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Andrew Todd
PLC Resources has uncorked a whole new exploration frontier at its Abbotts North gold project near Meekatharra, after a high-resolution airborne survey lit up a massive, previously unmapped structure.
The target extends from ASX-listed New Murchison Gold’s high-grade deposits straight into the heart of its own untested ground.
The company says a recent magnetic and radiometric survey has revealed a large antiform, or fold structure, running along the eastern margin of the Abbotts Greenstone Belt.
PLC says the fold was entirely absent from existing regional geological maps and represents a crustal-level feature running north-south through its tenure. The feature extends for more than 14 kilometres of strike and continues south towards New Murchison Gold’s producing ground, home to several high-grade gold discoveries.
‘The results of this survey genuinely open a new chapter for PLC’s Abbotts North project.’
PLC Resources executive director Simon Phillips
Crucially, the survey shows the hinge of this massive fold intersects a deep-seated, east-west crustal formation – a structural geometry widely recognised as a first-order control on major gold deposits right across Western Australia’s prolific Yilgarn Craton.
PLC says the entire eastern margin of the Abbotts Greenstone Belt, where the new target sits, is completely untested by any form of systematic mineral exploration. Management believes it to be one of the most compelling undrilled greenstone targets in the Murchison region.
PLC Resources executive director Simon Phillips said: “The results of this survey genuinely open a new chapter for PLC’s Abbotts North project. We came in looking to build a target pipeline, and what the interpretation has revealed is a large, previously unmapped fold structure along the entire eastern margin of the belt – a part of the project that has never seen a single drill hole or soil sample.”
The company’s ground lies within the Abbotts Greenstone Belt, a region with a history of high-grade gold production, both past and recent.
Just to the south, New Murchison Gold has been racking up high-grade hits at its Lydia prospect and the nearby Crown Prince deposit. Crown Prince is now producing high-quality ounces from its expanding 2.2-million-tonne resource grading 3.9 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.
Earlier this year, New Murchison continued its discovery success at the Lydia prospect, returning multiple promising high-grade intercepts, including 3m at a bonanza grade of 32.9g/t gold.
PLC says the structural and geological similarities between Lydia and its own Rochefort prospect are promising.
The company recently completed a maiden five-hole, 1018m reverse circulation drilling program at Rochefort, with assay results expected in the next two weeks.
While the market waits for those results, the new survey has independently delivered what could be a company-making target on the eastern side of the belt, possibly one of the most compelling targets ever identified at Abbotts North.
The company is now planning on-ground reconnaissance, mapping and sampling to refine drill targets along the newly identified go-zone.
Although PLC set out to build a steady pipeline of targets at Abbotts North, it may have just unearthed an embarrassment of riches. Having a large-scale, untested structural corridor that already features proven gold discoveries is a rare opportunity in WA.
With assays from its first drill campaign at Rochefort just around the corner, there could be plenty of news to come from this unloved patch of the Murchison.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
