The Marble Bar North Project licence (P45/3040) comprises a single prospecting licence of 3.025 hectares, which was granted on the 2 July 2018, for a period of four years. The lease is 3km from Marble Bar Township, with a well maintained track running right to the old Ironclad mine-site and battery, a five minute drive from Marble Bar.
Project Information
MinRex Resources Limited completed its first site inspection, field trip evaluation and technical due diligence of the East Pilbara Projects in mid-December 2017. On this initial visit a total of six gold nuggets, totalling 22.7 grams, were recovered from the Marble Bar North Project tenement (P45/3040). Table 1 below details the location and size of the nuggets, while Figure 1 shows the nuggets themselves and Figure 2 is an aerial photograph of the P45/3040 tenement showing the location of the nuggets relative to historical workings.
Table 1: Location and size of the gold nuggets found in P45/3040 on the December 2017 site visit
Location / Nugget |
Easting |
Northing |
Tenement |
Nugget Weight (g) |
Au01 |
786296 |
7657578 |
P45/3040 |
0.1 |
Au02 |
786295 |
7657575 |
P45/3040 |
0.8 |
Au03 |
786293 |
7657545 |
P45/3040 |
3.7 |
Au04 |
786284 |
7657590 |
P45/3040 |
11.1 |
Au05 |
786283 |
7657586 |
P45/3040 |
6.5 |
Au06 |
786294 |
7657564 |
P45/3040 |
0.5 |
Total |
22.7 |
In May 2018, a total of 40 rock samples were collected from the extensive old workings, variously named Ironclad, Jo Jo North and Betty Boo at Marble Bar North (P45/3040).
The gold mineralisation in this area occurs as quartz veins in sheared greenstones, and associated alteration zones, in dolerite and other mafic rock types, close to the greenstone/granite contact.
This lease has been worked extensively in the past and, within the lease, a line of old gold workings lies along the lithological contact between sheared and metamorphosed mafic volcanic rocks and intrusive granite.
This highly sheared contact zone trends north-south and hosts an extensive gold-bearing quartz vein system that dips shallowly to the west, within the encompassing shear zone.
The Ironclad Gold Mine workings form part of the Marble Bar Group of gold mines, which contain a total of 29 gold occurrences, with a historic gold production of about 1,298kg, within a strike extent of about 4km.
The Ironclad Mine was worked from the 1890’s until 1933 and produced 1,451oz of gold from 2,843t of ore treated; a sizeable proportion of this production was from the area now covered by P45/3040.
The 40 rock samples from the Marble Bar North Project area were collected from old mine workings, spoil piles and outcropping quartz veins.
The samples were analysed for a total of 20 elements at Bureau Veritas in Perth; these included gold, silver, arsenic, cobalt, copper, chrome, bismuth, iron, lithium, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, lead, antimony, tin, tellurium, thorium, uranium, tungsten and zinc.
A few samples were anomalous in various elements but the outstanding results were in the gold assays which varied from 10ppb Au up to 42.9g/t Au, with an average for all 40 samples of 4.86g/t Au, and 17 of the 40 samples assaying over 1.0g/t Au.
The full assay results for gold and base metals are in Table 3 below, with the gold results also shown on the plan below (Figure 3). The full results were detailed in the ASX release of the 21 June 2018.
The next phase of field work at the Marble Bar North Project will comprise further rock sampling, soil sampling in colluvium and soil covered areas and detailed geological mapping to better understand this gold mineralised system.
It is probable that this work will be completed in the next few months during the current field season in the East Pilbara.
Table 2: Marble Bar North Project - May 2018 Rock Sample Assay Results
Sample No. |
Easting m |
Northing m |
Au ppm |
Ag ppm |
As ppm |
Cr ppm |
Pb ppm |
Cu ppm |
Ni ppm |
Zn ppm |
MNR001 |
786383 |
7657702 |
0.18 |
0.0 |
11 |
15 |
3 |
23 |
10 |
6 |
MNR002 |
786383 |
7657702 |
3.10 |
0.4 |
123 |
635 |
67 |
1550 |
645 |
127 |
MNR003 |
786371 |
7657629 |
0.28 |
0.0 |
16 |
30 |
3 |
15 |
30 |
6 |
MNR004 |
786371 |
7657629 |
5.26 |
0.3 |
26 |
30 |
8 |
49 |
42 |
6 |
MNR005 |
786371 |
7657629 |
24.60 |
1.9 |
165 |
20 |
18 |
23 |
73 |
4 |
MNR006 |
786369 |
7657633 |
0.87 |
0.1 |
13 |
15 |
2 |
2 |
19 |
2 |
MNR007 |
786369 |
7657633 |
18.10 |
0.4 |
46 |
95 |
9 |
122 |
106 |
31 |
MNR008 |
786375 |
7657611 |
10.50 |
0.3 |
14 |
100 |
5 |
114 |
57 |
12 |
MNR009 |
786375 |
7657611 |
7.54 |
0.3 |
77 |
50 |
4 |
651 |
149 |
8 |
MNR010 |
786375 |
7657611 |
3.94 |
0.8 |
47 |
80 |
5 |
1840 |
278 |
16 |
MNR011 |
786376 |
7657598 |
1.27 |
0.5 |
27.8 |
240 |
5 |
220 |
170 |
13 |
MNR012 |
786376 |
7657598 |
0.97 |
0.3 |
60.2 |
55 |
2 |
2250 |
478 |
17 |
MNR013 |
786359 |
7657697 |
8.96 |
0.3 |
40.2 |
15 |
10 |
16 |
17 |
4 |
MNR014 |
786359 |
7657697 |
16.80 |
4.0 |
206 |
95 |
3310 |
172 |
88 |
1050 |
MNR015 |
786358 |
7657541 |
0.22 |
0.1 |
5 |
185 |
11 |
41 |
93 |
18 |
MNR016 |
786372 |
7657544 |
0.23 |
0.1 |
8.8 |
100 |
8 |
29 |
42 |
6 |
MNR017 |
786372 |
7657544 |
0.11 |
0.0 |
10.2 |
985 |
3 |
116 |
452 |
63 |
MNR018 |
786354 |
7657538 |
15.90 |
0.8 |
20 |
475 |
22 |
230 |
314 |
28 |
MNR019 |
786375 |
7657532 |
2.29 |
0.1 |
9 |
60 |
26 |
91 |
49 |
18 |
MNR020 |
786375 |
7657532 |
0.06 |
0.0 |
3.4 |
120 |
2 |
19 |
45 |
10 |
MNR021 |
786292 |
7657487 |
0.02 |
0.0 |
2.2 |
40 |
0 |
1 |
18 |
4 |
MNR022 |
786296 |
7657497 |
0.02 |
0.0 |
1.8 |
15 |
0 |
2 |
9 |
2 |
MNR023 |
786348 |
7557457 |
0.12 |
0.0 |
9.4 |
20 |
0 |
4 |
18 |
6 |
MNR024 |
786348 |
7657456 |
0.01 |
0.0 |
30.4 |
570 |
6 |
81 |
512 |
106 |
MNR025 |
786371 |
7657466 |
1.34 |
0.3 |
42.8 |
100 |
17 |
231 |
102 |
13 |
MNR026 |
786371 |
7657466 |
3.58 |
1.0 |
83.8 |
135 |
16 |
485 |
170 |
37 |
MNR027 |
786375 |
7657479 |
0.06 |
0.1 |
15.2 |
130 |
0 |
66 |
73 |
12 |
MNR028 |
786387 |
7657501 |
0.35 |
0.0 |
5.8 |
55 |
2 |
16 |
22 |
7 |
MNR029 |
786387 |
7657501 |
0.06 |
0.0 |
16.2 |
225 |
6 |
122 |
118 |
28 |
MNR030 |
786381 |
7657532 |
42.90 |
2.4 |
22.4 |
80 |
6 |
130 |
93 |
6 |
MNR031 |
786382 |
7657520 |
0.03 |
0.0 |
1.6 |
60 |
0 |
9 |
14 |
4 |
MNR032 |
786382 |
7657520 |
0.04 |
0.0 |
1.8 |
60 |
0 |
5 |
19 |
5 |
MNR033 |
786382 |
7657516 |
0.03 |
0.0 |
7 |
315 |
2 |
11 |
101 |
19 |
MNR034 |
786382 |
7657516 |
0.03 |
0.0 |
15.2 |
70 |
2 |
22 |
42 |
12 |
MNR035 |
786382 |
7657516 |
0.01 |
0.0 |
2.8 |
60 |
0 |
2 |
27 |
14 |
MNR036 |
786354 |
7657670 |
0.06 |
0.0 |
42 |
25 |
7 |
12 |
22 |
5 |
MNR037 |
786354 |
7657670 |
0.44 |
0.0 |
19.6 |
20 |
2 |
6 |
17 |
8 |
MNR038 |
786359 |
7657700 |
22.80 |
0.4 |
297 |
35 |
5 |
22 |
72 |
9 |
MNR039 |
786383 |
7657737 |
1.40 |
0.1 |
8.2 |
35 |
0 |
18 |
26 |
6 |
MNR040 |
786383 |
7657737 |
0.05 |
0.0 |
5.6 |
25 |
2 |
7 |
39 |
7 |