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REFINING THE GOLD STANDARD abcrefinery.com

Old news is good news

for Australasian Gold

by Michael Washbourne Historical intersections at May Queen include 26m @ 8.37 g/t
gold from surface (including 3m @ 18.9 g/t from 9m and 4m @
38.8 g/t from 21.8m), 2m @ 73.4 g/t (including 1m @ 145 g/t)
n old newspaper clipping detailing the start of mining from from 32m and 3m @ 9.27 g/t from 46m.
Aa small area within Queensland’s Brovinia goldfield in 1886
“We are really excited about this magnetic anomaly,” Zeng said.
was all the validation Dr Qingtao Zeng needed to make an offer
“Limited structural information has been collected from the 30
for the May Queen project.
RC holes drilled into May Queen, so we have organised diamond
“That information tells me it has to be high grade, near surface drilling so we will have some first-hand information about the
and easy to process, otherwise I don’t think it could be done,” structures to help us understand really what’s happening there.
Zeng told GMJ.
“If we prove this exploration strategy works, we can be very
May Queen, about 375km north-west of Brisbane, is the flagship aggressive and drill all those anomalies and build up a resource
project for the newly listed Australasian Gold Ltd which debuted
on this project.”
on the ASX in May following a $5.5 million IPO. Chinese-
Australasian also hopes to start some RC drilling at Mt Clermont,
Australian geologist and businessman Zeng is the company’s
about 330km west of Rockhampton, as early as September.
managing director.
Mt Clermont was previously held by Impact Minerals Ltd, and
Australasian began its maiden drilling campaign at May Queen
Zeng first learnt about the project through a past connection
in June to follow up on numerous high-grade intervals reported
to managing director Mike Jones who he hosted in China as
by previous explorers, including IronRidge Resources Ltd, which
part of an investor roadshow years ago. Australasian inherited
sold the project to Zeng after a chance meeting to discuss the
a 27GB database which extensively details the polymetallic
company’s lithium assets in West Africa.
nature of the project.
Australasian recently added the nearby Capella project to its
portfolio, growing the company’s ground position in the Clermont
goldfield to more than 100sq km.
“The last drilling done there intersected 10.9 g/t gold, 123 g/t
silver and 13% lead-zinc in a very narrow section, but it was
never followed up,” Zeng said.
“With limited drilling, we think we are close to a JORC standard
resource. There are a lot of things happening in that region
now. Since we listed, a lot of companies and individuals have
approached us. We have another friendly party who have a RC
rig available and we are in discussions to start some RC drilling
Australasian Gold kicked off its maiden drilling campaign at to get a feel for the area and extend some of the resources.
May Queen in June
“If we can find something, even 300,000oz, we can start to think
about building a standalone flotation plant and sell concentrate
Zeng, who has helped broker several deals in the lithium to my Chinese counterparties. I already have that relationship,
and potash space since completing a PhD in geology from so we can easily strike some financing deals to make things
The University of Western Australia a decade ago, originally happen and move very fast.”
established Australasian as a vehicle to introduce Chinese gold
Australasian also has a project in WA’s Ashburton basin
assets to the Australian market. However, issues with those
under application and is confident of quickly undertaking soil
projects and the ongoing fractured relationship between China
geochemistry along the main north-east striking structure once
and Australia saw the company adjust its focus to May Queen
it is granted.
and Mt Clermont, also in Queensland.
Like Mt Clermont, the Ashburton project presents a gold
Australasian is undertaking 1,000m of diamond drilling at May
concentrate opportunity and is associated with high levels of
Queen where the company identified several parallel structures
antimony. Zeng has previously negotiated sales and purchase
from a recent ground magnetic survey which suggested similar
agreements of similar packages on the behalf of Chinese
characteristics to the known mineralisation. The programme
customers with the likes of Bardoc Gold Ltd and Wiluna Mining
is also testing down-dip and strike extensions and was due to
Corp.
wrap in early July.
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