Progress
Golden West Resources has reported a JORC compliant Inferred Mineral Resource of 119 Million tonnes @ 58.9% Fe in July 2008, represented an increase of 33Mt of the Oct 2007 reported resource. With this announcement Golden West has achieved its goal of defining a resource to at least 100 to 150 Million tonnes. Golden West expects to further increase resources at Wiluna West in August 2008 as the Snowden international mining consultancy group is expected to complete a resource upgrade of the C4 deposit and additional drilling information becomes available for the Bowerbird South deposit.
Units B and C are the present focus of the exploration. Within Unit B, which includes the Joyners Find and Bowerbird Prospects a number of high grade, direct shipping, hard hematite deposits have been identified. Unit C has five priority target areas, namely C1, C2, C3, C4 and C5. Field mapping, rock chip sampling, gravity survey and RC drilling programs are ongoing and it is highly likely that further resources will be identified.
Unit B
Unit B can confidently be traced by outcrop and magnetics for a strike length of 35km. The unit is characterised by narrow high grade hematite mineralisation. High grade hematite deposits have been outlined at the Joyners Find and Bowerbird Prospects.
The Bowerbird Prospect is located approximately 10km north of Joyners Find. Mineralisation at Bowerbird contains hematite and magnetite explaining the exceptional grades. Significant intersections include 18m @ 62.8% Fe, 24m @ 60.1% Fe and 19m @ 63.3% Fe. A resource model has been calculated.
Unit C
Both high grade hematite, equivalent to that observed in Unit B and bedded hematite goethite styles of mineralisation are present in Unit C.
To date, the most significant iron mineralisation defined within the Project area has been found in the notably thicker and more strike persistent Unit C. Based upon preliminary field mapping, five initial target areas named C1, C2, C3, C4 and C5 have been identified.
C1 Prospect
Outcropping hematite mineralised iron formation lies along the western edge of the C ridge for a strike length of some 3.5km. Mineralisation is generally separated from the main iron formation by mafic schist some 50m in width. Drilling along the length of this unit has shown the mineralisation occurs within anastomising pods up to 400m in length as a result of fold repetition and structural dislocation.
Significant intercepts include:
- WWRC182, 24m @ 64.4% Fe
- WWRC555, 76m @ 59.8% Fe
- WWRC557, 23m @ 63.1% Fe
C2 Prospect
Drilling at C2 is not as extensive as that at C3 however it has shown the hematite mineralisation extends for a strike length of some 2.3km within an anastomising band. The area is structurally complex with apparent isoclinal folding with one or more low angle faults/thrusts cutting across the iron formation possibly facilitating a later mineralising event. The area in considered to have considerable potential with further drilling expected to enhance the mineralisation intercepted to date.
Significant intercepts include:
- WWRC531, 29m @ 60.4% Fe
- WWRC533, 16m @ 63.2% Fe
- WWRC865, 29m @ 61.4% Fe
C3 Prospect
C3 mineralisation outcrops over widths of between 85 and 130m and is made up of 3 parallel zones comprised of both hard and powdery hematite. Structural repetition and folding lends a degree of complexity to this prospect. Limited drilling to date has defined hematite ore over a strike length of some 2.5 km with a further pod of ore defined over a like length of some 500m north of the main C3 zone defining further prospectivity to a zone of some 3.3km strike length.
Significant intercepts include:
- WWRC347, 61m @ 60.1% Fe
- WWRC487, 32m @ 62.8% Fe
- WWRC474, 57m @ 66.7% Fe
- WWRC543, 42m @ 60.0% Fe
- WWRC624, 37m @ 62.8% Fe
Exploration mapping and drilling some 150m east of the main C3 horizon has intercepted a zone some 300m in mapped length with a best intercept of 57m @ 66.7% Fe which remains open at depth and to the south. C3 has excellent prospectivity for the definition of further hematite ore reserves close to surface with further drilling.
C4 Prospect
The hematite iron ore lies on the contact with an ultramafic or mafic intrusive to the east with only iron formation to the west. In general there are two interpreted Fe mineralised zones (possibly representing fold limbs) which strike approximately north-south and dip between 400 and 800 towards the west. A total of 3 east-west faults were interpreted from the available geology and gravity data. Infill drilling to date has confirmed the C4 deposit is up to 130m wide and remains open at depth in the southern end where the mineralisation is widest and shows excellent continuity. The deepest hole drilled on the project to date, WWRC779, ended in mineralisation at 209m.
Further drilling in the northern end of the prospect since the definition of inferred resources has confirmed continuity of mineralisation with some structural dislocation. Diamond drilling due to commence within the next quarter is designed to provide metallurgical, geotechnical, geochemical, geological, structural and petrological data which will further enhance the confidence of the resource, together with providing valuable information for further modelling. This data should provide the framework for definition drilling.
Significant intercepts include:
- WWRC458, 104m @ 61.9% Fe
- WWRC459, 126m @ 65.0% Fe
- WWRC779, 33m @ 60.3% Fe
- WWRC824, 88m @ 60.1% Fe
Resource Modelling
Golden West Resources on 16 April 2007 confirmed that an initial JORC-compliant Inferred Mineral Resource of 50 million tonnes @ 61% Fe has been outlined at Wiluna West Iron Project. This is an interim Mineral Resource estimate as exploration is continuing with up to three RC rigs on site. On 31 October, GWR announced an Interim Inferred Mineral Resource at Wiluna West boosted by 36.1 Mt to 86.3 Mt grading 60.1% Fe, a tonnage increase of 72%. On 30 July 2008 Golden West Resources reported a JORC compliant Inferred Mineral Resource of 119 Million tonnes @ 58.9% Fe in July 2008, represented an increase of 33Mt of the Oct 2007 reported resource. Golden West expects to further increase resources at Wiluna West in August 2008 as the Snowden international mining consultancy group is expected to complete a resource upgrade of the C4 deposit and additional drilling information becomes available for the Bowerbird South deposit.
International mining consultant group Snowdens are Project Managers and have completed Interim Inferred Mineral Resource calculations for the Unit, Joyners Find and Bowerbird iron ore deposits as summarised in Table 1 below.
Golden West Resources believes these results further underline the potential of its high grade iron resource at the Wiluna West Project, where it has to date only systematically worked the northern 23 kilometres of B & C Ridges.
A table of the Inferred Mineral Resources are as follows:
Table 1: Wiluna West Inferred Hematite Mineral Resource, July 2008
| Deposit | Tonnes (Mt) | Fe (%) | P (%) | Al2O3 (%) | Si02 (%) | LOI (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowerbird Nth | 3.9 | 59.6 | 0.04 | 3.8 | 6.6 | 2.6 |
| Bowerbird Cent | 11.8 | 58.5 | 0.06 | 3.5 | 9.3 | 2.7 |
| Joyners Find | 4.6 | 64.9 | 0.02 | 1.9 | 2.8 | 2.0 |
| Jindalee Joyners Nth | 6.9 | 59.9 | 0.04 | 2.6 | 7.4 | 2.3 |
| Jindalee Joyners | 2.3 | 62.2 | 0.02 | 2.9 | 5.4 | 1.9 |
| C1 | 4.2 | 58.5 | 0.09 | 3.3 | 7.2 | 5.2 |
| C2 | 3.4 | 60.1 | 0.03 | 2.1 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| C3 | 41.0 | 57.6 | 0.08 | 2.5 | 9.9 | 5.0 |
| C4 | 24.1 | 59.6 | 0.03 | 2.5 | 9.2 | 2.7 |
| C5 | 4.4 | 59.1 | 0.12 | 2.1 | 8.9 | 3.8 |
| CR | 4.0 | 60.6 | 0.03 | 1.4 | 9.3 | 1.7 |
| Bowerbird Sth | 8.4 | 56.6 | 0.04 | 3.7 | 11.6 | 3.1 |
| TOTAL | 119.0 | 58.9 | 0.06 | 2.7 | 8.9 | 3.6 |
Notes:
Lower Cut Off 50% Fe
Jindalee Joyners Nth deposit GWR earning 80% from Jindalee Resources Limited
Jindalee Joyners deposit GWR earning 80% from Jindalee Resources Limited
The drilling campaign currently underway continues to yield significant insights into the prospectivity and geology of the Project areas.
The results supporting this resource will be used to target the activities of the RC drill rig and diamond drilling rig currently operating on site to optimise iron mineralised extensions at depth and along strike.
With the integration of ongoing drilling results from this campaign, Golden West is on track to attain target of high grade iron resource of 100 Mt as additional results from the current drilling campaign are received.
