Im not entirely sure how most of these companies made it into...

Im not entirely sure how most of these companies made it into the Doolgunna Cup race as VMS hopefuls for a similar discovery.

First off, VMS deposits are syndepositionary which simplistically means they occur within a particular suite of rocks, in this case the Narracoota formation within the Bryah basin. The deposits formed at the same time the Narracoota formation was forming, therefore without the Narracoota and surely outside the Bryah basin, you will not get Doolgunna style VMS deposits.

With this in mind, lets look at the companies listed.

Astro Resources: All their ground is located in the Marymia Inlier which is a sliver of granitic rock from the Yilgarn craton which predates the Bryah Basin and therefore has no Doolgunna VMS potential. There could be slivers of archean greenstone belt which could produce base metal noise, but will not be the same as Doolgunna.

Ausgold: They do contain a small package of Bryah Basin along strike from Sandfire. But the vast majority of their ground is located in the Marymia Inlier, Peak Hill Schist and Bangemall Basin. Bangemall Basin post dates the Bryah Basin (lies on top of) and will thus not have potential for Doolgunna VMS

Sipa: All of their ground is located in the Yerrida Basin. Now, several decades ago the Yerrida and Bryah basin were interpreted to be the Glengarry Basin, however, intense field work by the GSWA (led by Franco Pirajno) has resulted in the recognition that these are separate basins with different evolutions. The Yerrida Basin experienced less volcanism than its Bryah counterpart and has much lower potential for VMS, and should not be included as Doolgunna like ground. There is the Thadunna copper mine, but this is located in a brecciated shear with lots of graphite which is not a VMS. This graphite is also a fantastic EM conductor (as ENT found out) and can give you some very misleading EM anomalies. No potential for Doolgunna VMS

Lodestar: Tenements all over the place. Marymia, Yerrida, Earaheedy, Bangemall. Nothing so much in the Bryah. No Doolgunna VMS potential.

Thundelarra: A very small sliver of Bryah basin to the north of TLM, majority in Marymia. Small potential for Doolgunna VMS. However, they also have the very prospective (although extremely small) Red Bore Mining Tenement, that bit of ground that is sure to turn neighbours green with jealousy.

Great Western: Again, wrong basin (Yerrida) at least they are more honest with the geological situation. Again, be weary of EM results in this area due to paleo water channels and graphite, both of which provide nice big EM anomalies. No potential for Doolgunna VMS.

Alchemy Resources: Great land holding. No qualms here

Talisman Mining: Great land holding including Milgun Project and the recently EIS government funded Shelby project (bit of a long shot, but great example of geologic interpretation on part of their geologic team)


My second issue is all this talk about nearology and only looking around the immediate area. If you are to look at any other well developed VMS district Bathhurst in Canada, Abitibi Belt in Canada, Urals in Russia, Cyprus Island, Oman Ophiolite in Oman etc VMS deposits occur throughout the entire basin. In the case of the Urals over hundreds and hundreds of kilometres length! The entire Bryah basin is prospective. If you want some evidence of this in the Bryah, look at the first discovered VMS deposit in the Bryah, its not Doolgunna, its Horseshoe Lights which is over a 100 kms to the west north west! Discovered in 1947 (didnt realize it was a VMS until the 1980s) which in 1988 had a resource of 2.7 Mt @ 3.4% Cu, 2.8 g/t Au, 27 g/t Ag (sound familiar?) with an original resource estimated between 4- 6 Mt.

Furthermore if you read reports from Franco Pirajno, one of the most prospective areas for VMS is an interpreted volcanic center down in the south of the Bryah basin. So we have Doolgunna in the far east, Horseshoe lights in the north and a prospective volcanic center in the far south. True nearology and prospectively is the entire basin, not just immediately along strike.

With all of this in mind TLM has a fantastic land holding, not only next door to SFR, but Milgun and Shelby. While Shelby is theoretical, they got the EIS government funding for some deep holes to test the theory and Milgun has indications of multiple exhalative events (VMS forming) and some very nice historic rock chips. Furthermore, they have a top notch management and geologic group with plenty of experience searching for massive sulphides. They are doing the right work at the right pace and in the right order. As a geologist I have no doubt that if there is a VMS deposit on their ground, they will find it. Might not be tomorrow or next week, but they will find it.

As far as other players, look further abroad than immediate neighbours. ALY, RHM and a few others have very good ground.