The Peak Hill - Doolgunna Project is located 150 kilometres north east of Meekatharra, Western Australia and adjacent to the Great Northern Highway and the Dampier to Perth gas pipeline.
Lodestar acquired the Peak Hill - Doolgunna project in March 2010. The project comprises a total of fifteen tenements, covering an area of 2200 square kilometres, in the northern Murchison gold field. The recent discovery of Sandfire Resource's DeGrussa Cu-Au deposit (10.7Mt at 5.1% Cu and 1.7g/t Au) has highlighted the potential of the region to host significant copper ore bodies and initiated a new era of exploration within the host Proterozoic volcano - sedimentary basins.
The northern Murchison region is one of Australia's exploration "hotspots" with a growing endowment of base and precious metals. In addition to the Degrussa deposit, the region hosts the Horseshoe Lights Cu-Au deposit (73,000t Cu metal), Abra deposit (93Mt @ 4.0% Pb and 10g/t Ag), Magellan deposit (15Mt @ 5.6% Pb), Plutonic/Marymia Au deposits (8Moz), Peak Hill/Harmony Au deposits (1Moz) and numerous gold and copper workings along structural and lithological margins. The Lodestar tenements span a distance of 130 kilometres in a north easterly direction, over and adjacent to the Jenkin Fault zone, a major thrust fault and the structural boundary between the Marymia Inlier and the Yerrida Basin (Figure 1).
Current thinking identifies the Narracoota Volcanic sequence as the potential host for VMS-style base metal and gold mineralisation. However Lodestar views the tectonic setting and geological environment of the entire Proterozoic stratigraphy as prospective for base metal mineralisation, either in primary sediment-hosted deposits, that pre-date the Narracoota Volcanic sequence, or as structurally-emplaced remobilised equivalents. Lodestar’s regional exploration is targeting base metal deposits of significant scale – utilising advance airborne (VTEM or versatile time domain electromagnetic surveys) and surface geophysical methods and regional geochemical sampling to identify areas for follow up within a total area of 2200 square kilometers. Anomalies defined by the above methods are tested by detailed geochemistry and drilling.
Lodestar commenced ground exploration of the Peak Hill-Doolgunna tenements in December 2010 and has since identified numerous drill targets at the McDonald Well (Ned's Creek) and Transformer (Marymia) prospects.
Lodestar's tenements are divided into three geographic project areas.
 |
| Figure 1 Peak Hill - Doolgunna regional geology showing Lodestar's project areas |