‘The 5.42 g/t Au result is an early outcome; what matters is that several low-cost, surface-based methods are generating their own targets.’Critical Resources managing director Tim Wither Soil geochemistry at the prospect indicates the mineralised system remains open along strike, with hand auger sampling revealing highly anomalous, 757 parts per million arsenic values in the primary zone. These elevated pathfinder element levels have bolstered management’s belief that the underlying lode and shear complex continues into untested areas. More significantly, the soil program successfully illuminated an
entirely separate, previously untested geophysical target, mapping out a brand-new 600-metre-long arsenic soil anomaly that had completely evaded historical exploration. In tandem with standard exploration methods, the company trialled an innovative trace-element catchment-water sampling technique across 15 streams. The highly sensitive geochemical survey found dissolved arsenic pathfinders at Devils Creek and flagged a string of additional, unmapped catchments. Critical says given the technique’s success, it will now rapidly roll out this ultra-low-cost screening protocol across its entire 1694-square-kilometre New Zealand exploration footprint.
Critical Resources, New Zealand exploration, gold, 5.42 g/t, arsenic anomaly, soil geochemistry, catchment-water sampling, Devils Creek, Tim Wither, 600-metre anomaly, 757 ppm