Marmota set to kick off drilling program at Aurora Tank Gold following camp infrastructure upgrade

Marmota Ltd (ASX:MEU) (FRA:43M) is set to start diamond drilling and reverse circulation (RC) drilling at Aurora Tank Gold discovery in the highly prospective and underexplored Gawler Craton, near the Challenger Gold Mine in South Australia's Woomera Prohibited Defence Area. The South Australian mining exploration company recently completed the upgrade of camp infrastructure at Aurora Tank, doubling its water storage capacity which is necessary for the diamond drilling program.  Accelerated Discovery Initiative Marmota has also completed phase 2 of the new Accelerated Discovery Initiative (ADI), including high priority infill sampling of two new strong gold-in-calcrete anomalies that Marmota has just discovered. Both new strong gold anomalies are in the tenements adjoining Marmota’s Aurora Tank gold discovery and adjacent to the same shear zone as the discovery. Phase 2 was considerably expanded from the around 500 auger drill holes originally planned to 846 auger drill holes after phase 1 biogeochemical assay results yielded multiple additional anomalous targets. Some of the biogeochemical gold anomalies appear to be coincident with the gold-in-calcrete anomalies. Strong gold-in-calcrete anomalies In March 2021, Marmota completed phase 1 sampling of 1,768 individual new sample locations, covering about 300 square kilometres of ground, extending outwards from the gold discovery at Aurora Tank to the surrounding tenements. At each sample location, both a calcrete sample (geochemical) and tree leaf sample (biogeochemical) were taken. The new anomalies are in the Woorong Downs (west) tenement, roughly midway between the Challenger Gold Mine (to the west) and Marmota’s Aurora Tank gold discovery. Both Challenger and Aurora Tank were found by testing near-surface calcrete for anomalous gold, an indicator of gold below surface. The new gold anomalies are adjacent to the same NE shear zone as the Aurora Tank discovery where Marmota has yielded multiple 1-metre intersections over 100 g/t gold, all close to surface, including most recently, its best-ever result of 165 g/t gold over 1-metre (about 57 metres from surface). New assay results for the Woorong Downs ADI calcrete sampling yielded two new strong gold-in-calcrete anomalies, namely 40 ppb gold and 27 ppb gold (on a 400 metres grid). The highest ever gold-in-calcrete result recorded at the Aurora Tank (Goshawk) discovery was 38 ppb gold, including all detailed infill sampling down to a 50-metre grid size. These anomalous gold samples also feature elevated levels of copper, bismuth, molybdenum and uranium, which are likely to assist target identification once the infill sampling results are available. Phase 2 assay results The extent of such overlay will be vastly more apparent when the phase 2 assay results are received with the significantly increased density of data arriving. All phase 2 samples (calcrete and biogeochemical) have been dispatched to the respective laboratories. The company looks forward to receiving assays as a priority, albeit noting that the labs are extremely busy at the moment. New board appointments Marmota announced some board changes in May 2021, following the departure of Dr Kevin Wills as executive director (exploration) and Shane Barker as executive director (production). Dr Wills will, however, continue to advise the company on its exploration program in his new role as consulting geologist, including at the Aurora Tank discovery and the new Jumbuck project. The new appointments include Neville Bergin as non-executive director (production) and Aaron Brown as executive director (exploration). Bergin is a mining engineer with more than four decades of experience in the mining industry, primarily in operations in the gold sector, with both open pit and underground operational experience. Brown is an exploration geologist with more than 17 years of experience, exploring for gold, uranium, copper and nickel across a range of terrains in South Australia, particularly in the Gawler Craton, the Northern Territory and WA. He joined Marmota in 2017 as senior geologist and has been working together with Dr Wills in driving the development of the Aurora Tank discovery. Jumbuck Gold Project On November 30, 2020, the company entered into a binding agreement with Tyranna Resources Ltd (ASX:TYX) to acquire all of the rights, title and interest of Tyranna in the Jumbuck Gold Project, adjacent to Marmota’s ground. Subject to any remaining conditions precedent being satisfied, Marmota expects the transaction to complete in this quarter. Marmota chairman Dr Colin Rose said: “The Jumbuck Gold Project is our immediate neighbour in the Gawler Craton. "It is our backyard. It is where we do our gold exploration. Our exploration team know the ground. "We believe that if anyone can make it work, Marmota can." Champion Copper Prospect Its 2017 drilling program at 100%-owned Champion Copper Prospect returned multiple copper intersections greater than 0.3% copper, extending copper mineralisation over 1 kilometre along strike and up to 300 metres wide. Champion Copper (EL 5832) is on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, about 50 kilometres north of Rex Minerals Ltd’s (ASX:RXM) (OTCMKTS:RXRLF) Hillside Copper-Gold Deposit. With the completion of drilling, the focus for Marmota has now shifted back to its gold program. Junction Dam Uranium Project The Junction Dam project, 10 kilometres east of Uranium One’s Honeymoon uranium mine (a 1.2 million tonnes indicated resource) and 50 kilometres west of Broken Hill, adjoins Marmota’s Mulyungarie project (EL5124). In 2009, the company entered into a joint venture agreement with Teck Resources Ltd’s subsidiary, Teck Australia Pty Ltd, and Variscan Mines and Eaglehawk Geological Consulting Pty Ltd for the exploration of uranium on the project. Marmota has: ➢ JORC Inferred Resource of 5.4 million pounds U3O8 with average grade of 557ppm U3O8; ➢ Overall exploration target of 22–33 million pounds U3O8 at about 400 to 700 ppm U3O8; and ➢ Assay grades of up to 8,143 ppm U3O8 at the Saffron deposit. The MEU board recently commenced a strategic review of its uranium assets to add value to shareholders. Marmota is particularly well-placed for an upturn in the uranium sector, with an existing uranium JORC resource that the company spent millions of dollars to develop in prior years, and which is located adjacent to one of only four permitted mines in Australia.