Booths Reward, NSW

The Booths Reward project, EL6012 and EL6445, (100% CRC) is located 170km NW of Canberra is centered on the Township of Coolac on the Hume Highway 12km north of Gundagai in central NSW. The project is considered prospective for Gold and Copper-Lead-Zinc mineralisation.

The land holding extends from the Coolac-Muttama Goldfield in the north through to the Murrumbidgee River in the south. The project area covers the southern portion of the Muttama Goldfield encompassing an area of 247.7 km sq and at least 15 recorded historic gold mines/prospects within a 10 km long north-south trending segment of the prospective Jindalee Beds.

Gold mineralisation has been identified within a narrow zone of sheared serpentinite hosted by a conjugate set of quartz reefs that strike parallel and oblique to local shear zones. Tectonically, the project area is situated in the central part of the prospective Lachlan Fold Belt; lying in the Bogan Gate Synclinorial Zone within a lower Palaeozoic sequence that contains thrust bound volcanics, sediments and intrusives slices.

The Booths Reward mine, mined to a depth of 82m, represents the largest historic working within the tenement area with reported production (1888-1936) of 1,000oz of gold at an average grade of 3oz/t.

In recent times, pre 2000, only modest gold orientated exploration has been conducted in the district. Previous exploration companies focused on the base metal potential of the Bongongolong prospect and on base metal, VMS and nickel-chromite mineralisation associated with the serpentinite sequences on EL6445.

The Booths Reward group of workings occur over a 350m NE-SW trending ridgeline with a best historic RC drill hole intersection of 10m @ 2.2g/t Au in BR957 which terminated in mineralisation in an area that returned rock chip results peaking at 39.2g/t Au. Subsequent drill investigation has returned the following highlights:

Exploration since 2005 has focused on gold mineralisation. Activities include data compilation, soil geochemical sampling, RC (1,533m) and Diamond drilling (336.29m). The Booths Reward project area is viewed as under explored and initial indications are positive.

Gold mineralisation at Booths Reward is associated with a strong positive magnetic anomaly, a significant gold in soil anomaly, NNW trending shearing, quartz veining and several old workings. Exploration to date confirms gold mineralisation occurrences outside the known line of lode indicating additional targets other than the historic workings.

To date Booths Hill, the area of old workings, has proven to be the best zone of gold mineralisation identified so far. The mineralized sequence is concentrated along the eastern margin of the Wambidgee Serpentinite. Other exploration targets that warrant follow-up work include gold-in-soil anomalies associated with a shear zone and a 200m long north-south structure that outcrops along the western side of an outcropping chert horizon and a second irregular soil anomaly further west.

Planned exploration at Booths Reward includes ground magnetic interpretation, structural interpretation, geological mapping and sampling and follow up drilling together with a literature review of the Bongongolong Pb-Zn VMS target.