West Musgrave
West Musgrave Project (BHPB Nickel West Alliance) - Western Australia
The West Musgrave Project is located 90km east of Warburton in the remote central eastern part of Western Australia, close to the border with South Australia and Northern Territory. The Musgrave Complex forms a large belt of Mesoproterozoic rocks stretching in an east west direction from the northern part of South Australia across into Western Australia.
The Letter Agreement between Agincourt Exploration and BHPB Nickel West which has been assigned to Beadell exists for two prospects, Handpump and Area 7, within the West Musgrave Complex whereby BHPB Nickel West have the right to buy back into the West Musgrave Project if a resource in excess of 4Moz of gold is discovered by Beadell. Beadell does not have any nickel rights to the West Musgrave Project. Limited modern exploration has been completed in the region due to its remote location and complex land access issues with the traditional Aboriginal owners. The tenements of the West Musgrave Project are located on Aboriginal land on which native title has been determined to exist. Prior to conducting activities on this project entry permits will be required. In recent years access arrangements have been entered into and the discovery of the Babel and Nebo nickel sulphide deposit by WMC Resources Limited has led to a significant increase in exploration activity in the area.
Exploration targets at West Musgrave can be broadly classified as relating to either IOCG associated deposit models or caldera related vein/epithermal styles within the Bentley Supergroup and the underlying metamorphic and granitic core complex of the Musgrave Complex. Targets for conventional roll front style uranium deposits and surficial calcrete style deposits have also been identified within the West Musgrave Project area.
A large circular feature in aeromagnetics thought to be a major collapse feature known as the Palgrave Cauldron represents a target for copper and gold mineralisation. At the southern tip of the cauldron a large gold in soil anomaly was discovered by WMC Resources Limited and to date has not been tested with any form of drilling even though extensive hydrothermal volcanic brecciation and alteration has been identified in the area. The Handpump gold anomaly is the main target of the Beadell exploration activity in the West Musgrave Project.
West Musgrave Project location plan
Handpump Prospect (EL69/2066-67) - 432 km2
The Handpump Prospect comprises a significant soil gold anomaly discovered by WMC Resources Limited. The soil anomaly is 1,200m long by 400m wide with a peak value of 250ppb gold, hosted in a thin veneer of sand cover which masks the underlying rocks. Encouragingly, a 300m wide hydrothermal quartz breccia in porphyritic felsic intrusive rocks is exposed in the hills east of the anomaly. The Handpump gold anomaly is yet to be tested with any form of drilling and Beadell plans to complete a significant first pass drilling program as soon as access agreements, clearances and entry permits are received. Aeromagnetics and radiometrics also clearly show two distinct palaeochannels draining south through the Handpump tenements, from the Palgrave Cauldron felsic volcanics and granites. These channels present excellent targets for conventional roll front style uranium deposits and surficial calcrete style deposits
West Musgrave Project - Handpump Prospect gold soil anomaly
Area 7 Prospect (EL69/2068-2071) - 772 km2
The Area 7 Prospect is located within alluvial and aeolian regolith immediately north of Giles Complex ultramafic rocks of the Blackstone Ranges. The area contains the headwaters of a diffuse palaeochannel considered to be a target for conventional roll front style uranium deposits and surficial calcrete style deposits.