MELROSE GOLD PROJECT (100% AAJ)

The Melrose Project is situated on the same regional structure reported as the main source of gold mineralisation at the Paulsens Gold Mine and Mt Olympus Gold Mine, similar to the Company’s Saltwater Project.

The structural corridors that control the mineralisation at Paulsens appear to continue into Aruma’s Melrose Project area. The Project was pegged in 2020-21 and multispectral and Aster data with radar has been used to define anomalous areas. This information along with historical data and structural analysis will be used to define targets for drilling.

The Paulsens Deposit was discovered and mined in the early 1930s and was then called the Melrose Mine. It is situated in a +7 million ounce gold camp and most production has come from multiple lodes in a single structure at the Paulsen Mine.

Modern evaluation and mining of the Paulsens mine by NuStar Mining Corporation commenced in May 2004 and the Paulsens process plant poured the first bar in June 2005. In July 2010, Northern Star Resources took over the mine and successfully mined it until late 2017, producing up to 100,000 ounces of gold per year through both existing and new ore shoots.

Since 2017 Northern Star has relinquished areas in the Paulsens district following initial exploration, and these areas represent the ground that Aruma has appraised, using its “gold-in-sediment” exploration model to seek stratigraphic repetitions in favourable structures associated with the Nanjilgardy Fault.

Most of the reported historic drilling and sampling was conducted on east-west traverses at a spacing that Aruma believes has left windows of opportunity for the discovery of further gold mineralisation.

The previous image above shows the interpreted extension of the Paulsens Corridor into the Gossan Hill leases, with the alteration like the Paulsens alteration giving strong target definition.

The initial Gossan Hill target had multiple thick (>20m) anomalous (>0.2g/t Au) intersections, indicating carbonate alteration in gossanous ridges outlining the structure and highlighting the potential for sulphides. This area also has rock chip samples of >1g/t and this was a priority area in the first phase of Aruma drilling.

Aruma completed a 48 hole 4,784m reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at the Melrose Project (ASX announcement, 7 November 2022), which targeted the Gossan Hill prospect located 5km from the Paulsens Gold Mine (acquired by Black Cat Syndicate (ASX: BC8) from Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST))

Drilling intersected anomalous gold and confirmed the presence of anomalies on an east-west structural target at Gossan Hill (Table 1). No high-grade gold mineralisation was intersected. The location of the anomalous material in an oxidised siltstone-greywacke contact is encouraging but the lack of shales in the area is interpreted as a possible reason for the lack of grade and sulphides.

The drilling results have confirmed the intersected low-grade mineralised host to be on a contact with the coarse greywacke, a fine siliceous sulphidic siltstone. The contact Aruma investigated in its drilling is on a shale-dolomite contact, similar to the Mt Olympus and Paulsens gold projects in the region.

The Company plans to undertake a mapping program and chip sampling program on historic geophysics as a next phase of exploration at the Project.

Aruma has also expanded the Melrose Project area via the award of the balloted exploration licence, E08/3499, which comprises 7 blocks over a 20km2 area. The Exploration Licence contains the Mt McGrath Gold Project (WAROX Site 87111, Minedex Mt McGrath site S0029247). The area has reported Gold in veins, close to the contact of the Wyloo Group Mt McGrath Formation pelite (shale) and Hamersley Marra Mamba Iron Formation cherts.

Results (Table 1) have confirmed the intersected low grade mineralised host to be on the contact with the coarse greywacke a fine siliceous sulphidic siltstone (Figure 3). The target contact Aruma were investigating is on the shale-dolomite contact, similar to Mt Olympus and Paulsens.

Table 1.  Anomalous results from the Melrose Drilling Gossan Hill RC drilling.  All results greater than 0.25g/t reported.

Table 2.  Drill Hole Details