ASX: CYL
ASX: CYL
Quarterly Activities Report
Quarter ended 30 September 2015
SUMMARY
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Major drilling programme being planned for Four Eagles Joint Venture
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Preparation of Tandarra mineralisation report commences
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Exploration Licence EL6604 grant and EL5295 renewal at Four Eagles imminent
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Company raises $515,000 from option exercise and SPP
INTRODUCTION
The September 2015 quarter was one of compilation and analysis of all drill and geophysical data collected during the extensive field programme at Four Eagles and Tandarra following the signing by Catalyst Metals Limited (Catalyst or the Company) (ASX: CYL) of the Four Eagles Joint Venture with Gold Exploration Victoria Pty Ltd (GEV) and Providence Gold and Minerals Pty Ltd (Providence) in March 2015. The programme was very successful in defining new high grade gold zones on both projects which will require follow up in the 2016 field season.
The Company now manages the entire Whitelaw Gold Belt and has interests in nine Exploration Licences which extend for 75 kilometres along the Whitelaw and Tandarra Faults north of Bendigo in Victoria (Figure 1).
WHITELAW GOLD BELT
There was no field activity during the September 2015 quarter to minimise impact on the grain crops that are usually harvested by December 2015. Planning and preparations have commenced for another large field drilling season that will be conducted between January and June 2016. The results from this years' June 2015 quarter drilling programme have further confirmed the gold potential in the Whitelaw Fault corridor which is still largely untested because the favourable Ordovician rocks are concealed by younger sediments deposited in the Murray Basin.
Prospectors and miners who mined over 22 million ounces of gold from the exposed areas of Bendigo in the 1800s were unable to find gold in the Catalyst areas because they had no method of locating the gold beneath the barren rocks. Modern technology using drilling and geophysics has enabled Catalyst and its joint venture partners to discover virgin high grade gold deposits during the past eight years.
FOUR EAGLES JOINT VENTURE (EL4525, EL5295, EL5508, EL6604)
The Four Eagles Joint Venture covers an envelope of gold mineralisation about 6 kilometres long and 2.5 kilometres wide with gold occurring in at least three structural zones trending roughly north south (Eagle 2, Eagle 3 and Eagle 4 on Figure 2a and 2b).
Three prospects have produced high grade gold intersections (Discovery, Hayanmi and Boyd's Dam). Catalyst has earned a 50% interest in the Joint Venture and GEV is earning its 50% equity from Providence by spending up to $4.2 million.
Activity at the Four Eagles Gold Project in the September 2015 quarter was limited to the completion of statutory annual tenement reports for the Victorian Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport & Resources (EcoDev) which summarise the exploration programmes and expenditure for the year ending 30 June 2015. Planning has commenced for the 2016 drilling programme that will include a large gravity survey and aircore and Reverse Circulation (RC blade) drilling. The angled drill programme will test the Hayanmi and Boyd's Dam Prospects at a traverse spacing of 50 to 100 metres. Reconnaissance air core drilling will also be undertaken on areas to the north of the Eagle 4 and Eagle 5 Structures and north of Pyramid Hill.
A large detailed ground gravity survey will be undertaken over most of EL4525 in an effort to define gold bearing structures in areas which have received little previous drilling. This may also provide further reconnaissance air core drilling targets.
The Company has received notice that Exploration Licence 6604 will be granted and that EL5295 will be renewed for a period of four years.
Hayanmi Prospect
The Hayanmi Prospect is one of three defined lines of gold mineralisation at the Four Eagles Gold Project (Figures 2a and 2b) and lies within the Eagle 3 Structure as shown on Figures 3. Drilling in April/May 2015 confirmed a zone of mineralisation almost 3 kilometres long but drill spacing is still wide and further drilling is required to show continuity.
Most air core traverses over the 2.9 kilometre strike length contained at least one significant gold intersection with the best gold values from air core holes shown below:
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41.0m @ 3.87g/t Au from 76 metres including 6.0 m @ 16.3g/t Au from 76 metres (FE696)
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13.0m @ 2.6g/t Au including 5.0m @ 5.76g/t Au from 135 metres Au (FE700)
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3.0m @ 5.96g/t Au from 75 metres (FE471)
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3.0m @ 14.7g/t Au from 87 metres (FE591)
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9.0m @ 7.9g/t Au from 87 metres (FE608)
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1.5m @ 12.9g/t Au from 53 metres (FE626)
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2.0m @1.45g/t Au from 91 metres (FE695)
Cross sections of two traverses 1.2 kilometres apart are shown as Figures 4 and 5 and also show the type of drilling that is proposed to further test these mineralised structures and better define the attitude of the zone.
All of the air core assays were obtained by using a bulk leach cyanide method on large two kilogram samples taken at intervals ranging in thickness from one to three metres. They had initially been assayed using 25-gram samples and an aqua regia digest followed by ICP-MS analysis. Correlation between the two assays has been very good which shows that the gold mineralisation is fairly finely divided and not subject to the high assay variability that is experienced at Bendigo. Previous ASX announcements have included full location data on previous drill holes as well as a Summary of Sampling Techniques and Reporting of Exploration Results according to the JORC Code 2012 Edition.
Boyd's Dam Prospect
The Boyd's Dam Prospect (Figure 6) lies within the Eagle 4 Structure and seems to show two parallel mineralised zones about 600 metres long. Catalyst drilling results are shown in plan and longitudinal projection on Figures 7a and 7b, with the better intersections listed below:
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6.0m @ 3.77g/t Au including 1.0 m @ 7.82 from 44 metres (FERC010)
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3.0m @ 36.6g/t Au from 57 metres (FE415)
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9.0m @ 2.33g/t Au from 48 metres (FE579)
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2.0m @ 6.2g/t Au from 49 metres (FERC003)
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1.0m @ 18.3g/t Au from 127 metres (FERC002)
The 2016 programme will test the continuity of the mineralised zones to a line spacing of about 50 metres.
As with Hayanmi, all of these assays have been completed by both 25-gram samples using aqua regia digest and ICP-MS and larger two kilogram samples using a total cyanide leach method and also show good correlation and reproducibility between the assays.
Four Eagles JV Reconnaissance Exploration
Interpretation of the Four Eagles gravity data has highlighted the northern extension of the Eagle 4 and Eagle 5 zones (Figure 2a) as being prospective for new discoveries of gold mineralisation. The advantage of this area is that basement depth is mostly less than 30 metres. This will be tested by air core drilling during the 2016 field season between January and June next year.
Another road traverse of air core drilling will also be carried out on EL5508 at Macorna Bore north of Pyramid Hill to test the northern extension of the Whitelaw Tandarra Fault corridor. Basement depth is unknown.
TANDARRA GOLD PROJECT (EL4897) (CATALYST EARNING 51% FROM NAVARRE MINERALS LIMITED)
The major activity on the Tandarra Project during the September 2015 quarter was the commencement of the preparation of the Mineralisation Report that is required by the Victorian EcoDev for renewal of EL4897 (or Retention Licence). This is being undertaken on the Tomorrow Prospect where shallow high grade gold is present at depths of less than 20 metres. Plans and cross sections of this zone are shown on Figures 8 to Figure 10.
In the absence of field work, reviews and data compilation of the May 2015 drilling programme has been undertaken and shows large linear structural zones that need to be tested by reconnaissance air core drilling (Figure 7). This would follow up the high grade zone reported in the June 2015 quarter (2.0m @ 33.1g/t Au including 1.0 m @ 65.6g/t Au from 129 metres (ACT221)).
No field activity is planned prior to the renewal of EL4897 which is due on 14 December 2015 and all efforts will be directed at the preparation of the Mineralisation Report and title renewal discussions with the Victorian EcoDev.
Figure 1: Whitelaw Gold Belt Tenement Holdings