Trigg Minerals (ASX:TMG) Identifies high priority targets at Taylors Arm ultra high-grade antimony project
2 October 2024
Price Sensitive Announcement $
Highlights:
- High-resolution satellite imagery analysis completed over the Taylors Arm Antimony Project has discovered several new areas which require priority field confirmation.
- The newly generated targets are in addition to the 71 historically producing ultra-high grade antimony workings and mines located within the Taylors Arm portfolio.
- Maiden exploration has commenced targeting ultra-high grade antimony mineralisation with a focus on massive stibnite outcrops that have not seen systematic exploration, to generate targets to provide exploration upside for Trigg and its shareholders.
- Trigg remains well funded for its maiden exploration program.
- Trigg’s due diligence1 highlighted 71 historically producing workings and mines on the granted EL’s that historically produced ultra-high-grade antimony. Key workings include:
▪ Swallows Nest Mine – extracted antimony from 1940 to 1955 at a 40% antimony (Sb) concentration and 30% Sb on reopening in 1972. Recent rock samples revealed extremely high-grade antimony mineralisation with grades of 29.8% Sb and 31.4% Sb2.
▪ Testers Mine – featured massive stibnite veins grading up to 63% Sb, Australia’s highest-recorded antimony grade.
▪ Little Purgatory Mine – stockpile samples produced antimony with grades up to 27.7% Sb.
▪ Real McKay Mine – recent exploration identified a stibnite-bearing fault breccia hosting
high-grade antimony mineralisation, reporting 15.2% Sb and 52.7% Sb. - Exploration will also focus on completing the data compilation and geophysical surveys to prioritise exploration targets while minimising the impact on the environment and local communities.
- Trigg confirms that the Taylors Arm ultra-high grade antimony portfolio to be highly prospective and of expectational value. These newly acquired assets provide a strong footprint in the rush to secure Antimony, followings China’s export restrictions.
Overview:
Trigg Minerals Limited has provided an update on exploration activities at its recently acquired Taylors Arm Antimony Project in northern New South Wales. TMG engaged Dirt Exploration, a remote-sensing specialist company, to complete multispectral analysis across the Taylors Arm Project using Sentinel visible/near-infrared [VNIR], shortwave infrared [SWIR] and PULSAR synthetic aperture radar [SAR] satellite imagery. The results from Dr Pendock’s analysis have now been received, outlining a significant number of exploration targets in addition to the 71 historical workings at the Taylors Arm Project.
Trigg is collating all relevant geological data, including historical exploration and production records, with the newly acquired remote sensing layers to assess and rank exploration targets. This integrated approach allows the prioritisation of targets based on geological potential and exploration viability, supporting informed decision-making for the forthcoming exploration campaign.
Remote Sensing Study
Remote image processing specialist Dirt Exploration and its principal, Dr Neil Pendock was engaged to acquire, process, and analyse Sentinel visible/near-infrared [VNIR], shortwave infrared [SWIR] and PULSAR synthetic aperture radar [SAR] satellite imagery over the Taylors Arm Antimony Project. The resulting exploration targets were generated by training a multivariate statistical classifier on several of the numerous (71) historical workings within the project area. The classifier is a digital fingerprint of the antimony response in the region of interest.
The Sb occurrences contain some vegetation signature in the ROI, which may obscure spectral signals from buried deposits. Spectral unmixing can separate vegetation spectra from other signatures if vegetation cover is < 100%, promoting the identification of the targeted minerals. Gas estimated from Sentinel-2 VNIR can penetrate vegetation and shallow soil cover, and targets reported as anomalous in methane are thought to reflect antimony occurrences forming the target layer.
Methane within orogenic hydrothermal systems is particularly linked to antimony in the New England Orogen. Research has shown that methane-rich hydrothermal fluids can deposit native antimony along fault zones, indicating a reducing environment where methane significantly influences the mineralisation processes(3).
Several northeast-southwest anomalous methane trends align with identified faults and mineralisation patterns in the Taylors Arm North area. Several historical workings are situated along these preferred orientations.
The work identified broadly prospective areas of interest for antimony mineralisation, which are now being ranked and prioritised based on Sentinel and Radar responses, utilising existing geological mapping, and known rock geochemistry.
Full ASX Announcement: 02861197.pdf (weblink.com.au)