directors are switched on. c I feel they acquire land, presumably good land, jv with companies to fund them through drilling and if they get result, they get payday.]
an article to read.
The Speculator
Wednesday, January 25, 2006 Lasseter's reef may be lost to history but there's gold in them thar hills, and one compnay is determined to find it. Prospector Harold Bell Lasseter died of thirst and starvation in the desert of Central Australia 76 years ago this week. Yet his legendary claim of having discovered a fabulous, gold-studded quartz reef stretching over 16km through the desert sands lives on. Was he genuine? Was he a deluded dreamer and barking mad? We will probably never know. For his secrets went with him to the grave, apart from a detailed but cryptic diary found with his body and infuriatingly incomprehensible maps, due in part to an inaccurate watch that got meridian settings incorrect.
Lasseter claimed to have discovered the reef first as a 17-year-old in 1897, when he was looking for rubies far to the west of Alice Springs. He became lost in the desert, an Afghan driver found him and took him to the camp of a West Australian surveyor named Harding. Three years later, Harding and Lasseter allegedly found the reef again on an approach from the west, but their watches were faulty so their longitudinal positioning was incorrect. The turn-of-the century boom on the Coolgardie--Kalgoorlie goldfields overshadowed any further interest in Lasseter's claims.
When he was 50, he persuaded a Sydney syndicate to mount an expedition in 1930. It raised £5000 to finance the Central Australian Gold Exploration Company to search for the reef from which Lasseter claimed he had recovered samples running 3oz of gold per tonne. The expedition disintegrated after personal conflict between Lasseter and leader Fred Blakely, who took the main party back to Alice Springs.
Lasseter left the base camp at Ilbilla, 150km east of the WA-NT border (and about the same distance north-east of the Bloods Range as shown on the map). It was early November 1930 and, he set out on his fateful last ride. He headed south-west to the Petermann Ranges (which run east-west below EL5701 on the map) then west across the border into WA. His diary, found five months later, claimed he had penetrated west to the barren Lake Christopher, where he picked up his bearings. (That's 200km west of the WA-NT border.)
The diary claimed he rediscovered and pegged the reef on December 23. Lasseter collapsed and died in January while making a desperate run to permanent water in the Olgas, 150km south-east of where his body was found near the Petermann Range.
Fifteen years ago, I recalled this story (B, 5/11/1991) after the publicly listed Goldsearch sought an exploration licence on ground on the WA side of the border. Its then-chairman, Sydney solicitor John Merity, said the area was selected off a study of previous literature (including the diaries) and survey and geophysical maps. Despite the efforts, the mystery of the reef remains. Is it a hoax or was it lost beneath the desert sands?
Since then, control of Goldsearch has changed to a board under Sydney lawyer John Landerer (chairman), executive director John Percival (a former investment banker), engineer Robert Leece, geologist Terry Willsteed and oil expert Bert Harris. The company has a swag of exploration licence applications (ELAs) totalling 28,590 sq km across Lasseter country straddling the Musgrave block. The NT areas were held by a syndicate, Allender, Hosking, LeBrun (a broker with Reynolds and Co) in which Goldsearch may earn 70%. Goldsearch then farmed out to the listed Independence Group (ASX code: IGO), which may spent $2m to earn 51% of Goldsearch's interest.
So far, only one tenement has been granted, EL5701, where the Central Lands Council granted access last year on behalf of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara people. It's here that IGO has found after extensive soil sampling a semi-continuous quartz vein extending over at least 700m. Best rock chip samples reported include 29.71 g/t and 13.75 g/t. Further permission is required before it can be drilled.
Coincidentally, Lasseter's body was found 18km south-west of the rock-chip sampling site. While no one is suggesting it has any connection with the fabled reef, at least it confirms the country does host gold-bearing reefs.
On the SA side of the border, the ELAs are held 100% by Goldsearch with IGO earning a 51% interest. Again, only a couple of ELs have been so far granted. At De Rose Hill, where anomalous nickel-copper values have been detected in soil sampling, Goldsearch has hopes of farming out to an overseas major.
Goldsearch's big hope in 2006 is a planned joint venture in the Philippines with the listed Medusa Mining, with a hopeful annual production target of as much as 35,000oz of gold (half due to Medusa) from ore with an average grade of 20 g/t and cash costs of less than $US200 an ounce. It will be small but profitable if sufficient reserves are established. To seal this venture first announced late last year, Goldsearch will need to put up $US1m. At the end of December, it had modest cash of less than $100,000 plus listed shares (mostly IGO) worth more than $500,000. Expect an imminent capital raising through either an issue or placement.
For the past two years, Goldsearch has mainly lived on the share trading abilities of John Percival and associates. Issued capital stands at 183.2 million shares which at 4¢ values the company at $7.33m.
ZNO Price at posting:
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