Bethanga Porphyry Copper-Gold Project
The 194km2 Bethanga Porphyry Copper-Gold Project is targeting a large-scale Porphyry Copper-Gold System.
The Project is located 300km NE of Melbourne in Australia’s premier Porphyry Copper-Gold geological terrain.
Regional and Local Geology
Nexus announced in January 2022 that it had completed the purchase of the Bethanga Porphyry Copper-Gold Project in northeast Victoria. Land holding covers 194km2 across two granted exploration licenses located in Australia’s premier Porphyry Copper-Gold geological terrain.
The Bethanga project is located in the same geological host as the world class Cadia-Ridgeway and Northparkes Porphyry Copper-Gold projects further north in NSW. The project area is recognized by Geological Survey of Victoria as a region prospective for Porphyry Copper-Gold and VHMS mineralisation.
Bethanga has historically been mined for copper and gold at the turn of the century (118kOz Au at 39g/t and 618t Cu) and there has seen no exploration activity since 1987.
Project Details
- The project site is located 300km northeast of Melbourne and 30km east of the major regional centre of Albury Wadonga.
- Combined area of the two tenements is 194km2 (EL006920 141km2 / EL06517 53km2).
- The project areas were mined at the turn of the century and produced 118kOz Au at 39g/t and 618t Cu from selectively mined narrow north-northeast trending quartz reefs developed within shear zones. The quartz veins are <1m wide and were mined down to 30-40m depth.
Nexus Work Program
The Porphyry Cu-Au Fertility Assessment has been completed. Nexus is please to announce the study returned a positive results (ASX Release 09/03/23).
Nexus will commence diamond drill planning of the Bethanga project.
Bethanga Exploration Update
- Porphyry Cu-Au fertility study returns positive outcomes with Bethanga considered highly prospective for hosting a porphyry Cu-Au system
- Drill targets identified – diamond drill hole planning underway
- The porphyry target zone covers ~8km x 3km, with a high priority target zone of ~3km x 1.5km
- Aeromagnetic and ground magnetic surveys confirm existence of multi-phase magnetic intrusive complex – indicative of the core of a porphyry Cu-Au system
- Rock lithogeochemistry indicates the intrusive rocks are consistent with emplacement into a tectonic porphyry environment
- Rock samples of hornblende-bearing granodiorite to diorite compositions plot in the prospective field for western Pacific porphyry Cu systems
- Soil geochemistry returns commodity and trace element enrichment expected in the upper levels of a porphyry Cu system
- Elemental association is that of magmatic – hydrothermal fluids originating from a fertile porphyry Cu system
- Dr Dennis Arne (Telemark Geosciences) – geochemist with 40 years’ experience leads the technical team