VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 29, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Macarthur Minerals Limited (TSX-V:MMS) (the “Company” or “Macarthur Minerals”) is pleased to announce the results of a recent review of historical exploration data across the Company’s Exploration Licence Applications (“ELAs”). Historical exploration indicates the potential for gold and copper with surface rock samples recorded up to 111 grams per tonne and copper up to 3.2%.
David Taplin, President, CEO and Director of Macarthur Minerals commented:
“Macarthur Minerals is excited about the potential for gold and copper to be located on its tenements that were primarily acquired for lithium. The Company is interested in attracting a farm-in partner to take these projects forward while we continue our focus on exploration of our lithium properties and moving our iron ore projects forward.”
Historical Review
The Company has undertaken a review of historical gold and copper exploration data across its ELAs in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The Company has identified a number of areas indicating potential for gold and copper.
Gold and Copper - ELA45/4824, ELA45/4708 and ELA45/4709
Macarthur Minerals has a group of three ELAs located approximately 185 kilometers (“km”) South East of Port Hedland and 50 km South West of Marble Bar, indicating potential for gold and copper.
The three tenements have previously been explored by various companies for gold, copper, zinc and lead but limited drilling exists.
In 1984, Noranda Australia conducted a rock chip sampling program and mapping across a small area of ELA45/4824. Rock chip samples collected from surface recorded up to 111 grams per tonne (“g/t”) (Table 1) with visible gold in hand specimens recorded. The best results were from the Table Top prospect extending north to the Victory Mine with a prospective zone covering 3,000 meters (“m”) by 500 m.
The Table Top prospect covers an area of approx. 900 m strike and 500 m wide. Geological mapping at 1:5,000 scale shows a gold bearing zone related to a quartz vein system which runs sub-parallel to the trend of stratigraphy. At this stage, it is unknown if the gold mineralization occurs within wall rocks and requires further investigation to determine if quartz systems are continuous.
Additional sampling by Haoma Mining in 2010 approximately 1.8 km to the north of the Table Top prospect and near the old Victory Mine returned a surface grade gold of up to 4.7 g/t from nine samples. Previous mining activity at the Victory Mine between 1911 and 1938 processed 1,818 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 31.6 g/t gold.
The general area also appears highly prospective for copper. Sampling by Gondwana Resources along a North-South trend extending 8 km and within 200 m of the tenement boundary recorded five samples with grades of 2.0 to 5.5% copper. One sample recording 3.2% copper was collected at the southern end on Macarthur Minerals’ ELA45/4824.
Table 1. Historical results for gold and copper
| Sample type | Company | Prospect | Sample ID | Au g/t | Cu % |
| Rock chip | Haoma Mining 2010 | Victory | - | 4.7 | |
| Rock Chip | Noranda Australia 1984 | Table Top | 95192 | 111 | |
| 95398 | 61 | |
| 95345 | 58 | |
| 95298 | 58 | |
| 95286 | 42 | |
| 95200 | 25 | |
| 95374 | 23 | |
| 95287 | 21 | |
| 95285 | 16 | |
| 95198 | 15 | |
| 95289 | 14 | |
| 95375 | 11 | |
| 95193 | 9.7 | |
| 95197 | 9.2 | |
| 95330 | 4.1 | |
| 95437 | 3.6 | |
| 95290 | 3.3 | |
| 95367 | 3.1 | |
| 95435 | 2.5 | |
| 95346 | 2.5 | |
| 95293 | 2.5 | |
| 95399 | 1.05 | |
| Rock Chip | Gondwana Resources | Coongan South | - | - | 3.2 |
Gold - ELA45/4779 and ELA45/4732
Macarthur has two ELAs located approximately 130 km South East of Port Hedland and 40 km South West West of Marble Bar.
The majority of the local geology consists of various basaltic units interbedded with komatiitic flows, tectonic and sedimentary cherts, and congolmeritic/sandstone units. A major fault runs diagonally in a north-easterly direction through the centre of the tenement.
The tenement is largely unexplored with no drilling data publicly available. In 2014, Haoma Mining conducted a small scale rock sampling program of 33 rock samples across part of ELA45/4779 and ELA45/4732. A total of four rock samples recording above 1.0 g/t up to a maximum of 3.5 g/t gold were collected (Table 2).
Table 2. Historical rock samples collected across ELA45/4779 and ELA45/4732
| Sample type | Company | Au g/t |
| Rock chip | Haoma Mining 2014 | 3.5 |
| 1.3 |
| 1.1 |
| 1.0 |
Next Steps for the prospective gold properties
The Company will conduct further field work on the areas identified prospective for gold and work towards attracting an earn-in or joint venture partner to accelerate the exploration of these prospects.
QUALIFIED PERSONS
Mr Andrew Hawker, a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists, is a full-time employee of Hawker Geological Services Pty Ltd and is a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101. Mr Hawker has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.
ABOUT MACARTHUR MINERALS LIMITED (TSX-V:MMS)
Macarthur Minerals Limited is an exploration and development company that is focused on identifying and developing high grade lithium, with significant lithium exploration interest in Australia and Nevada. In addition, Macarthur has two iron ore projects in Western Australia; the Ularring hematite project and the Moonshine magnetite project.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
MACARTHUR MINERALS LIMITED