Roger River Epithermal Gold Exploration Project, NW Tasmania

7kms long (open) As + Au soil anomaly controlled by and coincident with the long lived regional scale Roger River Fault with silica caps and silica alteration, and argillic alteration from hot spring activity.

Setting is typical basin and range, as in Nevada USA, with the range protecting the alteration system at the base of the range from erosion.

Excellent calcareous host rocks for disseminated and vein style Au-Ag mineralisation below the surface alteration.

The continuous As + Au anomaly now requires RAB/aircore style drill testing.
KEY POINTS

7 kms of continuous arsenic anomalism with gold, open to north and south
Uneroded epithermal system
Extensive silica alteration cap
Extensive argillic alteration
Excellent reactive carbonate-rich host rocks, 3 diatreme breccias identified
Controlling deep-seated regional NNE Roger River Fault with splays
Arsenic + gold anomaly requires RAB/aircore style drilling and some additional soil geochem to close off anomalies

The Roger River Project, EL 19/2012, is located due south of Smithton in NW Tasmania, covers a large area of uneroded hot spring related silicification, argillic alteration and associated diatreme breccias with a strike length of at least 7 kilometres in a classic basin and range setting, similar to Carlin-style deposits in Nevada USA. The range front has protected the silicification and argillic zone from erosion as it occurs at the base of the range.

The +7 kilometre long As + Au zone of generally intense silicification and argillic alteration, together with three diatreme breccia bodies, sits primarily in the hanging wall of the steeply east-dipping, reverse Roger River Fault (RRF), a regional scale, deep-seated structure which appears to have a long history of movement.

Uneroded epithermal exploration targets within the alteration zones are expected to be defined by anomalous (one or more elements) As, Sb, Hg and Ba, and detectable gold values should be considered a bonus. These can vary from very subtle to intense anomalies. At Roger River, the main pathfinder element is As.

The predominantly carbonate-rich host rocks are ideal for the emplacement of hot spring related epithermal mineralisation, either as disseminated mineralisation or as structurally controlled mineralised zones. The rocks hosting the silicification zone comprise well bedded and banded dolomites, calcareous and dolomitic siltstones, grits, black shales and some cherts on the east or hanging wall side of the RRF, capped on topographic highs in places by basalt. The west or footwall side of the RRF contains dolomites, dolomitic siltstones and other carbonate-rich rocks.

Work completed includes:

Extensive C-horizon soil geochemistry
Rock chip sampling
4 lines of IP
3 drill holes
Re-processing of historic aeromagnetics, airborne EM and radiometrics
Expenditure to date approximately $737,000

History/Previous Exploration
Regionally the area was previously explored for base metals in the early 90s involving airborne EM, radiometrics and magnetics and mapping-sampling. In the late 90s it was explored for epithermal gold with some outcrop and soil sampling.

Some regional exploration of the dolerites east of the Roger River Fault has also been conducted looking for platinoids and copper.

Leached Cap Pty Ltd commenced its exploration in 2012. All historic data have been processed and compiled and are available in a digital database.

Tenure & Commitments
EL 19/2012 is valid until 15 January 2018. Expenditures have been satisfied every year, including the current year.

Application for extension of title will be submitted in due course. MRT is very supportive of exploration so it is anticipated that extension will be granted.

Regional Geology
EL 19/2012 covers a northern portion of the Roger River Fault (RRF), a NNE trending major structure transecting Neoproterozoic rocks at the eastern margin of the Smithton Basin/Smithton Synclinorium (Smithton 1:50,000 Geological Atlas Series sheet, Roger and Togari 1:25,000 Digital Geological Atlas Series sheets). The RRF cuts through the eastern limb of a north-plunging synclinorium containing the Neoproterozoic Togari Group. The Togari Group consists of a basal dolomite-chert-lutite sequence (Black River Dolomite), overlain by an interstratified mixed sedimentary and volcanic sequence (Kanunnah Subgroup), overlain in turn by the Smithton Dolomite and the Salmon River Siltstone. A distinctive member of the Kunannah Subgroup is a massive basalt unit (Spinks Creek Volcanics).

In the area covered by EL19/2012 the precise location of the RRF is commonly masked by surficial sediment cover but it appears to be close to the contact between the Smithton Dolomite to the west and the Kunannah Subgroup to the east. Outcrop of the Smithton Dolomite is restricted to drainage ditches excavated into the flat lying farm land west of the fault and it is reasonable to interpret the fault location as being close to the persistent break in slope at the boundary between the well exposed Kunannah Subgroup on the eastern hill slopes and the largely regolith and soil covered Smithton Dolomite on the flat westerly side of the fault. The dip direction on the Roger River Fault is steeply to the east as a reverse fault. The zones of silicification and argillic alteration appear to be dominantly in the hanging wall of the RRF.

By comparison with other major basin bounding faults in western Tasmania it is likely that the Roger River Fault has been through at least two major orogenic deformation events during the Paleozoic and it may have been reactivated again during the regional Cenozoic rifting and volcanism associated with the development of the Bass Basin (Morrison, 2014).

Exploration Potential
The Roger River As-Au anomaly coincident with extensive silica and argillic alteration is very prospective for the development of epithermal hot spring related Au-Ag deposits as either disseminated Carlin style or vein style deposits.

The As geochemistry with numerous gold values at surface are consistent with an uneroded epithermal alteration system, where surface fluid temperatures (generally require around + 150degrees C) and pressures are insufficient to transport high grade gold values to surface, but gold values can be expected to increase with depth as the temperature-pressure conditions for metal deposition improve.

If this scale anomaly was in the eastern goldfields of WA, it would have drilled extensively.

Contact Info:

Primary Contact Person: Geoff Davis
Company Name: Leached Cap Pty Ltd
Telephone Number: +61 (0) 419 198 898