Catalyst Metals Limited (Catalyst) (ASX: CYL) is pleased to announce its maiden Mineral Resource for the Four Eagles Gold Project in Victoria of 665,000t at 7.7g/t for 163,000oz Au.
The Mineral Resource includes the exceptional high-grade Iris Zone, containing 70,000oz at 26.2g/t.
Catalyst MD/CEO, James Champion de Crespigny said: ‘This is a significant milestone for Catalyst Metals. The discovery of the Iris Zone demonstrates the true potential of the Bendigo Goldfields. Iris has been known for a long time. There are many similar nearby prospects already with high grade intercepts. These need to be tested. Further, the location of Iris – in close proximity to both Boyd’s Dam and the proposed exploration tunnel – is significant as it has the potential to underwrite the cost of the proposed exploration tunnel. I’m sure many of Catalyst’s long-standing shareholders would join me congratulating my fellow Director Bruce Kay and his team within Catalyst on this wonderful discovery.’ The Boyd’s Dam prospect has been the primary focus of the Four Eagles Gold Project for several years with exploration efforts concentrated at this deposit.
The first meaningful drill intersections at the Iris Zone were identified five years ago and whilst significant at the time, represented only one of several high-grade targets across Catalyst’s Bendigo tenements. The true significance of this early intersection was realised in 2022. With a substantial program of diamond drilling completed, the potential was realised with consistent high-grade intersections (Refer CYL ASX announcements 10 February 2023 and 1 June 2023). A concurrent program of Mineral Resource estimation of the Iris Zone has been in progress, resulting in an estimate of 85,000t @ 26.2g/t for 70,000oz Au. The structural relationship between Iris Zone and Boyd’s Dam has now provided proof of concept that Four Eagles contains the same stacking of mineralisation as that of the historical 22-million-ounce Bendigo Goldfield, where high-grade mineralised zones repeated at depth. This finding is important as it demonstrates the potential for other repetitions to occur beneath the previously drilled mineralised positions at Four Eagles. Seasonal drilling constraintsin Victoria have limited Catalyst’s ability over time to expedite the exploration of these and other high-potential project areas. A proposed underground exploration access tunnel (Refer ASX announcement 17 November 2022) will allow Catalyst to conduct targeted drilling year-round, potentially accelerating exploration and resource development progress
Four Eagles Gold Project
The Four Eagles Gold Project is situated along the Whitelaw Gold Corridor, 70 kilometres north of the historic Bendigo Goldfield and is considered a major structural control of gold mineralisation north of Bendigo. In Victoria, Catalyst manages the entire Whitelaw Gold Belt and has interests in twelve Exploration Licences and two Retention Licences, which extend for 75 kilometres along the Whitelaw and Tandarra Faults north of Bendigo and in other areas north of the Fosterville and Inglewood goldfields. The Four Eagles Gold Project is situated on Retention Licence RL006422 and includes the following exploration/development prospects: Boyd’s Dam, Iris, Hayanmi, Pickles, Cunneens and several other zones to the east and west. The structure of mineralisation at Boyd’s Dam is related to a west-dipping ‘reverse’ fault, which has focussed and introduced gold-bearing fluids into receptive locations along a shallow horizon in the vicinity of the host anticline. This structure (the ‘Western Shear’) is but one of an array of structures, and to date, multiple parallel faults have been identified with multiple diamond drill hole intersections bearing quartz, and in parts anomalous to significant gold grades. The newly discovered Iris Zone lies on one of these steep west-dipping shear zones and seems to mostly occupy the western limb of the Boyd’s Dam anticline. The historic Bendigo Goldfield reportedly produced some 22 million ounces of gold since discovery in 18511 . The success of this goldfield is attributed to the unique style and scale of faulting, which resulted in the repetition of mineable orebodies at depths well beyond one kilometre. To date, exploration of the Whitelaw Gold Belt to the north of Bendigo by Catalyst has demonstrated similarities to the Bendigo Goldfield such as visible gold in quartz2 , high grade gold assays, strong arsenic haloes, and close relationships with host rock fold hinges. The discovery of the Iris Zone has provided a significant, highly sought-after element to the prospectivity of the Whitelaw Gold Belt – the occurrence of a linked, but discrete high-grade mineralised body at depth beneath known mineralisation.
Detailed interpretation of faults in drilling shows that Boyd’s Dam and Iris Zone are located on a steeply west-dipping fault corridor which has propagated from being bedding-concordant at depth in the west limb of the anticline (the site of the Iris Zone) to a large bedding discordant dilational zone near surface in the east limb (the site of Boyd’s Dam). Within the bounds of the faults, the dilation has provided for heightened structural complexity containing more shallowly west-dipping faults). The main faults bounding the corridor dip towards 268-degree (MGA grid) and strike 358-degree and are well correlated along strike through successive cross sections. A cross section of closely spaced diamond drillholes was drilled into the upper dilational zone in order to better understand the complexity. An array of splay faults was identified which are generally en echelon in orientation which show a positive correlation with high grade mineralisation. Downhole acoustic televiewer data, which were collected in several drillholes along this section, provided additional data on some non-oriented and poorly oriented drill core as well as zones of core loss in the oxide and transitional zones. Analysis of the faults within these zones confirmed that a subset of shallow west-dipping structures is oblique to the main trend with strikes of approximately 330-degree and dips towards 250-degree
Competent Person Statement
The information in this report that relates to Exploration Targets and Exploration Results, is based on information compiled by Paul Quigley, a Competent Person who is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Mr Quigley is the Geology Manager for Catalyst Metals and is employed on a full-time basis. The information in this report that relates to Mineral Resources is based on and fairly represents information and supporting documentation compiled by John Collier, a Competent Person who is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Mr. Collier is the Principal Consultant for Conarco Consulting. Both Mr. Quigley and Mr. Collier have sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the ‘Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves’. Mr. Collier consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears
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JORC 2012 Mineral Resources and Reserves
Catalyst confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in the original market announcements and that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the estimates in the relevant market announcements continue to apply and have not materially changed. The Company confirms that the form and context in which the Competent Persons findings are presented have not been materially modified from the original market announcements.
ABOUT CATALYST METALS Catalyst Metals is an ASX listed gold producer and explorer. Catalyst has a multi-asset strategy and controls three high grade, highly prospective and strategic gold belts in Australia: In Western Australia, the high-grade Marymia Gold Project, which has a total JORC Mineral Resource of 1Moz, including 410koz at 8g/t3 . Catalyst considers the project hosts considerable exploration upside potential given +40km of underexplored strike potential. In Victoria, a large, contiguous and dominant Four Eagles Gold Project, covering 75 kilometres of strike length immediately north of the proven +22Moz Bendigo goldfields and near Agnico Eagle’s high grade Fosterville gold mine and In Tasmania, a strategic tenement package covering 25 kilometres of the under explored Henty fault and operates the high-grade Henty Gold Mine which has produced 1.4Moz of gold at a head grade of 8.9 g/t gold.
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