In 2016, Gorubso won a competitive tender for exploration rights to the Tintyava Property. As part of an earnin option agreement, Velocity began exploration in July 2017 and in February 2018 the Tintyava Property was formally transferred from Gorubso to Tintyava Exploration EAD (“Tintyava Exploration”), the joint venture vehicle for Velocity and Gorubso. The participating interests of Velocity and Gorubso in the Tintyava joint venture are 70% and 30%, respectively, and both partners contribute pro rata to joint venture costs.
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Summary:
Deposit Types
Rozino is a LSE gold deposit hosted within breccia and conglomerate Palaeogene sediments as disseminations, replacement and vein mineralization. The dominant mineralization strike is northwest, parallel to the regional extensional fault regime, with local mineralization development controlled by the intersection of steep structures sub-parallel to the bounding extensional faults, and gently dipping bedding.
Velocity’s exploration focussed on the dominant northwest trend of veins within the Palaeogene sediments. The veins appear to be controlled by steep structures interpreted to extend into the basement.
Drilling to date has not intersected significant gold mineralization within the basement. However, drilling has intersected crustiform gold and base-metal bearing, northwest striking LSE veins within the basement. These veins are generally narrow and rarely wider than 10 centimetres. The LSE hydrothermal fluids were confined within the impermeable basement and these non-reactive fluid pathways have very narrow alteration selvedges that are difficult to detect by drilling.
Upon reaching the basal unconformity the hydrothermal fluids would have de-pressurized and throttled boiling is the interpreted mechanism for gold deposition. The poorly consolidated breccia conglomerate sediments are interpreted to have been wet, further neutralizing the hydrothermal fluid, creating disseminated gold haloes peripheral to the boiling zones. Where hydrothermal pathways intersect coarse sandstones, stockwork quartz carbonate veins are developed at the expense of disseminated mineralization.
Velocity consider that all untested parts of the Palaeogene basins in the Tintyava Property have the potential to host epigenetic, LSE mineralization analogous to that at Rozino, making the basin sediments to the south of Rozino targets for further exploration.
Velocity’s exploration of Tintyava Property has included soil sampling of areas within the BRSZ where similar rocks to those hosting the Rozino deposit outcrop,including the Rozino South and Kazak areas. For large areas of the Property, the prospective rock units are overlain by younger sedimentary rocks, recent alluvial cover or both. Velocity considers that for such areas, any potential mineralization is likely to be geochemically blind to soil sampling, and that deeper drilling is an appropriate exploration approach.
Velocity have identified telethermal alteration at Tashlaka, characterized by hot springs silicification and associated pathfinder geochemistry including arsenic, antimony, barium, mercury and silver. Although no significant gold grades have been noted in this area, the identified alteration aids geological understanding of the Property, and exploration target. This alteration is interpreted to indicate that despite lying at a lower topographic level than the Rozino deposit, the alteration represents higher levels of the hydrothermal system. This is indicative of as yet undefined post mineralization extensional faulting between Tashlaka and the Rozino Deposit.
Mineralization
The following summaries of the Rozino mineralization is derived from Hogg (2017) and notes supplied by Velocity.
Rozino is a low sulphidation epithermal gold deposit hosted within generally brecciated and conglomeratic Palaeogene sedimentary rocks as disseminations, replacement and vein mineralization. The mineralogy consists mainly of pyrite with traces of base metals and rare arsenopyrite. Gold is present at sulphide mineral boundaries and to a lesser degree as free grains or encapsulated inclusions. Gangue minerals consist of silica, iron carbonates and adularia. Alteration is characterized by a quartz, carbonate, chlorite, adularia, pyrite assemblages.
The dominant mineralization trend is northwest and parallel to the regional extensional fault regime with local mineralization development controlled by the intersection of steep structures sub-parallel to the bounding extensional faults, and gently dipping bedding. Mineralization is interpreted to have been emplaced around 100 to 150 metres below the palaeotopographic surface and related to shallow extensional faults representing reactivation of pre-existing steep structures.
Rozino mineralization controls include olistostrome bodies of metamorphic basement that effect the distribution of mineralization within the sedimentary basin Brecciated boundaries of the olistostrome bodies are generally more strongly mineralized than their massive cores which are generally poorly mineralized.
Drilling has intersected mineralization over an area about 800 metres by 1,000 metres to a vertical depth of around 195 metres. The mineralization is interpreted to be completely oxidized to average depth of about 11 metres, with fresh rock occurring at an average depth of about 22 metres.