Desdemona Project
The Desdemona Project tenements cover approximately 1,200 km² located between 10 and 60 kilometres south and southeast of Leonora. The tenements are grouped into two sub-projects based on the overall geology, separated by the Melita Fault.
The western Kookynie sub-Project covers the Kookynie and Melita areas. The Kookynie greenstone belt is characterised by a rhyolite-basalt succession together with interbedded sedimentary rocks and iron-rich mafic rocks, including the Niagara Complex, a layered mafic-ultramafic intrusive body that hosts much of the gold mined in that area. Historic gold production from the Kookynie mine camp exceeds 500,000 ounces. Gold mineralisation styles include the high-grade Cosmopolitan mine hosted in quartz veins at the contact of the Puzzle Granite and the Orient Well and Butterfly deposits associated with shallow dipping shear zones within basalt, dolerite and rhyolite.
The eastern Yarri sub-Project mainly covers the Yerilla greenstone belt, which extends along the Keith-Kilkenny Fault Zone. The north-south striking basalt-rhyolite succession east of the Melita Fault is the continuation of the sequence that hosts the Teutonic Bore and Jaguar VMS deposits north of the Company's tenements and the area is considered prospective for VMS mineralisation. A number of small-scale, high-grade historical gold workings and prospects, including the Yilgangi and Yerilla gold mines, are associated with subsidiary structures within the Keith-Kilkenny Fault Zone. Recent gold discoveries include Apollo Hill-Porkies Well and the Wallbrook deposits.
Onground exploration at the project has been relatively restricted due to the focus on other areas. The main activities have been compilation of previous exploration data, electromagnetic (EM) surveys on base metal targets, aircore drilling on gold targets along the regional Keith-Kilkenny Fault, RC drilling at the Jeedamya Base Metal Prospect and regional soil sampling programs.
At Jeedamya, a base metal anomaly in soils, coincident with outcropping gossans with up to 0.25% copper and 0.48% zinc was targeted with ground EM and magnetic traverses. The EM survey defined a number of structurally complex, strong bedrock conductors that were tested by four RC holes. Only one of the holes explained the conductive target, intersecting 30 metres of strong silica-pyrite-pyrrhotite alteration with elevated zinc to 0.24%.
Rubicon has entered into an option agreement with St Barbara Limited over approximately 50 km² of tenements located to the southeast of Leonora at Malcolm. These tenements are within trucking distance of St Barbara's Leonora gold operations. Under the agreement, St Barbara has paid a $50,000 option fee and can purchase the tenements by payment of $1.0 million. St Barbara must spend a minimum of $250,000 on exploration over 18 months.
Rubicon is seeking a joint venture partner for the Desdemona project tenements.
