Marmota Limited will be handed 90 per cent of the Golden Moon joint venture gold tenements in South Australia’s renowned Gawler Craton, after the company received ministerial consent for a title transfer.

The Golden Moon ground embraces four gold deposits in an arc of six important gold occurrences, which include Marmota’s fully owned, high-grade Aurora Tank deposit.

The arc includes the mined 1-million-ounce Challenger gold deposit, which is not part of the title transfer. Challenger’s nearology and mining history help flag the prospectivity of Marmota’s new tenements.

The four additions include the Mainwood, Greenewood, Campfire Bore and Golf Bore deposits, which means that with Aurora, Marmota now has its foot on five unmined but potentially significant gold resources in the region.

The transformative turn of circumstances arises from Marmota’s entry in April last year - through its wholly owned subsidiary Half Moon - into a joint venture with private company Coombedown Resources on a pair of tenements comprising the Golden Moon ground.

‘The Golden Moon JV heralds a new era of gold exploration and resource growth in the Gawler Craton.’

Marmota Limited chairman Dr Colin Rose

The smallest tenement of the pair is almost 36 kilometres west-northwest of Aurora and encloses the Greenewood and Mainwood deposits.

The second tenement consists of three separate areas. One area contains Marmota’s Campfire Bore deposit, about 31km west-northwest of Aurora, while a second, 13km north-northwest of Aurora, encloses the Golf Bore deposit.

With ministerial consent to the title transfer under its belt through Half Moon, Marmota now owns 90 per cent of the titles of the Golden Moon tenements and 90 per cent of any minerals found, including gold.

The deal excludes opals, iron ore and palygorskite, also known as Fuller’s Earth.

Under the joint venture terms, Half Moon will free carry Coombedown until a decision to mine is made. Marmota will manage the joint venture through Half Moon.

Unlike the Aurora deposit, which has received a lot of attention from Marmota’s drill bit, the Golden Moon ground has been subject to only minimal drilling. It had not been tested for six years until Marmota kicked off its sub-surface probing in September last year.

Marmota Limited chairman Dr Colin Rose said: “We are delighted that the title transfers of these core gold deposits/tenements have now been formally completed, ticking off another box on Marmota’s Gawler gold project. The Golden Moon JV heralds a new era of gold exploration and resource growth in the Gawler Craton. Work started on these assets under the guidance of Dominion, which made the discovery of the Challenger gold mine.”

Dr Rose said the Golden Moon joint venture has cleared the deck, after some delays, with a clean new structure now formally completed.

Marmota’s first drilling program at Campfire Bore put in 86 reverse circulation holes for 11,690 metres by mid-October last year. The company immediately began planning follow-up work after seeing considerable growth potential at the prospect, spurred by the December discovery of high-grade gold in multiple holes.

Campfire Bore’s best results from its first phase of drilling included an early 4m assaying 16 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 56m below surface and 16m going 2.7g/t gold from 35m, including 4m running 8.6g/t gold from 42m.

Other results include bonanza grades up to 1m assaying 107g/t gold from 57m depth, five other intersections above 20g/t gold and 13 new intersections exceeding 10 g/t gold, including 5m going 12g/t, 3m at 11g/t and 3m at 10g/t gold.

Importantly, all the Golden Moon JV gold deposits sit close to the company’s fully owned flagship Aurora Tank gold discovery, offering all the usual development and logistical benefits.

The company’s Aurora Tank gold discovery is characterised by multiple shallow high-grade hits and exhibits outstanding potential for low-cost, low-capex, open-pit, heap-leach production.

While recent drilling has yielded a host of high-grade gold intersections and indicates significant potential for expansion, Marmota is focusing on completing its metallurgical test work and a scoping study and producing a maiden resource in the next six months.

With the promising new ground close to Aurora Tank, the company now has a solid portfolio of gold deposits in the Gawler Craton to follow up after Aurora Tank.

It has already identified new high-grade gold extensions in its first-stage drilling at Campfire Bore. Through Half Moon, Marmota also owns all the Typhoon and Monsoon deposits, which are part of the Western Gawler Craton joint venture project.

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