Latin bootstraps into drill-ready gold play in NSW

Latin Resources has added a drill-ready, high-grade gold package in the well-addressed Lachlan Fold Belt region of NSW to its portfolio after exercising its option to take 100 per cent of a prospect with a strike extending about 1.3km in length. The 751 square kilometre tranche is in the central and southern section of the Lachlan Fold, a 700km-wide formation spanning NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania. It is highly prospective for copper-gold and nickel-copper platinum group elements mineralisation.

At Lachlan Ford, Latin ran the gamut of reprocessing and interpretating the available airborne geophysical data, on-ground reconnaissance mapping, outcrop sampling and systematic soil sampling.

It found some very tasty high-grade rock-chip showing gold that went 9.79 g/t, 8.58 g/t, 8.41 g/t and 7.79 g/t. All previous exploration data came along with the transaction.

The company has kept southern parts of the high-grade Peep O’Day play after its geologists kicked the rocks over other tenements that came in the package. It has either returned the non-prospective acreage to the original vendor or is in discussion with other third-party groups to divest the non-core land.

Latin handed over 6 million shares for the deal that on current price of $0.076 adds up to about $450,000, with no further royalties or milestone payments in the pipeline.

Management says all regulatory approvals have been granted and a $15,000 security deposit required by the Department for Regional NSW is being refunded to Latin.

It is planning to swing an RC rig into action for a first-pass run after resubmitting drilling applications due to change of ownership.

Apart from its Peep O’Day play, Latin has two other core projects: its high-grade hard-rock lithium Salinas site in Brazil that it is driving towards a maiden JORC Resource by the end of the year and its high-purity Cloud Nine halloysite-kaolin project near Merredin, in WA’s Wheatbelt region.

The company recently tabled a stunning set of kaolin results from infill drilling at Cloud Nine that included a 38m hit going 85.3 ISO-B from 12m, 25 running 85.2 ISO-B from 17m and 21 at 85.2 ISO-B from 6m. One of the longer results was a 43m hit at 85.4 ISO-B from a depth of 7m.

ISO-B grading allows the material to be used in the manufacturing of premium paper, porcelain and increasingly in the high-purity alumina market. Latin’s Cloud Nine deposit shows near-surface mineralisation masked beneath a thin blanket of soil and sand.

Earlier this year Latin notched up interesting results at Salinas, unveiling a suite of lithium-rich pegmatites with a peak grade of 3.22 per cent lithium oxide in one hole.

It also expanded its footprint to more than 5350 hectares in the newly defined Salinas lithium corridor.

Some other key intersections include a 4.31m hit going 2.22 per cent lithium oxide from 83.82m with a higher grade 1.13m section running 2.85 per cent lithium oxide from 87m.

A longer 8.13m strike took in a grade of 2 per cent lithium oxide from 111.3m and housed the headlining 1m section grading 3.22 per cent lithium oxide from 112.3m.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au