STAWELL-based mineral exploration company Navarre Minerals believes gold drilling results from a business partner will help its activities in the Grampians region.
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Perth’s Catalyst Metals announced this month that it had found indications of high-grade gold from drilling at its Tandarra project north of Bendigo.
Catalyst has a joint venture with Navarre for exploring tenements at Tandarra.
Navarre managing director Geoff McDermott said the deal, combined with a government grant last month, would help the company develop its projects near Ararat.
“Tandarra is under cover and its a bit harder to explore than areas over at Ararat and the reefs are looking like what was mined at Bendigo,” he said.
“Rather than Navarre focusing time on it, Catalyst want to get a slice of the action so they’re spending $3 million over four years to earn 51 per cent interest in that project.
“It means we can focus on this project in Ararat.”
Mr McDermott said he hoped the value of Tandarra as a gold mine could be established in the next few years.
“We invested $3-4 million at Tandarra over several years to advance the project further toward mineral resource status.
“Catalyst has until 2018 to complete its work and we hope it will turn into an ore body.”
Navarre’s plan is to use the Tandarra and Tatyoon, south of Ararat, exploration tenements to expand the company and possibly enter the copper and zinc mining industries.
“The state government is hopeful that western Victoria will have the next gold mine or copper mine, and there’ll certainly be plenty of jobs in the area,” Mr McDermott said.
“It’s part of the government’s $15-million TARGET initiative and Navarre received a fairly healthy chunk of the first $2 million: just over $600,000.”
Mr McDermott said the money would support about half the exploration activities that Navarre planned to carry out at Ararat.
“It will fund part of a drilling program,” he said.