Venus royalty windfall breathes new life into WA gold hunt
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penny taylor
After reshaping its balance sheet through the sale of its Youanmi franchise for $46 million in cash, Venus Metals Corporation is refocusing its attention on one of its longest-held Western Australian gold assets.
Years of patient exploration through successive rock chip, soil and auger programs have now gradually evolved into a pipeline of drill-ready targets across the Henderson project in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields.
A 466-sample auger soil program completed along the 18 Mile Well prospects at Snake Hill, Blue Well South and Henderson identified a 1600 meter by 450 meter gold anomaly at Snake Hill, with peak soil values reaching 88 parts per billion (pbb). The program is designed to find hidden drilling targets beneath cover that has been moved before drilling.
Henderson has been part of the Venus portfolio for several years. The 202 square kilometer project covers 25 km of the prospective Mount Ida/Ularring Greenstone Belt. Successive exploration has refined targets along the Ida and Ballard faults into adjacent gold fields including First Hit, Riverina, Mt Ida and Baldock.
‘We remain committed to pursuing opportunities that recognize the underlying value of Venus’ unique portfolio of assets and their future potential.’
Venus Metals Corporation chief executive Matthew Hogan
Historic soil sampling by mining giant IGO Limited at Snake Hill had already produced a gold lag anomaly of 500 ppb, rock particles up to 5.1 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold and soil results containing up to 70 ppb gold. The latest study has linked these geological clues to a much larger gold anomaly.
The geographies are focused on a bend in the Ida Fault where a northwest-trending gabbro meets a possible felsic intrusion, creating an excellent environment for structurally controlled gold mineralization.
Wider spacing sampling at 124 data points in areas south of the Blue Well where thick vegetation limits access also confirmed gold enrichment adjacent to the Kaz Mountain Fault.
Additionally, sampling detected subtle anomalies along the Ballard Fault west of the little-explored Henderson Bore area.
The study also outlined a separate 1200 meter x 350 meter northeast trending cobalt-copper-nickel anomaly northwest of the historic Currans Mining Center in the Youanmi district.
In another study, omen drilling tracked copper anomalies across 14 km of the Youanmi Igneous Complex. Sampling returned copper values up to 722 parts per million, which identified multiple targets for follow-up exploration and drilling.
In total, research was conducted in five Youanmi apartment buildings, including 379 auger soil samples, 740 surface soil samples, and 13 rock crumb samples. Venus said it will soon fly high-resolution drone pickups to refine structurally controlled targets before drilling.
Venus Metals Corporation managing director Matthew Hogan said: “The Royalty Sale and Venus’ Board of Directors’ intent to declare Special Dividends reflect Venus’ ongoing focus on maximizing value for all shareholders. We remain committed to pursuing opportunities that recognize the fundamental value and future potential of Venus’ unique portfolio of assets.”
The company’s broader exploration strategy has been taking shape since it monetized the Youanmi franchise. While the 30,000-ounce Bellchambers project near Sandstone has become a state-of-the-art gold development opportunity and is undergoing a pre-feasibility study, Henderson has quietly matured into the next significant exploration opportunity. Today’s results show that this strategy is being implemented.
Elsewhere, Venus has several other problems in the fire in the wider Youanmi region, including the company’s Youanmi base metal project, which lies 15 kilometers southwest of Rox Resources’ 2.17 million-ounce Youanmi gold project near Mt Magnet. There, the spotlight was turned on a potentially large zinc-indium exploration target at the Pincher Well prospect.
The newly identified target lies within the Pincher Dome volcanic massive sulphide (VMS) trend; a corridor more than 5 kilometers long filled with known zinc and copper occurrences, iron ore, and past drilling hits.
Management says its consultants are blending historic and new drilling into a JORC-compliant exploration target that indicates serious scale in a system that has been virtually uncharted in modern times.
Just 12km south, Venus also has a massive titanium-vanadium-iron project at Youanmi, where it aims to extract further value from its sizeable inventory of critical minerals.
The company has collaborated with Murdoch University’s flagship Center for Extractive Metallurgy to develop an economically viable process that can recover titanium, vanadium and iron from ore. The resource weighs a hefty 135 million tonnes, consisting of 0.34 percent vanadium pentoxide, 6.27 percent titanium dioxide and 21.33 percent iron.
Venus also recently modernized its portfolio by selling its Copper Hills property for $75,000 plus GST, and retained its 1 per cent net smelter royalty, protecting its future upside while reducing holding costs.
Venus has no shortage of value drivers, with Henderson emerging as its next pillar of growth. The company holds 55 million Rox Resources shares worth about $21 million, owns the Bellchambers gold deposit, is advancing multiple base metal targets at Youanmi and is working to unlock its giant 135 million-ton titanium-vanadium-iron resource.
But the next drill campaign may reveal whether years of patient research are ready to transform the company into the next meaningful gold growth story.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
