AXG - Antipodes Gold [formerly GEL - Glass Earth]

[elZorro]

Here's the interview with Rosemary Segedin on Gold FM, describing what was happening at WKP just before Christmas. The drilling rig is helicoptered in with staff. It would seem that after a previous 3 month stint in the area or site (WKP29/30 South?), Newmont spent another three weeks at the same drill site, so were keen or "quite serious" about something. The rig was in the process of being removed. I guess we have to wait for the drill results, and most likely exploratory drilling has restarted on another site(s) in 2012. Ms Segedin was careful with the words she used (OK, so was Mr Darby later in the day), but there was an implication Archey's frogs live nearby, probably untrue. Perhaps the habitat there would suit them, but then so would a lot of habitats in NZ bush, if there were no introduced pests. Is the bush pristine there? Unlikely, the big timber would have been logged years ago, and possums will be working on what's left. Also no figures were provided on the number of people who use the walks in the area at the moment, and how much they pay for the priviledge. Two hours walk in, two hours out, I'd say not many, and that's for free.Looks like there are more clues in the Dec 1st 2011 press release from GEL: Regarding WKP (South).

A substantial infill/expansion drill programme is planned; drilling to establish constraints of depth, continuity to the south, and mineralised structures in the andesite has commenced.

The existing site that allowed WKP29 and WKP30 drillholes has probably been used again for more infill data, and the rig will be somewhere else nearby at the moment.

A.B Christie has been involved in this NZPAM report about NZ's epithermal gold deposits, often hosted in andesitic rocks.

Coromandel Volcanic Zone and Hauraki Goldfield
Some 50 separate epithermal Au-Ag deposits are associated with Miocene-Pliocene calc-alkaline volcanic rocks of the Coromandel Volcanic Zone in a 200-km long by 40-km wide metallogenic belt that constitutes the Hauraki Goldfield (Brathwaite & Piranjo, 1993; Brathwaite et al., 1989, Fig. 1B). The Hauraki Goldfield has a recorded (1862-present) production of more than 380 t of gold and 1300 t of silver, mostly from deposits hosted by andesite and dacite, although a few veins in rhyolite and basement greywacke were also worked. The Waihi (Martha Hill) deposit is by far the largest, with total gold production to date of about 202 t (6.5 M oz), ranking it as world class deposit. Major production also came from Golden Cross (37.1 t Au), Karangahake (29.4 t Au) and the Thames field (21.8 t Au). The Au-Ag mineralisation occurs predominantly in quartz veins along tectonically-controlled fault-fracture systems, which are parallel with the main regional fault trends. The quartz veins dip at steep to moderate angles and are typically 0.3-5.0 m wide, 200-1600 m long, and have depth extents of 170-300 m. A few larger veins display a greater depth range (400-700 m) as at Waihi and Karangahake. Stockwork quartz veins are present in some deposits (e.g. Golden Cross). The quartz veins are surrounded by extensive zones of propylitic and clay alteration characterised by chlorite, calcite, illite, smectite and pyrite as hydrothermal minerals. Higher rank alteration with strong silicification plus adularia and/or illite borders the quartz veins.