Navarre Minerals has made two applications, for mineral exploration tenements EL006702 and EL006703, which cover a total of 22 square kilometres from west of Armstrong to the south of Langi Logan.

If Navarre is granted the licences, it will not yet be entitled to carry out mining activities within their areas.

Navarre Minerals managing director Geoff McDermott said the company was hoping to find gold from volcanic rock deposits that were created on an ancient sea floor.

“We’re looking for gold and we are looking for it in certain situations where the rocks are right – fitting a model of oceanic floor basalt against sediment,” he said.

“That is where we hope to find gold. The fact is that other people have found gold there but have maybe looked on the wrong side.”

Mr McDermott said the exploration activities would range from geographic surveys to sample drilling.

“The first thing you do – the low-hanging fruit – is to go for what has been done in the past and collate that: the old drill holes and the available geophysics from the state government’s database.

“We would collate all that information and see how that compares with our existing models.

“And then we would plan our next moves – which might include geophysics in gravity and magnetics and the ultimate test: to come in with some drilling.” 

Navarre Minerals is an Australian Securities Exchange-listed company that is searching for gold deposits in a corridor of rocks that host the Stawell and Ararat goldfields.  

Anyone with objections to the mining exploration licences can contact the state government’s Earth Resources Information Centre to submit an objection in writing during a period of 21 days from when the applications were last advertised.