Exploration

The acquisition of the Bronzewing Gold Project also included a substantial exploration database compiled by various previous owners. Whilst analysis of the database is ongoing, it is clear, from initial reviews, that there is substantial exploration upside at Bronzewing. As such Navigator has set a clear objective of extending production at Bronzewing out to 2020 by further increasing the Project’s resource base.

The exploration database includes 44,000 drill holes which total over 2,600km of drilling (about two-thirds the width of Australia!) creating over 637,000 drill samples from within the 1,000km² of tenements. The replacement value of this exploration data is well over A$100 million. Whilst numerous exploration opportunities have already emerged from the database, Navigator’s technical staff have yet to finish interrogating it fully, and, based upon recent experiences, it seems likely that the database will yield yet more exploration opportunities.

Some of the existing resource areas, such as the Challenger group of deposits, require re-optimisation at current gold prices to determine if larger pits could be viable.  Positive results here would add to the ore reserves and provide extra feed for the processing plant.

Previous drilling has intersected mineralisation in a number of areas, which has the potential to be quickly converted to mineral resources. Such areas include the Cockburn North prospect which is located immediately along strike, northwards, from the existing Cockburn pit; the Mount Joel area where up to five zones of mineralisation have been extensively drilled with some near surface mineralised zones averaging 2.5-3.0g/t Au; Anomaly 45 and Lily Well – Golden Fox. A small high grade mineralised zone which has been extensively drilled is located at the Cyclonic deposit beneath 80-90m of transported cover.

Further work is required at a number of prospects, including Katherine Well, the Corboys north and south strike extensions and Woorana, to better define and follow up on previous good drill intersections. A number of structural targets have been defined in a recent structural analysis of the region and programs to test some of these targets are being planned. 

Another area requiring follow up is the Eagle Prospect where recent prospecting has located a number of small gold nuggets which identified two anomalies of 1,000m and 500m strike length repectively.  An earlier drill hole to the north of Eagle intersected 9m @ 4.8g/t Au from 78m thus confirming the presence of bedrock mineralisation in this area.

Opportunities also exist for acquiring satellite deposits held by third parties in the area of the Bronzewing plant site. These will be reviewed as and when they come to hand.