Kalamazoo Resources (ASX: KZR) is blowing the dust off its South Muckleford project exploration file to review an earlier gold-antimony discovery at the Victorian site as antimony demand rises amid global supply concerns.
The company says it has been prompted into the review by the growing global interest in antimony, eyeing the opportunity to attract the attention of those chasing the metal seen as critical in defence industry applications, renewable energy and electronics. The changing dynamics in relation to the commodity are believed to be largely due to China’s recent decision to impose export controls over the silvery-white metal.
The South Muckleford project, spanning 161 square kilometres, sits within Victoria’s Bendigo Zone – an area that for 173 years has yielded more than 60 million ounces of gold from nearby the historic 2 million-ounce, 28 grams per tonne Maldon goldfield.
In 2021, Kalamazoo’s exploration activities uncovered a key discovery at some old workings on the Fentiman’s and Smith’s Reefs – which are known for their historic gold-antimony production – within its tenement boundaries.
A reconnaissance drilling program confirmed the presence of shallow, epizonal gold-antimony reef structures, with promising sample assays. Additionally, soil geochemistry surveys revealed prominent gold and antimony anomalies, with peak soil values reaching up to 53 parts per billion gold and 167 parts per million antimony.
The Central Victorian Goldfields are emerging as a significant, high-grade gold-antimony geological province. This is a potentially significant development for Kalamazoo, which holds a substantial 2000km2 exploration package in the region.
Kalamazoo Resources CEO Dr Luke Mortimer
The reef structures at South Muckleford lie along the Muckleford Fault – a major regional fault responsible for channelling gold-laden fluids. They also appear to be part of a gold-antimony mineralised system, sharing similarities with other high-grade systems in the region including the world-class Fosterville and Costerfield mines and more recently, the Sunday Creek gold-antimony discovery.
As part of its investigation, the company’s exploration team went digging through the historical mining records from Fentiman’s Reef – which operated from 1860-1904 – and subsequently discovered some old production numbers, reporting up to 1 ounce per tonne of gold next to high-grade lodes hosting up to 42 per cent antimony.
Despite its significance, detailed production records for the nearby Smith’s Reef are rare, leading Kalamazoo to believe that much of the area’s full potential still remains untapped.
In light of the new findings, management will now focus on pushing forward with renewed exploration, initially to include plans for 3D structural geology modelling and geochemical investigations aimed at identifying deeper gold-antimony targets.
Antimony prices are showing little sign of slowing, having quadrupled to US$25,100 (AU$37,200) a tonne since 2020. With the global interest in critical metals such as antimony continuing to surge due to the unrelenting pursuit from governments for a green-energy transition and the unseemly rise in geopolitical risk, Kalamazoo’s sleuthing efforts may well be rewarded going forward.
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