MERETO EEL: AMORA HILL LOCALITY
In January 2003, a new primary gold prospect,
Amora Hill,
was discovered following reports of gold digging on top of a white coloured hill near the Mereto licence area. This prospect was found to be related to a granite intrusion and an area pock-marked by shallow soil excavations covering about 10 hectares. In March 2003 this area was incorporated into the Mereto EEL.
The first soil samples from the area returned values up to 1710 ppb gold. Compared to the other gold-in-soil anomalies in the same region, this anomaly is larger and atypical in shape and position. The gold is found in residual soil overlying all the rock types in the area. BLEG soil samples spaced at 200 x 50 metre centres were taken over the alteration and digging areas in May 2003. Twenty-one of the 48 samples contained over 100 ppb gold, the maximum registering 2400 ppb.
In May 2003
semi-detailed mapping was carried out revealing a well developed alteration zone overlying the felsic schist and granite host rocks with a quartz vein swarm trending NNW across the granite contact zone. This map was updated in January 2004 and shows the location of primary gold intersected in trench MK1. Trenching in November-December 2004 revealed ancient gold workings beneath a metre of soil cover.
above: the Amora Hill gold anomaly overlaid on topography (vertical range 100m). The anomaly is based on over 80 soil samples and suggests an underlying hydrothermal gold mineral system.
Rock samples from the area are as follows.
Grab samples (cut-off 0.5 g/t)
1.2 g/t
14.0 g/t
6.4 g/t
0.6 g/t
Trench samples
Trench MK1: 2.57 g/t over 8 metres: best metre 9.9 g/t
Trench MK2: 0.7 g/t over 8 metres: best metre 3.3 g/t
Trench MK6: 25.4 g/t over 3.26 metres
The Amora Hill gold occurrence is the most promising so far discovered in the licence area. A total of over 1000 metres of trench have been excavated to date for a total of 686 samples. In trench MK1, gold values were found in silicified material of felsic composition and schistose texture. Sample MK051 returned a best assay of 16.9 g/t over one metre. It consists of sericite-silica schist with brown geothite porphyroblasts after sulphides. In trench MK6 gold was found in a similar siliceous schist in the footwall of an ancient stope: sample MK6/79-80 returned a grade of 20 g/t over 4 metres (true thickness estimated at one metre). The present model for gold mineralisation is a NNW-trending shear zone, with multiple narrow shears, within which segments of granite have shredded from the parent pluton and enclosed within the country rock. A quartz swarm infiltrates the shear zone: in this area foliation bending and competancy contrast could account for dilation and hence the quartz emplacement. As at August 2005, the prospect had been mapped and sampled in detail in preparation for possible drilling. The new road link to Amora Hill is now complete giving vehicle access to the locality and recently this was widened to admit larger vehicles.
above: detail of western end of Amora Hill gold prospect showing distribution of quartz, ancient workings and gold in rock relative to the granite contact.
back to main page
