The Ned's Creek project comprises four tenements covering part of the north eastern margin of the Yerrida Basin and adjacent to the Baumgarten and Marymia Inliers. The area is underlain by sediments of the Juderina and Johnsons Cairn Formations and the tenements lie at the intersection of north west and east north east trending regional scale faults. The area abuts Sipa Resource's Thaduna copper project that contains the promising, recently announced Enigma copper anomaly and the Thaduna copper deposits, a series of fault-controlled cuprous ore bodies that have undergone supergene enrichment, with grades of 8% to 25% copper.

The Ned's Creek tenements have received limited previous exploration for base metals and gold. Western Mining explored and mapped the area in 1969 - 1970 during exploration for Zambian Copper belt-style mineralisation and identified the McDonald Well prospect within a wider area of copper anomalism extending over 60 square kilometres. Western Mining traced a zone of silicified ironstones extending over a strike of two kilometres in a north westerly direction. Rock samples from this interpreted fault zone assayed up to 4100ppm Cu, 1120ppm Zn and 420ppm Ni. Limited percussion drilling (maximum depth 58m) intersected up to 1150ppm Cu and 320ppm Zn in brecciated sediments at shallow depth.

CRA carried out an auger geochemical survey over the McDonald Well area on a 400m x 100m grid. The survey identified a number of multi-element geochemical anomalies associated with a black shale unit.

Lodestar has completed a regional VTEM survey over the northern and western part of the Ned's Creek tenements.  The VTEM survey identified numerous anomalies (electromagnetic conductors) within the sedimentary sequence and five of these anomalies were the target of the first phase of RC drilling completed at the McDonald Well prospect in February 2011.  These drillholes testing targets within a black shale horizon (a potential host to copper mineralisation) returned wide intervals anomalous in base metal and associated elements from the weathered zone above the shale.  These results are encouraging for further exploration within a zone that extends over 7 kilometres of strike.

Geochemical sampling, surface moving loop EM and a reconnaissance gravity survey have now been completed at McDonald Well; the results of the geochemistry have highlighted areas anomalous in copper and a range of chalcophile (sulphide-associated) elements along strike from the Enigma zone, to be tested initially by traverses of RAB drilling.

--------- Figure 1 Image of late-time VTEM response showing the black shale unit (centre) in relation to copper and multi-element geochemical anomalies

Figure 1 Image of late-time VTEM response showing the black shale unit (centre) in relation to copper and multi-element geochemical anomalies

  --------- Figure 2 Image of copper distribution showing structures and phase 2 drilling

Figure 2 Image of copper distribution showing structures and phase 2 drilling

Exploration Targets

  • Historic and current geochemical anomalies reported in rock and soil samples at McDonald Well within a larger area of outcropping sediments reporting >500ppm copper.
  • North westerly and north easterly trending faults on the margins of basement highs (Archaean inliers) that exhibit evidence of brecciation, fluid flow and geochemical anomalism. The faults may represent graben or half-graben structures that are important conduits for mineralising fluids.
  • Multiple VTEM conductors were identified in the McDonald Well area. A number of the conductors have been confirmed by surface moving loop EM surveys and modelled as targets for deeper RC drilling.