Beaufort Property

Beaufort is a granted exploration tenement located in the southwest of Victoria approximately 145km west of Melbourne, the capital of the State of Victoria. It is approximately 48km west of the regional town and historic gold mining centre of Ballarat.

The Beaufort Goldfield has been extensively mined in the past almost exclusively for alluvial gold, with an estimated 1.16 Moz of historical production. Local primary sources for the alluvial gold have not yet been identified

At Beaufort, an opportunity exists to explore for a hard rock source of a major alluvial goldfield along a structure that is known to host gold in the region.

BEAUFORT HIGHLIGHTS

1.16 Moz historical, small scale, alluvial production with no hard rock source identified

Gold nuggets up to 400 oz recovered from adjacent alluvial fields – supporting idea of proximal primary gold source*

Fosterville style mineralisation was not considered by previous explorers which previously targeted large tonnage, low grade open pit deposits

Orientation soil sampling defined a 2.5km long gold-arsenic-antimony trend which is a common geochemical pathfinder association in Victorian goldfields. The mineralized trend is open along strike.

Beaufort at a Glance

LOCATION

145km west of Melbourne &
48km north-west of the regional town of Ballarat

SIZE

Single contiguous parcel covering 120km²

ACCESS

Multiple paved and gravel roads leading
off the Western highway that links
Melbourne and Adelaide

OWNERSHIP

100%

NSR

1% NSR, with option to buy back 0.5% for C$3.3M

Exploration History

Target not systematically tested with geochemistry
and drilling

1853-1918

Discovery of gold and alluvial/ deep lead mining (No focus on hardrock exploration)

1932-1934

Restart of deep lead mining and minor hard rock production (No focus on hardrock exploration)

1972-1973

Rio Tinto – scouts in northern part of the permit (rock sampling; mapping; hand auger samples and
stream sediment sampling (no drilling)

1987-1989

Bendigo Gold Associates – Mapping; hand auger sampling; rock sampling; 2 RC lines over 100m strike

1991-1997

Osprey Mining – soil and rock chip sampling; 867m of RC drilling (no systematic exploration program)

1992-1998

High Lake Resources – targeting alluvial and quartz vein mineralization. Rock chip sampling; soil sampling (no systematic exploration program)

1998-2004

BHP Minerals – stakes the ground based on analogies with Sukhoi Log (100Moz Au).
However, BHP makes a corporate decision to exit gold

Placer Dome – Sedimentary Holdings acquired the permit from BHP. Sedimentary secured a JV with
Placer Dome. Work included rock chip sampling and shallow RAB Drilling on a 250 x 500m grid.
Placer Dome defined an anomalous trend over 6.5km but never followed up on their own
recommendations of 150m drill fences. Placer Dome were targeting a 10Moz open pitable deposit
in the context of US$280 Au. (Exploration geared towards wrong target type)

2007-2009

Range River Resources – conducts review of past exploration, reconnaissance visits; recommended geophysical program. No further work was carried out (no systematic exploration program)

2016-2017

E79 Founders – Secured priority ground during the market downturn

Exploration History

1853-1918

Discovery of gold and alluvial/ deep lead mining (No focus on hardrock exploration)

1972-73

Rio Tinto – scouts in northern part of the permit (rock sampling; mapping; hand auger samples and
stream sediment sampling (no drilling)

1987-89

Bendigo Gold Associates – Mapping; hand auger sampling; rock sampling; 2 RC lines over 100m strike

1991-97

Osprey Mining – soil and rock chip sampling; 867m of RC drilling (no systematic exploration program)

1992-98

High Lake Resources – targeting alluvial and quartz vein mineralization. Rock chip sampling; soil sampling (no systematic exploration program)

1998-2004

BHP Minerals – stakes the ground based on analogies with Sukhoi Log (100Moz Au).
However, BHP makes a corporate decision to exit gold

Placer Dome – Sedimentary Holdings acquired the permit from BHP. Sedimentary secured a JV with
Placer Dome. Work included rock chip sampling and shallow RAB Drilling on a 250 x 500m grid.
Placer Dome defined an anomalous trend over 6.5km but never followed up on their own
recommendations of 150m drill fences. Placer Dome were targeting a 10Moz open pitable deposit
in the context of US$280 Au. (Exploration geared towards wrong target type)

2007-09

Range River Resources – conducts review of past exploration, reconnaissance visits; recommended geophysical program. No further work was carried out (no systematic exploration program)

2016-17

E79 Founders – Secured priority ground during the market downturn

Target not systematically tested with geochemistry
and drilling

Beaufort Target

Alluvial goldfields & large nuggets all
associated with the N-S trending anticline
axis and thrust faults

Large and well defined target zones

Good structural setting
with cross cutting late structures

Setting analogous to numerous other
significant deposits in Victoria

Target has not been tested at depth and no systematic program aimed at Fosterville style mineralisation has been executed to date

Soil Sampling Program

The 2020 soil grid successfully demonstrated:

A gold-arsenic-antimony geochemical fingerprint over the key structural trends, an element association that is
the hallmark of several of the major gold districts in Victoria

The effectiveness of a 100 x 100 sampling grid of residual soil material in delineating kilometer scale anomalies

A 2000m long, gold-arsenic-antimony trend paralleling the regional structural trend

Indication of the presence of a second gold trend along the NE trending secondary structure, with a strike length of around 600m.

Location of Central block, the focus of this program, plus North & South Blocks. Notably, the 2km long anomaly which has been defined on the central block sits within a much larger mineralised trend (over 18km in strike), which has the potential to host a large gold system.

GOLD-ARSENIC-ANTIMONY
PATHFINDER ELEMENTS

Identifying a concentric geochemical dispersion pattern over kilometres is a good indicator of a potentially large gold system.

Location of Central block, the focus of this program, plus North & South Blocks. Notably, the 2km long anomaly which has been defined on the central block sits within a much larger mineralised trend (over 18km in strike), which has the potential to host a large gold system.

Fosterville Gold Mine

1991

Near-surface low grade oxide mining

2005

Mined near surface for low grade mineralization

2015

Discovery of Eagle zone high grade mineralization

2016

Discovery of gold bearing Harrier zone at depth

2017

Down plunge extension of Swan zone

Fosterville Similarities

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