Siren Gold Limited provided an update of the untapped potential on its Auld Creek Prospect. The Auld Creek Prospect is contained within Siren's Golden Point exploration permit and is situated between the highly productive Globe Progress mine, which historically produced 418koz @ 12.2g/t Au, and the Crushington group of mines that produced 515koz @ 16.3 g/t Au. More recently OceanaGold Limited (OGL) mined an open pit and extracted an additional 600koz of gold from lower grade remnant mineralisation around the historic Globe Progress mine. The Auld Creek mineralisation extends for over 2kms and appears to represent a block that was potentially offset to the west, along NE-SE trending faults between Globe Progress and Crushington. There is no record of gold production at Auld Creek. Between 1996 and 2013, OGL drilled 17 diamond holes for 2,016m, defining a mineralised zone up to 13m true width. The Fraternal mineralisation was intersected in several holes, including RDD0087, which intercepted a true width of 12m @ 4.1g/t Au and 2.9% stibnite from 63m. The highest grades in the deposit are generally associated with strong stibnite mineralisation. The deepest drillhole intersected gold mineralisation less than 100m below surface, and mineralisation remains open at depth and along strike. The Reefton Goldfield has been correlated to the Lachlan Fold Belt (refer ASX announcement dated 25 March 2022) that contains epizonal gold-antimony deposits like Fosterville and Costerfield. Siren's Auld Creek epizonal deposit contains high grade gold and massive stibnite veins. For example, diamond drillhole RDD0087 intersected a true thickness of 12m @ 4.1g/t Au and 2.9%Sb and trench FFTR001 intersected 6m @ 8.9g/t Au and 4.4%Sb.
Siren has used the same gold equivalent formula (= g/+ 1.58 × %) used by Mandalay Resources Ltd. for the Costerfield mine (refer Mandalay Technical Report, 2022 dated 25 March 2022). The formula is based on a gold price of US$1,700 per ounce, antimony price of US$8,500 per tonne and metal recoveries of 93% for gold and 95% for antimony. Using this formula, the RDD087 drillhole intersection would change from 12m @ 4.1g/t Au to 12m @ 8.7g/t AuEq when the stibnite is taken into account. Antimony is a critical metal of which China and Russia combined produce approximately 82% of the world's antimony raw material supply. Antimony features highly on the critical minerals lists of many countries, including Australia, the USA, Canada, Japan and the European Union. Antimony alloys with lead and tin, which results in improved properties for solders, munitions, bearings and batteries. Antimony is a prominent additive for halogen-containing flame retardants. Adequate supplies of antimony are critical to the world's energy transition, and to the high-tech industry, especially the semi-conductor and defence sectors. For example, antimony is a critical element in the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries and to the next generation of liquid metal batteries that lead to scalable energy storage for wind and solar power. The price of antimony has increased significantly since 2016 and has reached US$14,000/tonne in 2022. As previously reported, Siren has completed infill soil sampling to better define the soil anomalies (refer to ASX announcement dated 10 October 2022). The arsenic soil anomaly now extends for over 700m along strike and clearly defines the Fraternal and Bonanza mineralisation. The Fraternal zone has been subdivided into the Fraternal and Fraternal North zones and Bonanza into Bonanza and Bonanza West zones. Siren has excavated four trenches across the Fraternal mineralised Shoot (FTTR001, FTTT002, FTTR003 and FTTR005), two trenches across the Fraternal North Shoot (FTTR004 and FTTR006) and one trench across the Bonanza Shoot (BZTR001) and Bonanza West Shoot (BZTR002). Two trenches were excavated between the Fraternal and Fraternal North Shoots (FTTR007 and FTTR008) and one trench 100m further to the north FTTR009. Results were previously reported for the Fraternal North Shoot (FTTR001: 6m @ 8.9g/t Au and 4.4% Sb for 15.8 g/t AuEq and FTTR002: 1.5m @ 17.1g/t Au and 9% Sb for 31.3g/t AuEq). The western end (hangingwall end) of FTTR001 ended in 17.9g/t Au, 4.5% Sb for 25g/t AuEq. This trench has now been extended and intersected an additional 2m of mineralisation including a 0.5m rich stibnite zone, extending the intersection to around 8m with assay
results awaited. Assay results have now been received for FTTR003 at the north end of the shoot, which intersected 2.0m @ 14.2g/t Au, 13% Sb for 34.6g/t AuEq and FTTR005 at the southern end of the shoot, which intersected 8.8m @ 2.82g/t Au, 0.24% Sb for a 3.21g/t AuEq. The Fraternal North Shoot has now been intersected by four trenches and four drillholes and is open to the south and down plunge. The Fraternal North Shoot has now been intersected in two trenches. Previously reported FTTR004, which intersected 4m @ 4.2 g/t Au, 0.36% Sb for 4.4g/t Au Eq and a new trench FTTR006, which intersected 1.7m @ 3.63g/t AuEq. FTTR004 has since been extended with an additional few metres of mineralisation intersected, and results awaited. The Fraternal North Shoot is not well defined at this stage. Trenches FTTR007 and FTTR008 were excavated between the Fraternal and Fraternal North Shoots and intersected a 1m thick zone grading 1.2 to 2.7 g/t Au. This is similar to drillhole intersections in the zone. The Bonanza zone is interpreted to be an east dipping splay from the Fraternal zone. Trench BZTR001 was excavated across shoot and intersected a broad zone of mineralisation averaging 14m @ 2g/t Au 0.82% Sb for
3.3g/t AuEq. This zone includes a higher-grade section of 6m @ 2.5g/t Au, 1.6% Sb for 5.0g/t AuEq. BZTR002 was excavated across the Bonanza West zone. This trench intersected 2.7m @ 2.85g/t Au, 0.15% Sb for 3.1g/t AuEq and finished in mineralisation at both ends. The Bonanza West zone was also intersected in drillhole 96DDAC003 (1m @ 4.7g/t AuEq. The N-S long section indicates that the Fraternal shoot is moderately south plunging, and drill tested for approximately 100m. This shoot orientation is similar to the Globe Progress shoots 1km to the south. The height of the shoot is unknown at this stage with trench FTTR005 excavated at the interpreted top of the Fraternal Shoot
intersecting 8.8m @ 3.2g/t AuEq. Arsenic soil geochemistry suggests the shoot may extend for another 50m to the south.