Taruga hot on the trail of buried WA multi-metal prize

Taruga Minerals has lit up the geophysical radar with a red-hot electromagnetic anomaly at its Thowagee project in Western Australia’s underexplored Gascoyne region. The company is now treating the conductor as a top-priority drill target.

The versatile time-domain electromagnetic (VTEM) anomaly sits just one kilometre south of the main Thowagee polymetallic prospect and has made a compelling case for closer inspection.

Tantalising evidence of visual base metal sulphides, including galena and sphalerite, has shown up in the core of a recently completed four-hole slimline diamond drilling program to test the walls and floor of nearby historic workings.

These markers are classic hallmarks of lead-zinc mineralisation. Assays are now in the lab and results - expected within weeks - will be eagerly awaited.

Adding to the target’s credentials, an earlier magnetic survey shone a light on a comparable anomaly with sniffs of galena grading as high as one per cent and malachite poking through in rock chips at surface.

The same survey also picked up an adjacent shear zone, which lit up with elevated gold and arsenic numbers, including a standout hit of 92 parts per billion gold, when geochemically tested.

Adding to the intrigue, a freshly completed soil and rock chip blitz has zeroed in on a gold-arsenic trend, stretching nearly a kilometre from northeast to southwest and slicing through the project’s southeast corner, where known sulphides are already showing up in shallow core.

As well as tracking with the regional structure, the trend appears to run in lockstep with the VTEM and magnetic anomalies.

Taruga has now moved quickly to roll out further testing. A fixed-loop electromagnetic survey is being run directly over the VTEM target, with ground gravity and magnetic surveys also underway over a 5.5-square-kilometre zone to improve image resolution.

By employing a multi-method approach, the company expects to refine the anomaly’s depth, geometry and continuity ahead of potential drilling.

The initial spark for the new investigation came from a 2017 VTEM survey commissioned by Squadron Resources and later made public through the WA Government’s WAMEX archive.

Taruga’s recent independent reinterpretation of the data has now breathed new life into the anomaly, which couldn’t come at a better time for a company eager to unearth its next big prize.

The Thowagee prospect is part of a broader landholding covering more than 400 square kilometres controlled by Taruga.

It’s always a bullish sign when an area is peppered with historic workings, especially when modern exploration tools start lighting up ground that’s barely been scratched. Not surprisingly, the company’s ground appears to fit that description well.

Back in the 1950s, old timers at Taruga’s Uaroo-Hill prospect ripped out nearly 20 tonnes of ore packing a jaw-dropping 77.7 per cent lead and 301 grams per tonne (g/t) silver.

Not far away at Donelly-Kooline, it was much the same story, where shallow digs in 1952 delivered lead at 55.8 per cent and silver grades of 129g/t. Meanwhile, over at Uaroo West, a small 1960s copper operation reportedly delivered 2.95t at 26 per cent copper.

Of late, the Gascoyne region has become a hotspot for high-grade base and precious metals, fuelled by a string of wins such as Black Cat Syndicate’s reopening of the Paulsens gold mine. Other projects include Dreadnought Resources’ headline-grabbing Gifford Creek critical metals play and its Star of Mangaroon gold find.

With assays due soon, multiple geophysical datasets in hand and field crews on the ground, Taruga looks poised to pull the trigger on a maiden drill campaign to test its high-priority VTEM target. If the geology beneath matches the story above, Thowagee could be ready to deliver something special.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au