West Bryah Project
The Company holds 694km2 of ground within the West Bryah project, comprising ten granted exploration tenements.
The Bryah Basin is host to the high-grade copper-gold mines at DeGrussa, discovered by Sandfire Resources Limited in 2009, and at Horseshoe Lights, which was mined until 1994. In addition, Westgold Resources Limited is operating the Fortnum gold mine which is located adjacent to the Company’s landholdings.
The wider region remains very prospective for both gold and copper resources and has seen ongoing exploration efforts and success over the period. Details of the tenements and the wider region can be seen below (Figure 1).
The West Bryah Project is located east of, and partially within, the same geological sequence as the Livingstone Gold Project, currently operated by Metal Bank Limited (ASX:MBK). The MBK Homestead project shows an Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource of 40,300 oz Au @ 1.42g/t gold, while the nearby MBK Kingsley deposit hosts an Inferred Resource of 30,500oz Au @ 1.42 g/t as an open resource with potential to carry through into the tenements currently owned by Star Minerals.
Other major areas of interest within Star’s tenements feature the Yarlarweelor Gneiss Complex for Lithium-Caesium-Tantalite (LCT) pegmatite exploration and the Despair Granite, which hosts the local Wilthorpe Mine (Au Mine).
Location
The West Bryah Project is located approximately ~140km north of Meekatharra in central Western Australia. The location is shown in the geology plan for the Bryah Basin region below. The plan shows the extent of the Narracoota Formation and Wilthorpe Formation present in the West Bryah Project, both geology units that host significant gold and/or VMS deposits further north and east in the Bryah Basin.
Figure 1 West Bryah Project geology and tenure location plan
West Bryah Copper-Gold Project
The West Bryah Project is located on rocks of the Padbury and Bryah groups (forming the Bryah Basin), a series of folded sediments that form the northern flank of an antiformal structure centred on Peak Hill.
The tenements cover the large regional east-west-trending Padbury Synform, which features lithological units of the Robinson Range, Wilthorpe formation, and Labouchere formation within the centre and the renowned Narracoota formation on the northern and southern limbs.
The West Bryah Project is located east of and partially within the same geological sequence as the Livingstone Gold Project, currently operated by Metal Bank Limited (ASX: MBK). The MBK Homestead project shows an Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource of 40,300 oz Au @ 1.42g/t gold, while the nearby MBK Kingsley deposit hosts an Inferred Resource of 30,500oz Au @ 1.42 g/t as an open resource with potential to carry through into the tenements currently owned by Star Minerals.
Other major areas of interest within the Company’s tenements include the Yarlarweelor Gneiss Complex for potential pegmatite exploration and the Despair Granite which hosts the local Wilthorpe Mine (Au Mine).
Regional Geology
The Bryah Group contains abundant mafic-ultramafic volcanic rocks of the Narracoota Formation, interbedded with lithic wacke of the Ravelstone Formation and shale/BIF of the Horseshoe Formation. The Padbury Group is defined by the Labourchere, Wilthorpe, Robinson Range and Millidie Creek formations. Much of the tenement package presents Narracoota formation covered with alluvial sediments related to the (seasonal and intermittent) Murchison River system.
The Narracoota formation is interpreted as volcanics with extensive alteration including the development of magnetite, a source of magnetic anomaly. The alteration includes brecciation that suggest there is a good potential for both VHMS mineralisation and epithermal gold mineralisation in the region.
The Padbury and Bryah groups sediments are unconformably overlaid atop the schists and Archaean granitoids and greenstones making up the Marymia and Narryer terranes, with granitoids and Yarlarweelor Gneiss occurring along the edge of the tenement area to the west.
The Bangemall Supergroup sediments are draped unconformably over the Bryah Basin sequence. Two major mines in the area are Horseshoe Lights and Fortnum, located near the Fortnum Fault, an east-west trending fault that forms the edge of the Bangemall Basin.
West Bryah Gold Prospects Overview
The Project is an early-stage exploration project. A review of the area identifies that West Dimble, Top Dimble, Dimble South, and Mt Padbury occurrences (all part of the Star tenement group) have produced rock chip samples that justify further exploration. There is good exposure of geology throughout the Dimble area, which extends for a 9km strike in the east-west direction and 2.5km in the north-south direction.
Figure 2: Key Areas of Interest in the West Bryah Region
Figure 3: Dimble West area – rock chip results
A range of gold occurrences, including costeans, small workings, and a number of shafts, have been found in these areas, as well as results from several RAB and RC holes drilled in 2006 by Peak Resources.
Data interpretation identified folds in the rocks to the south in the Mt Maitland/Mt Padbury area that may be responsible for some of the anomalous results seen in the past, and that gold nugget occurrences in adjoining tenements may be the result of previously unidentified structures.
The region was first explored by prospectors during the gold rush period between 1897 and 1911, centred on Peak Hill. Modern exploration began in the 1960s and was undertaken by a range of companies searching for gold, uranium, manganese, iron ore and base metals. Much of this work was soil sampling and shallow Rotary Air Blast (RAB) drilling, and much of it was limited in scope, as other commodities were targeted.
When gold was the target, much of the drilling was in alluvial cover, with very limited work on the underlying strata. Of the more interesting results, these will be used by Star to provide initial targeting for further investigation, sampling and drilling.
This region hosts significant mineral endowment. Historical gold and copper-gold operations include Harmony, Peak Hill and Horseshoe Lights. Star believes that the West Bryah project area is prospective for orogenic-style gold deposits and base metal VHMS deposits that may prove to be economic.
