TOOLOOM GOLD PROJECT

Geology and Mineralisation

Gold mineralisation at Tooloom generally appears to be of intrusive-related gold deposit (“IRGD”) type, analogous to the deposits of the Tintina belt in Alaska and the Yukon.

The Tooloom goldfield lies within the Emu Creek Block, a tectonic unit within the New England Fold Belt of north eastern NSW. Rocks in the area consist mainly of gently folded conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, carbonaceous siltstone and tuff of the Emu Creek Formation, thought to be of Permo-Carboniferous age. Regionally these sedimentary rocks are intruded in a number of places by granitic to dioritic igneous rocks of Permian to Triassic age. Within the Tooloom project area mapping by Malachite has identified several previously unrecorded bodies of intrusive rocks, including felsic porphyry, quartz diorite porphyry, hornblende diorite porphyry, diorite, microdiorite and dolerite. Hydrothermal alteration and sulphide mineralisation are well developed in many of the intrusives and in their sedimentary wall rocks.

To the east and north, the Emu Creek Formation and the intrusive rocks are overlain unconformably by Jurassic-aged coal measure sediments of the Clarence – Moreton Basin and they in turn are overlain locally by Tertiary basalt lava flows. The region displays a strong structural grain, clearly visible in the aeromagnetic image, with dominant NNE and NW structures which affect drainage and commonly control mineralisation. Dilation zones occur in many places and some contain intrusions of porphyry, bodies of hydrothermal breccia or sheeted auriferous quartz veining.

Gold mineralisation at Tooloom is clearly associated with intrusive centres, with a variety of expressions in different host rocks and structural settings. The gold is characteristically coarse grained, except at Phoenix. Panning of anomalous soil samples commonly reveals gold particles of the order of 1mm or so in size. Sulphide minerals are generally present with the gold, most commonly arsenopyrite, pyrite and pyrrhotite. Minor chalcopyrite, sphalerite and galena have been observed in drill core, while stibnite is well developed at Phoenix.

In terms of alteration mineralogy the main secondary minerals observed are sericite and carbonate, commonly quite intensely developed. In some cases the sericite is relatively coarse grained and the host rock is reminiscent of greisen. Silica flooding is evident within some intrusive host rocks and in some sediment-hosted structures gold is accompanied by banded quartz, carbonate, sericite and chlorite alteration.