstone and limestone units of the Neoproterozoic River Broughton Beds part of the Spalding Inlier. The Quarry prospect is centered 2.5km west of Spalding, extending north from Clare Quarries dolomite quarry through to the Spalding Gulnare road.
• Frome, values up to 225ppm Cu hosted in a 2.5km long North South striking package of siltstone and limestone units of the Neoproterozoic River Broughton Beds part of the Spalding Inlier. The Frome prospect is centered 3.6km west of Spalding.
• Broughton values up to 2580ppm Cu hosted in a 1.5km long arcuate blob of siltstone and limestone units of the Neoproterozoic River Broughton Beds. The Broughton prospect is centered 4.5km west of Spalding around the old Broughton Copper Mine workings.

Historical Project Information

The Spalding project is based on EL 3686, of 157 sq kms, located just west of the town of Spalding (Figure 4a). A number of historical copper workings occur in the Spalding area, notably the Wheal Sarah mine, the Broughton mine and the Ardincaple mine, as well as several smaller prospects.

A zone of copper anomalism associated with brecciated and sericite/hematite altered siltstones was identified in 1991. This was identified in a previously unexplored area of the Spalding Project, 3.5 kilometres west of the Ardincaple mine. Three rock chip samples reported copper in the range of 430-560ppm.

At the Ardincaple copper mine, a mine shaft that was sunk to a depth of 43ft exposed weathered feldspathised quartzite cut at irregular intervals by veins of copper bearing material. Near the surface the copper minerals are oxidised, but towards the foot of the shaft the principal mineral is chalcocite. A sample from the bottom of the shaft had a copper grade of 33.4% while a sample of the mineralisation at the top had a grade of 33.2%. These very high grades indicate the prospective nature of this old copper mine and the surrounding area.

With several known occurrences of copper mineralisation in an interesting stratigraphic and structural setting, an untested geochemical target, and essentially no effective drilling in the most prospective part of the area, the Spalding tenement has obvious potential for oxide copper and must be regarded as under-explored.

With several known occurrences of copper mineralisation in an interesting stratigraphic and structural setting, an untested geochemical target, and essentially no effective drilling in the most prospective part of the area, the Spalding tenement has obvious potential for oxide copper and must be regarded as under-explored. As with the Burra area, there is also potential for primary sulphide mineralisation to be present at depth beneath the known exposures of oxide-zone copper minerals.