It would appear that Grenfell is about to experience a mini gold rush. With the Broula King gold mine nearing its operational life at Bumbaldry another company has recently applied for an exploration license (ELA) i.e a Sydney based company calling themselves “Commissioners Gold Limited (ASX CGU)”.
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The lease will cover approximately 5.3km2 over the historical Grenfell goldfield site centered around O’Brien’s Hill and extending up to three kilometers in a line of lode. The ELA covers all of the historic mines on the 24 gold-quartz reefs
The ELA has been discussed by the Weddin Shire Council and they are fully aware of the nature of the application and the implications for the area covered by the proposal.
The application was lodged following desktop studies into historic mining at Grenfell, as a result of which, the discovery potential for a comparatively high-grade, quartz vein style gold deposit in the vicinity of the existing mine workings (ie the O’Brien’s Hill Gold Trail site) was highlighted as the Exploration Target.
In technical jargon, the application by the company describes the targeted area as being “located on a major fault zone in the SE Lachlan Fold Belt, the Coolac-Narromine Fault, which has been a key regional control for the localisation of gold mineralisation at Grenfell and at other large gold mining centres in the region such as at Forbes, Parkes and Tomingley”.
The application then goes on to say that “Commissioners Gold is focussed on the hard rock potential of the Grenfell field and upon grant of a licence, is aiming to fast-track exploration so as to establish drill targets along the line of lode through completion of a detailed geological survey in conjunction with more in-depth analysis of the historic underground mining records and previous exploration results”.
In the application Commissioners Gold claims that they intend to establish a gold resource in the area and that will support a low impact, narrow vein area that the area will be “targeted with a view to establishing and supporting a gold resource…..that will support a low impact operation and an offsite ore processing which will have a small local foorprint (ie will have a minimum impact on the local ecology).
The ELA must also be approved by the State Government and it could be six months before the approval is granted if there are no mittigating circumstances surround the proposal. It is believed that all considerations will be taken into account by the government and the council regarding any environmental impacts given the sites historical significance.
