Lewis Ponds

Highlights

1. Diamond drilling Jan 2021 led to a revised resource for Lewis Ponds which was released on 2 February (ASX announcement dated 2 February 2021).
   • An Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (JORC 2012) has been completed for the Lewis Ponds deposit with 6.2 million tonnes at 2.0g/t gold, 80g/t silver, 2.7% zinc, 1.6% lead & 0.2% copper, containing:
     • 398 koz gold
     • 15.9 million oz silver
     • 170 kt zinc
     • 99 kt lead
     • 11 kt copper
   • Resource estimate is reported at a 3.5g/t gold equivalent cutoff
2. During 2021, an RC drill program targeting the near surface Quarry Lode at Lewis Ponds. The Quarry Lode is located NW of the current Mineral Resource zone, and is coincident with a strong soil geochemical anomaly identified during Sept 2020 (ASX announcement dated 15 September 2020)
   • HIGH GRADE GOLD INTERSECTED AT QUARRY LODE DRILLING
     • Zones of gold, silver and base metal mineralisation intersected in four Reverse Circulation percussion (RC) drill holes from the Quarry Lode, Lewis Ponds Project
     • Significant intercepts include:
       • GLPRC008: 8m @ 1.07g/t Au from 70m including 1m @ 6.5g/t Au, 172g/t Ag and 1.38% Pb
       • GLPRC008: 8m @ 1.1% Zn from 70m including 1m @ 2.8% Zn
       • GLPRC009: 3m @ 1.82g/t Au from 72m including 1m @ 4.09g/t Au, 1m @ 0.52% Pb and 1.0% Zn from 50m, 1m @ 0.9% Pb and 1.0% Zn from 54m
       • GLPRC010: 1m @ 0.75g/t Au, 154g/t Ag, 2.3% Pb and 3.6% Zn from 35m
       • GLPRC011: 4m @ 0.84g/t Au from 52m including 1m @ 1.75g/t Au and 1m @ 1.0% Zn from 52m
     • (ASX announcement dated 10 November 2021)
3. A small but advantageous exploration licence ELA6333 addition to Lewis Ponds project was made – and is adjacent to an area containing strong gold in soils results and historical gold workings that are devoid of recent drilling.
4. A 2021 exploration initiative of reviewing the 2020 multi-element Soil Sampling program at Lewis Ponds, proved highly successful, confirming significant gold and multielement anomalism similar to the nearby two-million-ounce McPhillamys Gold Deposit
   • The McPhillamys Gold Deposit is one of Australia’s largest, under development openpittable resources situated 20km south east along the Godolphin Fault Zone
   • Infill and extension soil sampling proposed at Lewis Ponds to delineate gold and copper mineralisation to the northwest and south of the existing resource
   • Williams Prospect soils program ongoing with over 70 samples pending results

Overview

The 100% owned Lewis Ponds project covers approximately 148 km² located 15 km east of Orange (EL5583). This is a high priority project for Godolphin due to the extensive historic gold and base metal workings, with a Mineral Resource estimated at 6.2 million tonnes at 2.0g/t gold, 80g/t silver, 2.7% zinc, 1.6% lead & 0.2% copper and classified as Inferred in accordance with JORC (2012) (ASX announcement dated 2 February 2021).

The Lewis Ponds area was an active mining centre from the early 1800s until the 1920s. The workings were centred around two major areas being the Lewis Ponds and Tom’s Mines. All ore was processed at the Lewis Ponds mine’s treatment facility and smelter. The project hosts massive sulphide and shear hosted lead/zinc with associated precious metals, with copper to the south and a potential later stage gold overprint. Historical mining, drilling and exploration at Lewis Ponds focussed on sedimentary base metal models and not gold.

Work by Godolphin team during 2021 has confirmed significant gold and multielement anomalism at Lewis Ponds similar to the nearby two-million-ounce McPhillamys Gold Deposit. The McPhillamys Gold Deposit is one of Australia’s largest, under development open pittable resources situated 20km south east along the Godolphin Fault Zone.

Resources

The current Mineral Resource Estimate was announced on 2 February 2021. Mineral Resource Estimates have previously been reported in 2005, 2016 and 2019.

The Lewis Ponds Inferred Mineral Resource, reported at a 3.5g/t gold equivalent (AuEq) cutoff, is estimated as 6.2Mt at 2.0g/t gold, 80g/t silver, 2.7% zinc, 1.6% lead and 0.2% copper and is classified as Inferred in accordance with JORC (2012). Resources have been modelled in fresh rock only, extending from 50 to 700m below surface. For more details, including assumptions, see the ASX announcement dated 2 February 2021.

Background

The Lewis Ponds area was an active mining centre from around 1884 till the 1920s. The workings were centred around two major areas; Main Zone (also called Spicers Mine) and Tom’s Zone. Main Zone was actually the site of a smelter and an adjacent limestone quarry – postulated to be a flux source. Spicers Mine was reported to have produced around 6000 t of ore at 6.7% lead and 187 g/t silver (Rowe, 1999). Tom’s Zone was reportedly a pyrite mine and was in operation from 1913 to 1921.

Historical workings are extensive, consisting of numerous shafts (mostly collapsed and shallow) and shallow surface workings. These locations were mapped by Ardea Resources to assist in identifying the surface expression of mineralisation and hence assist in the creation of a geological\mineralisation model.

Around two to three kilometres south of the Main Zone workings, there is another group of workings including; Mt Nicholas, Brittania, Icely and Ophir Copper Mine.

In the western part of the tenement, around Mt Bulga, there is a line of workings and mineral occurrences running over a distance of approximately 6 km. The Mt Bulga Mine was reported to have a copper grade of 6.5% and also has a historical resource from 1970.

In the far northern part of the tenement, west of Summer Hill Creek, there are numerous workings and occurrences around the historical Mt Lindsay copper mine.

Geology

The Lewis Ponds deposit lies on the east limb of the Mullions Range Anticline and is hosted within the Late Silurian Mumbil Group. The actual mineralisation is hosted within the Anson Formation, a fining up sequence from a conglomeritic base to siltstones at the top. The stratigraphic sequence has been metamorphosed to lower greenschist facies. Other deposits in the region with similar mineralisation styles include; Daydawn, Calula, Mt Lindsay, Icely and Mt Bulga.

Within the sulphide lenses at Lewis Ponds, alteration varies in intensity, mineralogy and distribution. Dip of the mineralised zones is generally steep to the northeast, however they can range from vertical to more steeply westerly dipping.

The most prominent regional structure is the Lewis Ponds Fault, located less than one kilometre to the west of Lewis Ponds, which is interpreted as a splay off the Godolphin Fault.

Two series of faults have been noted at Lewis Ponds, one regular set strikes southwest-northeast and dips to the northwest and a second dipping steeply and striking east-west.

The Lewis Ponds polymetallic deposit is a stratabound and disseminated sulphide system and is historically considered to be of a VHMS type. Godolphin has documented a later stage deformation and an orogenic overprint that has introduced a component of remobilisation and the introduction of silica respectively into the system, as well as flexuring of the stratigraphy.

Agnew (2002) concluded that Tom’s Zone was a sheet style VHMS deposit formed at or near the sea floor, which has later been deformed, remobilised and fluids introduced by the Lewis Ponds Fault. The Main Zone however has similarities with carbonate-hosted replacement deposits, where sulphides have infiltrated into the pore spaces of poorly sorted breccias. Textures within the sulphides indicate rapid sea water quenching.