In September 2021 Red Hill Minerals competed the sale of its 40% interest in the Red Hill Iron Ore Joint Venture (RHIOJV) and the RHIOJV tenements but retained 100% of the rights to all non-ferrous minerals on the RHIOJV tenement package.
The RHIOJV tenements cover a 1,600 square kilometre contiguous package, located adjacent to the western margin of the Hamersley Basin. The region is under-explored for gold and battery metals and the south-west boundary of the property is approximately 8km from the multi-million-ounce Paulsens gold mine acquired by Black Cat Syndicate (ASX: BC8) from Northern Star (ASX: NST)(1).
Gold and battery metal exploration has been conducted in the area since late last century resulting in the discovery and extraction of small scattered occurrences of high-grade copper near Red Hill and Rundle Hill, and lead from near Urandy Bore.
More recently (~1970 - 2000), reconnaissance exploration for gold and battery metals over the lower Wyloo Group in this area has been carried out by:
Copper, manganese, cobalt, lead and zinc are all expected to continue experiencing an increased demand with supply shortages for their important role in the green energy transition, battery reliance and electrification associated with decarbonisation trends. The Company also continues to monitor and assess opportunities within its land holding for critical minerals(2) as identified annually by the Australian Government. During the last 15 years(3) the tenements have been the subject of the RHIOJV and substantial exploration and development work has been undertaken by the RHIOJV primarily focused on iron ore but also on regional exploration which has provided Red Hill Minerals with a significant body of information on potential precious and battery mineral occurrences and targets.
The project area lies along the western margin of the Hamersley Basin. It is dominated by the Proterozoic Ashburton Basin consisting of the sedimentary succession belonging to the Mt Minnie Beds, the Ashburton Formation, and the volcano - sedimentary successions comprising the lower Wyloo Group which unconformably overlies the Hamersley Basin sequences.
The area has potential for economic concentrations of gold and battery metals. The lower Wyloo Group and the contact zone between the Ashburton and Hamersley Basins comprise the Paraburdoo Hinge Zone. This Zone contains numerous base metal occurrences in the Ashburton Basin, some of which is associated with the deep-seated, mantle-tapping faulting associated with the Nanjilgardy Fault system.
It is believed these deep-seated faults / splays transect the project area as identified from Red Hill Minerals interpretation work and GSWA datasets.
Much of the area is under cover and deep weathering; acid leaching and silicification has caused geochemical deletion/suppression of the surface geochemistry.
Red Hill Minerals considers this area to have potential to contain significant gold and battery metal mineralisation and a promising suite of targets has been outlined by Red Hill Minerals and exploratory drilling programmes are being developed.