Mothballed miner Core Lithium in Territory gold strike

Positive test results have breathed new life into a mothballed Territory miner. Read the latest.

A mothballed Territory miner has reported positive test outcomes that point to a large gold system at Mt Shoobridge near Pine Creek.

Core Lithium posted on the Australian Stock Exchange last week that its final test results for 2024 pointed to “potential for a large gold system” with a substantial proportion of “near surface oxide mineralisation”.

It pointed to the potential for a “bulk, open pit gold mining operation” in the Top End at a later date.

A 19-page document lodged with the ASX that followed a systematic drilling campaign showing 0.75 grams of gold per tonne up to 1.52 grams per tonne, and 0.97 grams of gold per tonne, up to 1.91 grams per tonne from separate assays taken at the end of last year.

These will be followed by an internal desktop evaluation of the potential for low cost, bulk mining at Mt Shoobridge, with a focus on shallow oxide and primary gold mineralisation defined by the drilling undertaken up until the end of 2024.

Core Lithium chief executive officer Paul Brown.

Core will also look at an additional structural and geological review to target higher-grade zones already identified as well as areas outside previously explored zones.

The Mt Shoobridge gold prospect is about 10km from the Stuart Highway and 60km from the disused gold processing facility at Union Reef’s near Pine Creek township.

Core chief executive Paul Brown said the positive gold strikes would not divert the company from is primary focus as a lithium miner.

“Now that all results from our 2024 drill program at Mt Shoobridge have been returned, we have a greater appreciation for the potential size of the system,” Mr Brown said.

“There appears to be a large, shallow body of oxide mineralisation and areas of higher grade material along the 800m of strike tested.

Core Lithium's Finniss project

“We will now look at the economic opportunity to support a bulk, open pit gold mining operation of this style of mineralisation and use these parameters to inform the next phase of exploration at Shoobridge, and determine how we take the project forward.”
Mr Brown said despite the encouraging test outcomes, the company remained focused on delivering lithium and the company’s future direction would be determined by the contents of a restart study, which is expected to be released in the June quarter.

The company has invested about $250 million developing the Grant’s open-cut mine and, when the project was placed in care-and-maintenance early last year, was also developing its stage two underground mine at the Finniss.

“We’re a lithium company first off and we’ve got a great asset out there,” Mr Brown said. “We’ve obviously spent some really good capital to get that operation up and running and you know, it remains a really solid asset so first and foremost we’re certainly a lithium operation.

“However, we do have extensive tenement holdings not only in and around our immediate operation, but also further afield like at Mt Shoobridge where we’ve been drilling for lithium and finished up striking some interesting gold intercepts that allowed us to pursue a second, smaller exploration program, with some pretty good results.

“But we certainly are focused on our lithium part of the business.”

Originally published as Mothballed miner Core Lithium in Territory gold strike