Red Rock Resources (RRR ) says three further exploration licences have been granted to Red Rock Australasia (“RRAL”), the 100% owned Australian operating subsidiary of Red Rock’s joint venture subsidiary New Ballarat Gold Corporation (“NBGC”) in the Victoria Goldfields.
The African and Australian-focused natural resource development firm says these new licences bring RRAL’s footprint in the Victoria Goldfields, Australia to over 1,800 sq km. NBGC holds a land position comprising 14 granted licences of in total 1,832 sq km.
Included within the licences of RRAL is the 202 sq km licence - also known as EL 007330 - in North-East Ballarat, a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, which includes the historical Ajax mine; in the 1920s, the Ajax line recorded production of 312,789 ounces at 14.8 g/t.
The Ajax mine comprises numerous former shafts and workings over a strike of several kilometres, which was historically mined to a vertical depth of around 400m. The possible down dip and along strike extensions to the main ore zones remain virtually untested.
Here, minor diamond drilling completed in the 1990s by Continent Resources intersected multiple lode structures with the best intersection showing 5.3m at 15.2g/t of gold (Au) from 120.9m downhole, thus demonstrating the continuity in lode structure and associated gold grades. The mine shaft, which Red Rock says has been backfilled, is currently not accessible.
Work is now underway to digitise the old workings, stopes and geology into a 3D computer model, ahead of a planned diamond drilling campaign expected to commence in late 2022.
With the first tenements granted only in 2021, NBGC has already conducted initial exploration of selected targets, including a diamond drill test of two prospects starting in December 2021.
To date, 520m of drilling has been carried out at the O’Loughlin’s target within EL 007271 and 340m has been carried out at Mt Bute, with samples sent to MinAnalytical lab for testing.
RRAL currently has applications in process for five other new gold exploration licence areas covering 493 km2 in the Victoria Goldfields of Australia.
Commenting on this morning’s announcement, Chairman of Red Rock Resources, Andrew Bell told investors: “The grants of EL 007330, EL 007294 and EL 007507 bring our total ground position in prospective areas north, south and east of
Ballarat up to 1,832 sq km, covering the sites of a number of old mines and workings as well as fresh geological targets.”
In particular, he acknowledged that the latest grant covering the old Ajax mine is a “significant milestone” for RRAL, as it includes the previously mined former high grade near-surface mine.
He said “In our view, this exploration asset enhances our exploration portfolio and makes our goal of achieving a listing of the RRAL business less sensitive to market conditions. Further detailed announcements, both on the Ajax project and on progress towards listing, will follow.”
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The six months to December 2021 saw most of Red Rock’s licence applications granted, so that in its 50.1% owned joint venture held 1,501 sq km of prospective acreage around the old gold mining centre of Ballarat; following today’s news, this has now increased to 1,832 sq km.
In particular, the grant of the EL7330 licence, which includes the site of a former high grade near-surface mine mined a century ago at 14.8 g/t, is considered “a significant milestone.”
Elsewhere, the company has applied for or acquired gold licences in Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire in separate subsidiaries, and lithium licences in Zimbabwe via a local joint venture.
It says the addition of new early-stage exploration subsidiaries in West Africa and the lithium venture in Zimbabwe, along with the search for cobalt and copper in the DRC, will create new partnership opportunities and value recognition outside of gold in the battery metals space.
In March 2022, African Lithium Resources Pvt Ltd (“ALR”) was established as a 75% owned subsidiary in Zimbabwe - one of the largest global lithium producers - with a local partner with a view to seeking further investment and developing a significant presence in lithium.
“Zimbabwe, the biggest lithium producer in Africa, continues to be a focus of investor interest, with several lithium-related announcements in the last month,” Bell told investors last month.