27/02/2025
GOLD AND COPPER EXPLORATION SUMMARY EL 1595 - BULAGO, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
By: Peter McNeil M.Sc.
Frontier is targeting intrusive/ epithermal related gold deposits and copper- gold -molybdenum porphyries in the Papuan Fold Belt on the geologically young and highly prospective southern fall of the mountainous spine of PNG.
Frontier owns the Bulago and along strike Muller Exploration Licences plus all required equipment to run its own exploration programs, including 4 drill rigs, bulldozers, crawlers and trucks.
The Fold Belt conatins the Ok Tedi porphyry copper-gold Mine (located 120km WNW), Porgera intrusive/ epithermal related gold Mine (100km east) and Kili Teke porphyry copper-gold Deposit (50km east). The giant Grasberg porphyry copper-gold +skarns is in this same zone in West Papua. Drilling is strongly warranted and exploration to capitalise on the increased US dollar gold price and leveraged Australian dollar - PNG Kina will include drilling at the high grade gold Swit East Creek Upper and Lower Zones, the SW porphyry target, plus new structural /geochemical targets ASAP.
DRILL TARGETS
Swit Kai high grade gold: 3 holes at East Creek Upper (90m) & 3 holes at Lower (90m) 2 holes at Central Upper (20m) & Lower (40m), 2 holes on Kapia ridgeline (120m) targeting the plunge High grade /bulk gold: 1 hole at SK River Zone East (100m), targeting OTML 'diorite' that graded 37 g/t gold 1 hole at SK Headwater Zone (100m), targeting gold bearing structural zones Low grade gold:
1 hole in NE Bulago Valley targeting very strong gold- zinc-lead soil anomalism (330m) This hole may transition to porphyry copper at depth Porphyry copper-gold:
1 hole in SW Bulago Valley at strong copper + gold soil anomalism W of BUL007 (330m) 1 hole in NW Bulago Valley at strong copper + gold soil anomalism W of BUL001 (330m)
Polymetallic Skarns:
2 holes in SE Bulago Valley at Funutu's very strong gold + zinc +lead soil anomalism, gold - zinc skarn outcrop zone + aeromagnetic anomaly & Porgera Zone 7 type target (150m)
Three styles of mineralisation:
• Very high-grade gold (to 754 g/t) associated with intrusive/host rock contact breccia and shear zones.
• Porphyry copper- gold -molybdenum mineralisation associated with the stock itself (to 3.38 g/t gold).
• Very high-grade skarn (to 205 g/t gold) mineralisation associated with the intrusives/ overlying limestones.
The drainage basin (3.5km x 5.5km) has a very well defined, strong, cohesive, ~14 km2 gold in stream sediment/ panned concentrate anomaly (with 6 discrete and large zones) and a well-defined gold, zinc and copper (+/- lead) drainage anomaly that covers the centrally located porphyry copper / gold mineralised intrusive.
HIGH-GRADE GOLD MINERALISATION
• Grid soils defined at least 14 gold anomalies (>0.10 g/t gold), with 3 about 1,000m long and Suguma the least impressive. The ~1,000m x 350m anomaly in the NE contains the peak gold, zinc and lead in soil anomalism on the grid. Anomaly 1 ([~1,000m x 500m] was cut by hole BUL005 and the bottom of hole BUL006, but apart from Swit Kai, no other gold soil anomalies have been drilled.
• Outcrops at Swit Kai were, systematically broken/channelled (with a demolition jackhammer), sampled, mapped, evaluated and tracked laterally in 'trenches' over 95m and 120m strike lengths, respectively. Gold in soil anomalies along trend to both the east and west of the Lower Zone, indicate an excellent continuing strike length to +480m total.
• High grade gold at Swit Kai is hosted by narrow silica/ quartz veins with multiple episodes of intense brecciation, lead + zinc and semi massive sulphides in intrusives proximal to large scale normal moderate/steep south dipping structures and conformable with horizontal sediments. Both structures have zones with >100 g/t gold.
• Frontiers drilling at Swit Kai in late 2014 (with the Company's CSD500 rig) attempted to evaluate the very high grade gold outcrops at the Central Upper Zone, but ultimately we drilled underneath the mineralised horizon with 6 holes and SKD004 had 0.50m grading 46.3 g/t gold + 11.4 g/t silver, from 1.20m to 1.70m.
In 4/2016 drilling targeted extensions 130m to the east, targeting 2.0m grading 195.0 g/t gold and 3m grading
45.2 g/t gold (not yet tested). Three holes (37.4m) had a best intercept in EZU001 of 5.0m of 13.92 g/t gold (from surface), including 1.0m of 29.7 g/t gold + 6.5 g/t silver, in a flat lying /conformable zone. Hole EZU002 returned 3.6m of 7.92 g/t gold (from surface) and EZU003 had 2m of 6.44 g/t gold, plus 1m of 4.79 g/t gold.
• Gold anomalies in drainages to the west of Swit Kai indicate its unevaluated strike potential and drainages to the N and NW have never been sampled. The region has excellent mineralisation potential, with strong radiometric and aeromagnetic anomalies that require substantial evaluation.
• High-grade gold mineralisation model refined and it shows excellent strike potential that can be easily drilled. Many new targets are proposed from topographic modelling. Flat spots indicate silicification and possibly gold mineralised intrusive that then feeds from and up into the mod/steep dipping mineralised structures. High grades will be targeted at the structural intersection (flat plunge). Three south dipping structural zones have been mapped (with the Swit Kai Zone in the middle) that all contain known gold, zinc and copper mineralisation and have been mapped for >2 kilometres along strike. This increases tonnage potential significantly.
PORPHYRY COPPER - GOLD MINERALISATION
EL 1595 - Significant Bulago Gold and Copper Drill Results.
• Seven holes were drilled on the porphyry target in the Bulago Valley. Petrography notes transitional potassic - calc-potassic alteration and that the complex suite of intrusives at Bulago are similar to alkali porphyries at Ridgeway (NSW), Dinkidi (Philippines) and in BC. They are elongate vertically, with a small cross-section and high-grade copper- gold in a core of intense alteration (calc-
potassic) and quartz-sulphide veins. Alteration haloes from the core are narrow (200-300m).
• The strongest individual copper in soil anomaly is >1,200m x 125m, trends NNW and is located west of the best hole (BUL007). The porphyry geochemistry indicates two mineralisation events /zones, being copper + gold and gold only. Assay intercepts from BUL007 are: 95.3m grading 0.15 g/t gold (from 243m, 61.0m grading 0.18 g/t gold plus 0.10 % copper (from 350m) and 42.2m grading 0.11 g/t gold plus 0.14% copper (from 538.8m down hole).
• OK Tedi quote --The results of the soil geochemistry and drilling at Bulago suggest that two high-grade cores may be located at depth broadly bounded by holes BUL001, 003, 006 and BUL007 in the north and at depth broadly bounded by holes BUL002, 004,005 in the east.
• Fourteen skarn anomalies were interpreted from aeromagnetics and geology, with ten proximal to the overlying limestone contact and spaced consistently around the basin. Three are within the basin and one is a sinkhole near the EL's topographic high in the SE. Further evaluation is strongly warranted.
SUMMARY
The Bulago EL covers two broad intrusive complexes ( Idawe and Tumbudu Stocks) that belong to a suite of small and isolated upper Miocene to Pliocene diorite to monzonite intrusives within the Australian Plate sediments south of the Lagaip Fault Zone.
These intrusives form a zone that stretches from Porgera in the east to Ok Tedi in the west and the fault zone is considered to be a major structural boundary between the Australian and Melanesian Plates. Ok Tedi (copper-gold), Bulago (copper- gold, high and low grade gold ), Kili Teke (copper- gold), Porgera and Mt Kare (both high and low grade gold) are associated with this 'Fold and Thrust Belt'.
The Bulago porphyries are located in the northern sector of the 45 kilometre diameter 'Aluni Caldera', are proximal to the NNE trending Strickland-Bulago River Structure and intrude the northern flank of the Muller Anticline.
This situation provided excellent 'structurally prepared and repetitive' locations to focus gold, porphyry copper- gold molybdenum and also higher grade gold- zinc- copper-lead skarn mineralisation (at limestone/ intrusive contacts). The high grade outcrops are structurally and genetically related over a relatively large area.
The Bulago drainage basin contains a very well defined, strong and cohesive approximately 14 sq km gold in stream sediment and panned concentrate anomaly. There are 6 discrete and large prospect areas within this gold anomaly.
The prospects are located within a large elliptical (3.5km x 5.5km), well-defined gold, zinc and copper (+/- lead) drainage anomaly that covers a centrally located porphyry copper/gold mineralised intrusive.
Precious and base metal anomalism continues up to and into the peripheral limestones demonstrating the potential for economic skarn deposits.
Frontier's 2009 soil sampling revealed multiple, extensive and strong gold anomalies associated with widespread copper anomalies of weaker intensity, but still very well defined.
The gold anomaly (>50ppb) is broadly NW-SE and around 2,500m long and 2,000m wide (5 sq km). It has about 10 distinct higher grade zones or prospects.
The copper anomaly consists of two approximately N-S (+NE-SW) trending, 1,600m long and 200m to 550m wide zones at >300 ppm.
The full extent of the anomaly is around 4,000m long (NW-SE) at >150ppm.
North Sunguru -Bulago is gold anomalous and not sampled.
