Aus Tin Mining (ASX:ANW) farm-in agreement for Lachlan Fold Belt

Aus Tin Mining (ASX:ANW) CEO, Peter Williams talks farm-in agreement for exploration licences prospective for copper and gold in the Lachlan Fold Belt and proposal to divest its Granville Tin Mine

Katrina Bullock: Hello, Katrina Bullock, for the Finance News Network, and joining me virtually today from Aus Tin Mining is CEO Peter Williams. Peter, welcome back.

Peter Williams: Thanks Katrina, I appreciate it.

Katrina Bullock: Now Aus Tin Mining recently announced a farming agreement for exploration licenses to explore prospective copper and gold in the Lachlan Fold Belt. Could you please talk us through the assets you're expecting to locate there?

Peter Williams: I'd be delighted to, Katrina. Look, we're farming to three exploration licenses south of Cadia in New South Wales in the Lachlan Fold Belt. The area's a prospective for copper gold in a porphyry system and also some magnetic copper. We'll be spending about half a million dollars to earn an initial 51%, and thereafter an additional $5 million to take it to an 80%. It's an area that hasn't been explored really since the 1970s.

Peter Williams: The first area we'll be focusing on is Narellan, it's at the southern eand of the Ordovician Host, the same host that holds Cadia and Ridgeway. There are numerous old workings on the eastern part of the exploration license that we're going to be focused on.Peter Williams: As you can see here, where there is some outcropping of the Ordovician rock, there is some copper, lead, and zinc mineralization that's been occurring. Underneath some cover, depth we're yet to determine, are two areas of magnetic highs, and logically these are an area that we'll focus in on initially.

The next aspect is Kirrawatha, it's slightly north of that. There's an area based on some old coincident geo chem and IP results that looks quite prospective. Some drilling has been conducted, six meters at .15% copper, with lead and zinc.Peter Williams: The final exploration license we're looking at is Maringo. There's an area there where there is occurrences of base metals, including copper and zinc, also an interpreted scar, and so it's an interesting area that we'll be investigating in conjunction with the other projects.

Katrina Bullock: Thanks, Peter. Can you briefly elaborate on your plans for those licenses over the coming months?

Peter Williams: Yeah, our first steps will be to actually secure land access and undertake some field reconnaissance, and we've got a geologist starting there doing that work next week.Peter Williams: There is some historical data. Exploration there has been limited, it really finished back in the 1970s with the likes of [inaudible 00:02:26] and Geo Pico, but what data we do have, we'll certainly review that.Peter Williams: Geophysics is going to be a key tool for us to look at it, just get under the cover and identify some preferred drill targets, and then that's where we'll look to drill.

Katrina Bullock: Now finally, Aus Tin Mining announced yesterday that it would be divesting the Granville Tin Mine. Could you talk us through the proposal and the rationale?

Peter Williams: Granville has been a challenging asset for us. We announced yesterday we were selling it for a consideration totalling a million dollars. We had been getting the asset ready for a resumption, but unfortunately I think in the challenging markets and just Covid, accessibility, getting to site has been difficult, so we felt that given where we're going with exploration around Lachlan Fold, that it was time to divest that asset and clear the air for the company.Peter Williams: We're still retaining interest in tin. We've still got the world-class Taronga tin deposit, which is located northern New South Wales, and we'll certainly continue to develop that, but certainly our immediate focus, exploration-wise, is going to be around the Lachlan Fold belt and the assets that we've just spoken about.Katrina Bullock: Peter Williams, thanks for the update, and please stay safe during these tumultuous times.Peter Williams: Thanks, Katrina. Appreciate that.

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Source: Finance News Network