Alkane Resources has entered into an agreement to acquire two exploration tenements in NSW, both of which are highly prospective for gold and copper.
The two sites will be purchased from Sandfire Resources for $1.9 million worth of Alkane shares. One hundred per cent interest in the tenements will transfer to Alkane with no underlying royalties or liabilities.
The first acquisition is the Comobella North project, which adds to Alkane’s pre-existing Northern Molong porphyry project already established in the area.
The new project has promising geological overlap with other prospective sites belonging to Alkane. In particular, Alkane has identified five prospective zones within a nearby 15km corridor. Two such zones – Boda and Kaiser – have inferred resources of 7.3 million ounces of gold and 1.4 million tonnes of copper.
The second project is Southern Junee, a 235-square-kilometre group of tenements along the Junee–Narromine volcanic belt.
According to Alkane, the belt has a history of world-class gold and copper deposits, but the tenements covered by its project has seen limited exploration at only 28 holes drilled.
“The addition of these tenement packages will see us continue to build on our track record of exploration success in New South Wales,” Alkane managing director Nic Earner said.
“We will be drawing on our decades of experience, particularly the extensive geological knowledge accumulated at Boda and Kaiser, to conduct cost effective evaluation of these new prospective areas.”
The exploration expansion builds on Alkane’s considerable presence in the region.
The company was last month granted approval for extension of its nearby Tomingley gold mine. Current operations are ongoing at three gold deposits at the site, which include open-cut and underground operations; however, the new extension permits open-cut mining at the two additional deposits.
According to Alkane, this will see production hit a maximum of 1.75 million tonnes per annum.