Stavely Minerals Ltd

Stavely Minerals Limited (Stavely Minerals) (ASX: SVY) is a mineral resource company currently focused on the exploration and development of the Stavely copper-gold-silver Project in western Victoria.

In September 2019, Stavely Minerals discovered shallow, high-grade, structurally controlled copper-gold-silver mineralisation – the Cayley Lode at the Thursday’s Gossan prospect on RL2017. The Cayley Lode shows some strong similarities with the Butte (Montana) and Magma (Arizona) deposits.

The key elements of Stavely Minerals current strategy are as follows:

Drill est the strike and down-plunge extensions of the Cayley Lodes, as well as other lodes, and untested new targets.

Continue the two phase mineral resource definition drilling on the Cayley Lode –

Phase 1: open pit mineral resource (0 – 200m)

   3. Progress the development studies based on a growing mineral resource inventory

   4. Pursue exploration for the copper- gold porphyry at depth

If successful the key outcome will be a globally significant copper project based on the Cayley Lode mineralisation and potentially a world class deposit if the underlying porphyry copper source is located.

STAVELY PROJECT

The Company’s Stavely Project , western Victoria, hosts the Thursday’s Gossan Chalcocite-enriched Blanket Resource with an estimated 28Mt at 0.4% copper for a contained 110kt of contained copper (using a 0.2% Cu grade lower cut-off).

Stavely Minerals’ contention is that previous explorers failed to recognise the high level of exposure of the Thursday’s Gossan porphyry complex and that the potential for well-mineralised copper-gold porphyry(s) at depth is excellent. 

The Company is targeting a Cadia-type copper-gold porphyry. The Cadia-Ridgeway copper-gold deposit had total production to March 2012 of 76.7Mt at 0.63% copper and 1.83 g/t gold for a contained 4.5 million ounces of gold and 483,000 tonnes of copper (Source:Porter Geoconsultancy Pty Ltd).

Stavely Minerals is making significant advances in its search for a well-mineralised copper-gold porphyry at Thursday’s Gossan. All the indications are that the system is a very hydrous, strongly oxidised and well-endowed with metals, and displays both multi-phase intrusion and mineralisation events as well as ‘telescoping’ of later mineralisation over earlier events – all attributes for a well-mineralised copper-gold porphyry system.  

While drilling to date has not encountered the mineralised source porphyry it has intersected high-grade structurally controlled copper-gold-silver mineralisation at depth.

In mid- 2019 Stavely Minerals commenced a drilling program at Thursday’s Gossan to test for high-grade lode-hosted mineralisation at shallower depths. The first diamond hole, SMD050, drilled targeting the high-grade structurally controlled copper-gold-silver mineralisation within the Ultramafic Contact Fault (UCF) returned stunning grades of up to 40% copper within a 32m wide high-grade zone. The shallow copper-gold discovery on the Ultramafic Contact Fault (UCF) has been named the Cayley Lode, after Geological Survey of Victoria senior geologist Ross Cayley.

Laboratory assays received to date and the visuals from the completed holes demonstrate growing scale and potential of the shallow copper-gold discovery at Thursday’s Gossan, which has grown to 900m in strike length and remains open in all directions.

It is now believed that the ‘chalcocite enriched blanket’ is derived from the weathering and redistribution and dispersion of metals from the high-grade lode-style copper-gold-silver mineralisation as it approaches surface.

In addition to conducting a resource drill out of the Cayley Lode mineralisation, the Company will also test for depth extensions of the Cayley Lode in addition to testing other identified lode structure, including the North-South Structure and the Copper Lode Splay at shallower depths.  

Other exploration targets within the Stavely Project include the Junction, Mount Stavely and Patanga porphyry prospects, the Fairview Epithermal Gold prospect and the Wickliffe VMS prospect.    

YARRAM PARK PROJECT

The Yarram Park Project , western Victoria, overlies the Bunnugal Belt of the Cambrian Stavely Volcanic Arc which is considered highly prospective for intrusive related porphyry copper-gold. Maiden drilling by Stavely Minerals at the Toora West prospect in the Yarram Park Project has confirmed the presence of a “blind” porphyry intrusive complex. 

BLACK RANGE JV

In January 2018, Stavely Minerals and Navarre Minerals agreed to the terms for Stavely to earn an equity interest in Exploration Licence 5425 located adjacent to the Stavely and Yarram Park Projects, western Victoria. EL5425 is located within the highly prospective Stavely Volcanic Belt. In December 2019, Stavely Minerals earned 51% equity in Exploration Licence 5425. 

ARARAT PROJECT

Stavely Minerals’ Ararat Project , western Victoria, hosts the Mount Ararat copper-gold-zinc-silver VMS deposit with an estimated Resource of Total Mineral Resource of 1.3Mt at 2.0% copper, 0.5 g/t gold, 0.4% zinc and 6 g/t silver for a contained 26kt of copper, 21,000 ounces of gold, 5.3kt of zinc and 242,000 ounces of silver (using a 1% lower cut-off).

Volcanic Massive Sulphide deposits typically occur in clusters. Past exploration has focussed on the Mt Ararat Copper deposit. Observed sulphide mineralisation, magnetite and manganese-rich intervals in the RC drill holes into the Carroll’s prospect, to the north of the Mount Ararat Deposit, has confirmed the continuation of the highly prospective VMS exhalative environment.

The Ararat Project is also highly prospective for Stawell-style gold mineralisation and intrusive-related gold deposits.