- Surveying will be conducted at a line-spacing of 50 meters
and will cover the Avoca and Timor Projects in their entirety.
- Works to commence over Timor host to the historic Leviathan
Group of Mines for which historic production of 56,474 ounces of
gold at an average recovered grade of 9.14 g/t Au is recorded.
- Survey data will be used to refine and extend existing
targets, and to develop new exploration targets beyond
these.
VANCOUVER, BC, May 6, 2021 /CNW/ - Leviathan Gold Ltd.
("Leviathan", the "Company") (TSXV: LVX)
(Germany: 0GP) is pleased to
announce that it has commissioned a high-resolution airborne
magnetic survey of at its Avoca and Timor Projects in the Victorian
goldfields, Australia. Surveying
will be conducted at a line-spacing of 50 meters and at a minimum
survey height of 60 meters, subject to variation for reasons of
safety, land-use, and topographic relief. Work is expected to
commence during the week of May 10,
for cumulative survey duration of approximately two weeks. The
survey will cover the Avoca and Timor Projects in their entirety.
Information on the survey for local stakeholders may be found
here.
Magnetic surveying is a technique commonly used in mineral
exploration to detect localized variations in the earth's magnetic
field, from which structural and/or intrusive features of
mineralized – or mineralizing – potential may then be defined. In
the case of Leviathan it is anticipated that the survey data will
serve to (i) refine and extend existing targets associated with
historic mine workings, and (ii) to develop new exploration targets
beyond these.
Surveying will commence over the Timor Project, which hosts the
historic Leviathan Group of Mines for which historic production of
56,474 ounces of gold at an average recovered grade of 9.14 g/t Au
is recorded. The Leviathan Group of Mines is thought to lie in a
broader structural corridor, with significant mineralized potential
both internally to the area of historic mining, and to its
north.
Leviathan Gold Chief Executive Officer, Luke Norman, remarked: "We are very pleased
to be commencing a magnetic survey over the entirety of our
Victorian landholding. This low-cost, high-resolution technique is
expected to contribute a new level of structural and geodynamic
understanding to the Avoca and Timor project areas, from which to
refine and extend existing targets associated with historic
high-grade mine workings, and to develop new, concealed,
exploration targets beyond these".
Thomson Airborne (Pty) Ltd., of Griffith, New South
Wales, has been engaged as the contractor for the survey
works. Flying will be conducted using a specially equipped Cessna
210 aircraft.
Drilling at the Avoca Project is ongoing and forms part of a
greater program of approximately 30,000 meters that Leviathan is
currently deploying at Avoca and Timor. The balance of results is
awaited and will be reported on in due course.
About Avoca and Timor
The Victorian goldfields are one of the world's major gold
provinces, with recorded historic production in excess of 2,500
tonnes - or over 80 million ounces – of gold since their discovery
in 18511. The Avoca and Timor projects comprise 223
square kilometers of exploration tenements within these goldfields,
approximately 180 kilometers north west of the state capital of
Melbourne. The Projects are
well-served by modern infrastructure, are easily accessible via
paved roads, and fall less than 100 kilometers from the regional
cities of Bendigo and Ballarat, both long-established centers of
mining services and expertise.
The Projects are located within an area of the Victorian
goldfields, the golden triangle, that is home to large scale gold
deposits with long and very prominent histories of production such
as those at Ballarat , Bendigoand Castlemaine. More recently, major
discoveries have also been made at the Fosterville Gold Mine near
Bendigo (operated by Kirkland Lake
Gold), which boasts reserves of 1.70 million ounces at an
average grade of 23.1 g/t Au, including 1.16 million ounces at an
average grade of 61.2 g/t Au2. Within the area being
explored by Leviathan Gold hundereds of small historical gold mines
are known to have existed within a 50 km radius of Avoca and
Timor.
The Avoca and Timor projects were the subject of historical
mining between the 1850's and the early 1900's, during which era
operations targeted so-called alluvial "deep lead" gold occurrences
– buried auriferous river-bed deposits - as well as primary
vein-hosted mineralization developed via shaft and underground
stoping methods Such operations reportedly producing 1.3 million
ounces of gold in the Avoca and Timor project areas alone. The
mining, water removal and ore processing methods of the day were
rudimentary, such that only isolated extraction of shallow,
near-surface, visible, high-grade mineralization was possible,
resulting in only very selective and discontinuous mining. Over
fifty such gold occurrences are known within the Projects, and
despite this prodigious endowment, no systematic exploration of the
Projects has occurred. With only limited exploration work having
been recorded since WW1, numerous targets to test, and
mineralization potentially open to depth at most of these, a rare
opportunity exists for Leviathan to pursue a consolidated approach
in the exploration of near-surface mineralization using modern
drilling, geochemical and geophysical techniques.
_______________________________
1 Earth Resources Victoria (2020).
https://earthresources.vic.gov.au/geology-exploration/minerals/metals/gold/gold-mining-in-victoria
2 Kirkland Lake Gold (2020).
https://www.kl.gold/our-business/resources-and-reserves/default.aspx
Historical records are not historical resource estimates, but
instead are official Government records of gold production from
individual mines. Historical production records do not carry a
comparable confidence level to a current Mineral Resource estimate
reported in accordance with CIM standards for resource estimation
and should not be treated as such. Leviathan does not treat
historical production records as indicators of a current mineral
resource or mineral reserve. The information relating to historical
gold mines has not been independently verified by the Qualified
Person and such information is not necessarily indicative of
mineralisation on the properties that it the subject of this Press
Release.
Comparable Projects
Leviathan considers the Currighanalt project, in Northern Ireland, to be potentially similar in
terms of its geology to the Avoca and Timor projects. In 2018
Dalradian Resources Inc. defined Measured and Indicated Mineral
Resources of 6.34 million tonnes at a grade of 15.01 g/t Au for
3.06 million ounces of gold, and Inferred Mineral Resources of 7.72
million tonnes at a grade of 12.24 g/t Au for 3.04 million ounces
of gold3. The Currighanalt project, which is
described as "a high grade orogenic gold deposit characterized
by a series of west-northwest trending, moderately to steeply
dipping, stacked quartz-carbonate-sulphide veins and arrays of
narrow and short extension veinlets" is hosted by rocks of
similar lithology and age to those found at Avoca and Timor.
Future Work Programs
There are over thirty historical gold workings within the Avoca
project area4, all of which require additional mapping,
surface sampling and drill testing to assess their potential and on
which the Company intends to report on an ongoing basis. The
highest priority targets include:
- Pyrenees Reefs: 16,199 tons mined for 16,602 ounces of gold to
a depth of 130 meters at an average recovered grade of 32 g/t Au,
worked from 1860 to 1912; mineralized shoots per historic
underground mine plans.
- Excelsior Reef: 13,200 tons mined for 9,260 ounces of gold to a
depth of 100 meters at an average recovered grade of 22 g/t Au,
worked from 1909 to 1915; mineralized shoots per historic
underground mine plans.
- Vale's Reefs: 1,444 tons mined for 1,388 ounces of gold to a
depth of 52 meters at an average recovered grade of 29.4 g/t Au,
worked from 1865 to 1883.
- Monte Christo Reefs: 2,795 tons mined for 937 ounces of gold to
a depth of 30 meters at an average recovered grade of 10.3 g/t Au,
worked from 1872 to 1877.
___________________________
3 Dalradian Resources (2018), "Technical Report
for the Curraghinalt Gold Project, Northern Ireland", by SRK Consulting.
4 State of Victoria Mining Surveyors and
Registrar's Quarterly Reports from 1860 to 1891 and Annual Reports
issued thereafter. All the production from these reefs occurred
within the Avoca licence.
The Timor project lies immediately east of the Avoca project and
hosts numerous hardrock and alluvial gold deposits as evidenced by
the extent of historic workings, of which approximately twenty
hardrock workings can be considered to have been significant
producers. The highest priority targets include:
- Leviathan Group of Mines: 189,085 tons mined for 56,474 ounces
of gold at an average recovered grade of 9.14 g/t Au. The Leviathan
structural corridor hosts several parallel quartz veins with most
of the production coming from one mine active in the early 1900s.
Significant potential is believed to lie within the various other
veins and faults within the corridor to the north.
- Shaw's Reef: 16,881 tons mined for 12,623 ounces of gold to a
depth 130 meters at an average recovered grade of 22.9 g/t Au,
worked from 1883 to 1891. Along strike of this fault zone,
arsenopyrite and stibnite mineralization is recorded in association
with the gold mineralization indicating possible epizonal
Fosterville-style gold mineralization.
The Leviathan Group of Mines and Shaw's Reef both lie on
separate large regional north-south structures known to occur for
tens of kilometers associated with hardrock workings over their
length. Neither of these structures have witnessed significant
drilling. These two mineralized structures will be a near-term
focus for exploration within the Projects. Modern core orientation
techniques, with the objective of further understanding the
structural controls on mineralization, will be systematically
applied during this program.
Qualified Person and Data Verification
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed,
verified and approved by Keith
Whitehouse, AusIMM (CP), Exploration Manager of Leviathan
Gold (Australia) Pty. Ltd., a
qualified person as defined by NI 43-101.
On behalf of the Company,
Luke Norman, Chief Executive
Officer and Director
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release. No securities regulatory authority has
either approval or disapproved of the contents of this press
release.
This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a
solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in
the United States. The securities
have not been and will not be registered under the United States
Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities
Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or
sold within the United States
unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable
state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is
available.
Forward-Looking Statements
Information set forth in this news release contains
forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the
date of this news release, including with respect to geological
prospects of Leviathan's mineral projects, planned exploration
activities, success of exploration activities, the relevance of
historical information, the continuation of
mineralization, the relevance of comparable projects, the
timing of exploration activities, general business and economic
conditions; that applicable approvals are obtained; that qualified
workers, financing, permits, approvals, and equipment are obtained
in a timely manner; that market conditions continue; that
contractual counterparties perform their obligations as required;
and that Leviathan is able to locate sufficient financing for
favourable ongoing operations. These statements reflect
management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and
expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance.
Leviathan cautions that all forward looking statements are
inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by
many material factors, many of which are beyond Leviathan's
control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and
uncertainties relating to whether exploration activities will
result in commercially viable quantities of mineralized materials;
the possibility of changes to project parameters as plans continue
to be refined; the ability to execute planned exploration and
future drilling programs;COVID-19; the ability to obtain qualified
workers, financing, permits, approvals, and equipment in a timely
manner or at all and on reasonable terms; changes in the commodity
and securities markets; non-performance by contractual
counterparties; and general business and economic conditions,
Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may
differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and
expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking
information. Although Leviathan has attempted to identify important
risks and factors that could cause actual actions, events or
results to differ materially from those described in
forward-looking statements, there may be other factors and risks
that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated,
estimated or intended. Consequently, undue reliance should not be
placed on such forward-looking statements. In addition, all
forward-looking statements in this press release are given as of
the date hereof. Leviathan disclaims any intention or obligation to
update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise, save and
except as may be required by applicable securities laws. The
forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified
by this disclaimer.
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SOURCE Leviathan Gold Ltd