Golden Corridor
Great Western’s 100% owned Golden Corridor Project covers the northern extension of the Wiluna-Norseman Greenstone Belt.
Great Western has consolidated untested terrane of more than 60km strike (about 1,000sq.km) of the Archean Wiluna-Norseman Greenstone Belt, located within the greater Kalgoorlie Terrane or “Golden Corridor”. The Golden Corridor extends from Kambalda in the south to Plutonic in the north and is host to many of the largest gold deposits in Australia. Given the extensive previously completed drilling of the Kalgoorlie Terrane, to hold 60km strike of unexplored ground within this corridor presents an outstanding opportunity for the Company.
The Wiluna-Norseman Greenstone Belt within the project area is obscured by Proterozoic cover of the Yerrida Basin, with previous interpretation of basin depth suggesting cover was significant. However, Great Western together with its consultants, Newexco, used HVSR passive seismic, magnetics and gravity data, and geological/structural mapping to generate a 3D basement model, which indicates depth to this fertile basement in several locations is significantly shallower than previously interpreted.
Within these areas, Great Western and Newexco identified and defined bedrock gold targets GC1, GC2, GC3 & GC4: large, structurally complex zones with interpreted shallow cover. The Company completed broad spaced Ultrafine+ soil sampling within these targets and the broader Golden Corridor Project area. Ultrafine+ is a recently developed geochemical soil sampling method developed by CSIRO and can identify subtle gold anomalies not readily identifiable by traditional soil sampling techniques.
Excitingly, a number of gold-in-soil anomalies have been defined coincident with the GC1 to GC4 structural targets. The gold anomalism correlates strongly with structural breaks within the Golden Corridor trend that runs NNW from Wiluna, and areas of shallower interpreted Proterozoic cover. The gold anomalism highlighted within the soils is significant given the newly shallow depth to basement, and interpreted to be “leakage” of gold mineralised Archean bedrock through cover.
Figure 1: GC1 to GC4 aeromagnetic structural targets in relation to the anomalous gold contours (modified after GTE ASX Announcement 3 March 2022).
The identification of an unexplored greenstone sequence with large regional scale faults, under relatively shallow cover that coincides with anomalous gold in Ultrafine+ soils is a strong indication that the sequence is highly prospective for significant gold mineralisation.
In October 2022, Great Western announced the Golden Corridor Project had received co-funding approval for a diamond drill programme by the Western Australian Government. This drilling programme aims to test extensions of the highly endowed Wiluna-Norseman Greenstone Belt. Great Western Exploration intends to drill a diamond hole from surface allowing detailed logging of the Yerrida Basin units, the basement contact, and the interpreted underlying Archean Wiluna Greenstone rocks.
Figure 2: Cross section of Co-Funded drill-hole, with interpreted Yerrida Basin contact with Archean Wiluna- Noreseman Greenstone.
The hole is located within one of the coincident structural and north-east trending Ultrafine+ Soil anomaly This trend may be a fault uplift zone, where the basement is potentially closer to the surface than currently modelled.
No drilling has been completed at this location to an adequate depth to test basement, presenting a compelling target. The Company looks forward to keeping the market updated and providing results of the programme in due course.