Webe Creek Gold Project, Vanuatu
(Golden Rim 81.25%, Mincor Resources NL/ Rimfire Resources Ltd 18.75%)
Webe Creek is situated on the Pacific Rim of Fire on the northern Island of Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu and is also subject to Golden Rim’s farm-in agreement with Mincor Resources NL (“Mincor”).
At the Laonasmata prospect, a 4 km long and 300 m wide mineralised zone has been identified. Coincident within the zone are outcropping epithermal gold and silver-bearing veins, anomalous gold-in-soil, hydrothermal alteration and geophysical anomalies. The Laonasmata prospect is prospective for a ‘Porgera-style’ (+14 million ounces) gold discovery.
During the year additional mapping and rock chip sampling (13 samples) at the Laonasmata prospect returned encouraging results. The La Fete epithermal quartz vein has now been mapped over a strike length of 300 m, with widths up to 2 m. New rock chip results include 0.95 g/t gold and 271 g/t silver (8.7 oz/t).
A 720 m (5 hole) diamond drilling program was completed at the Laonasmata prospect to test some of the gold and copper targets. The program was severely disrupted by continued access problems due to unseasonal wet weather. With no let up to the wet weather and with the approach of the wet season the drilling was abandoned in December 2006.
| Hole Number |
Easting (m) | Northing (m) | Azimuth (degrees) |
Dip (degrees) |
Total Depth (m) |
| LADH001 | 714155 | 8286140 | 225 | -60 | 103.4 |
| LADH002 | 713682 | 8286303 | 225 | -60 | 164.6 |
| LADH003 | 713535 | 8286731 | 045 | -60 | 170.5 |
| LADH004 | 713552 | 8286837 | 045 | -60 | 131.5 |
| LADH007 | 713535 | 8286731 | 225 | -60 | 150 |
Anomalous gold and silver results were obtained from holes LADH003 and LADH007. The best intercepts include 4 m @ 0.6 g/t gold, 11.3 g/t silver and 0.8 % zinc (48 – 52 m), including 1.5 m @ 0.9 g/t gold, 12.6 g/t silver and 1.1 % zinc, and 0.7 m @ 0.4 g/t gold , 12.9 g/t silver and 0.2 % zinc (93 – 93.7 m) in LADH003. The deeper intercept relates to a quartz pyritesphalerite-fluorite vein which is interpreted to be the La Fete epithermal vein approximately 70 m below surface. The apparent strong continuity of this mineralised structure is encouraging. As in most epithermal veins the gold and silver grades in the La Fete vein are expected to be highly variable.
A previous petrological study on vein samples completed by Kingston Morrison for Iscor suggested the La Fete vein exposure is approximately 100 m below the paleosurface and that the zone of gold deposition may be approximately 100 m below the current surface. The high silver assays obtained in surface rock chip samples supports this metal zonation model. As such deeper drilling is required on the La Fete Vein to test a possible gold-rich zone.
During the year the Prime Minister of Vanuatu the Honourable Ham Lini conducted a site visit to Webe Creek. He reconfirmed his government’s strong support for the Company’s exploration activities in Vanuatu.
Several priority gold target areas at the Laonasmata prospect remain poorly tested and Golden Rim is looking at options to continue drilling in 2007-2008. Targets include the depth and strike extensions of the La Fete epithermal vein and high-grade gold targets (e.g. mineralization with rock chips up to 13.2 g/t gold) in the northern portion of the Laonasmata prospect.