South Pacific Metals Corp. is pleased to announce new exploration work programs are underway at the Anga Project, following surface geochemistry targeting results confirming the Irinke Prospect’s priority nature and identifying several new gold prospects extensional to Irinke. Surface sampling will assist with prioritized drill targeting.
Cathy Fitzgerald, President and Chief Geologist of the Company, stated, “As the Company awaits delivery of its brand-new drill rig, we are accelerating exploration across our highly prospective Kainantu Gold District projects. In particular, the new study of all surface samples collected to date at the Anga Project has revealed further exciting targets near our Irinke Prospect, where mineralization of the same nature as K92’s Arakompa system returned rock samples up to 3.68 g/t Au. We will be very active sampling across this broad area of gold-mineralization.”
ALS Geoanalytics Advanced Technology Targeting Results
The Company engaged ALS Geoanalytics to complete a geochemical study of all soil, stream sediment and rock samples (including historic data) to provide a deeper understanding of geochemical indicators for discovery at the Anga Project. This work has confirmed the K92 Mining Arakompa-like geochemical signature of the Irinke target, providing vectors to further mineralized areas as well as identifying new prospects warranting on-the-ground follow up now underway.
Irinke Prospect
The Irinke Prospect is located only 1,500 m east of K92 Mining’s processing plant and is approximately three km along strike from the Arakompa discovery. Previous work by the Company has identified gold in soil anomalism along with rock chips, from early-stage reconnaissance up to 3.68 g/t Au (see news release dated November 13, 2024). The Irinke Prospect is hosted in metasediments intruded by diorite, making it a comparable setting to K92 Mining’s operations. Analyses of the geophysics indicates alteration and major structures are also similar. The results of this work provide additional confidence that the surface anomalism at Irinke is linked to a significant target (refer to Figure 2, target areas A, B, & C in the Irinke prospect region). Upcoming surface work will include closely spaced soil sampling and structural mapping.
Binano North (Irinke Extension to NE)
The Binano North Prospect is located approximately 1 km east of Irinke. Both metasediments and series of intrusive dykes are mapped in this area and there are strong indicators of hydrothermal activity. Previous work has been reconnaissance rock sampling with modest anomalous rock chips of up to 0.8 g/t Au. The pathfinder elements through this area (Bi-Sb-Te-Ag-Mo-Cu-Zn-Pb) are strong.
A review of aerial imagery indicated several disturbed areas which may be artisanal or alluvial gold workings, to be determined pending on-ground investigation. This target area incorporates three targets covering an area of 2.5 km by 1 km, from which the Company has collected approximately 250 grid soil samples at 50×50 m spacing to advance this large system to potentially drill ready Upcoming surface work will include closely-spaced soil sampling, and structural mapping (refer to Figure 2, target areas H, G & M).
Golkona and Golkona South (Irinke Extensions East)
The Golkona Prospect is located approximately 4 km east of Irinke. The area includes a large altered intrusive complex anomalous in gold in soils (>10 ppb Au, up to 70 ppb Au) over an area approximately 750 x 750 m (refer to Figure 2). The prospect area is located on a major NE-SW structure that can be linked through geophysical and topography analyses through to the Maniape vein system owned by K92 Mining. The work by ALS Geoanalytics indicates the Golkona area is near a mineral system with structural indicators to the south and a strong association to Cu-Mo pathfinder elements (refer to Figure 2).
The Golkona South area consists of a strong magnetic anomaly coincident with an apparent conductivity anomaly (referred to as the N1 anomaly in news release dated June 9, 2022), identified in the 2021 MobileMT survey. This area has been largely unsampled. Anomalous stream sediment sample results and alluvial gold in this area has not been followed up since sampling was initially completed in 2022. With the results of analysis at Golkona indicating that mineral indicators point southward, the Company is embarking on a ridge and spur soil sampling and rock chip sampling program in this region.
Other Targets
A number of other targets have been identified that warrant upcoming surface work which will include closely spaced soil sampling and structural mapping. These include:
- North Ridge Target (L) – has Au soil results up to 90 ppb and rock results up to 0.85 g/t Au. Prior to infill sampling, the area is going to have reconnaissance to check several unsampled outcrops.
- East Skarn Target (P) – An area of very high gold in soils (up to 330 ppb Au and 270pb Au) in an area mapped as metamorphosed carbonates. The geology and geochemical data suggest a possible gold-rich skarn target. Further reconnaissance work with mapping and rock sampling is planned in the short-term.
About the Anga Project
The Anga Gold-Copper Project comprises 461 km² of 100%-owned exploration licenses in the highly gold-copper mineralized Kainantu Gold District. The project is located immediately northeast of, and adjacent to, K92’s Kainantu Gold Mine Project (see Figure 3), and its southwestern project boundary is only 3 km from where K92 is currently drilling on the Arakompa lode-gold vein system, where multiple wide and high-grade gold zones have been intercepted. Access to the Anga Project is via the Ramu-Markham highway to the northeast.
