Piastri Project

The tenement straddles the regionally significant Mougooderra Shear Zone, a major crustal-scale structure that forms the principal mineralising corridor within the district.

The Mougooderra Shear demarcates a distinct lithological contrast between a western hanging wall sequence, consisting of felsic volcanic rocks, mafic to ultramafic units, and banded iron formations, and an eastern footwall sequence composed primarily of pelitic metasediments. The shear zone hosts the bulk of known gold resources in the area, including the Ricciardo deposit.

Despite the project’s proximity to this major mineralising structure, limited to no modern exploration has been conducted within the Piastri tenement. Interpretation of regional aeromagnetic datasets has revealed the presence of multiple interpreted shear-parallel structures on the eastern (footwall) side of the Mougooderra Shear. These features are interpreted as potential splay faults or subsidiary structures propagating from the main shear and represent compelling exploration targets.

Significantly, the Piastri Project lies along strike from a previously reported aircore drill intersection of 6m @ 4.3g/t Au² (MTAC002 – Figure 3), located within the interpreted footwall domain. This intercept not only supports the presence of mineralised splays east of the main shear zone but also confirms the potential for the splays to host high-grade gold mineralisation.

Analogous mineralised settings are observed elsewhere in the Yilgarn Craton, where subsidiary, splay structures or cross-faults off regionally significant shear zones host significant gold deposits. Notably, the Zuleika Shear Zone west of Kalgoorlie is associated with a series of mineralised splays and cross-faults, including the deposits at Raleigh, Rubicon–Hornet–Pegasus, and Paradigm. Similarly, in the Laverton Tectonic Zone, deposits such as Wallaby and Sunrise Dam are interpreted to be associated with splays or structural splays off the regionally extensive Celia Shear.

These analogues support the exploration rationale at Piastri and highlight the opportunity to define significant mineralisation along the interpreted footwall splays east of the Mougooderra Shear.