Stavely Block 10
Overview
The project is prospective for copper, gold, and other base metals, and is also prospective for heavy mineral sands, given the bed rock sits beneath the target HMS sequence in the region.
Location
The project area is situated within the central part of the Stavely Arc, extending from Mortlake to Lake Hindmarsh in Western Victoria. Stavely Block 10 (dark blue overlay in the map below) covers an area of 757 km² located directly south of Horsham, from Drung to Glenisla between the Grampians and the Black Range. It is mostly covered by broadacre farming for sheep and cereal crops.
Regional Geology
The Stavely Arc developed during west-directed subduction along the eastern margin of Gondwana in the Cambrian (500-525 million years ago). Such a setting is favorable for a range of arc-related mineral systems (e.g., porphyry, epithermal, and volcanic-hosted massive sulfide systems).
The Stavely Arc is now preserved as eighteen structurally dismembered, narrow, fault-bound, volcanic belt segments that contain features characteristic of metallogenically well-endowed volcanic arc terranes worldwide.
The Stavely Block 10 Project area is concealed under younger Murray Basin cover sediments and is therefore interpreted to exist from geophysics (magnetics data) and previous exploration drilling.
WIM commenced exploration over the project area after holding several information sessions with the public in 2019 and 2021. Several aircore drilling programs have been completed throughout the district, aimed at drilling through the regional cover sediments to tap the underlying Cambrian rocks and provide a window to the underlying geology.
Work Completed
Airborne Survey
WIM commissioned an airborne magnetics survey over parts of the license area (see magenta overlay below), which was conducted during May and June 2021. Flying was at a very low height of 40m above the ground with line spacings of 50m east-west, producing very detailed imagery of the underlying geology. Magnetic variations within different rock types are used to help map the underlying geology beneath the Earth’s surface, and the results from this survey will help direct further exploration.
Gravity Survey
During January 2022, WIM conducted two ground level gravity surveys. This survey technique takes measurements of the gravitational field at a series of different locations over areas of interest within the tenement and help define the underlying geology using variations in rock density. This was followed up with further aircore drilling in 2022 and 2023.
