DIAMOND PAGE — Anzex sets sights on New Zealand

New kid on the block Anzex Resources (AZX-V) is searching for platinum and gold in New Zealand.

With the gradual decline in production and supply of platinum and palladium and the resultant price jump on the metal markets, Anzex Resources has found itself in an advantageous position. The Vancouver-based junior has acquired 467 sq. km of ground in the Longwood Range, on the southern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, where it believes it is sitting on a large platinum-gold layered intrusive complex.

Previous exploration for base metals and platinum in New Zealand began in the late 1960s. The last major exploration program over the Longwood complex was conducted by Sigma Resources from 1986 to 1988. Sigma terminated its interest because the government of the day would not issue drill permits.

In recent years, the proclamation of the Crown Minerals Act and the Resource Management Act has provided for a more flexible approach to exploration and mining. Anzex applied for licence areas in 1994 and has subsequently acquired all the necessary approvals for exploration, including diamond drilling.

The bulk of the world’s platinum group element (PGE) deposits fall into two classes: sulphide-rich deposits mined primarily for nickel and copper, such as the Noril’sk deposit in Siberia; and sulphide-poor deposits, such as the Bushveld complex in South Africa, the Stillwater complex in Montana and the Great Dyke igneous complex in Zimbabwe, where the primary products are PGEs.

The Longwood target is believed to fall into the latter category.

Generally, layered intrusions that host PGEs contain a repetitive sequence of rocks that occur in a specific order. Any repetitive unit may consist of all or some of the rock types, but the order is always the same from base to top: chromitite, peridotite, pyroxenite, norite or gabbro and anorthosite.

If PGEs are present, they will form in layers relatively close to the horizon at which the mineral plagioclase first occurs above the base of the unit.

The Longwood igneous complex is composed of three principal units: the Pahia layered series, the western diorites, and the Pourakino trodhjemite.

The Pahia layered series, mostly consisting of peridotites, wehrlites, troctolites and olivine gabbros, has attracted the most interest. Extensive outcrop is sparse, and continuous layering can only be observed in hand samples and isolated outcrops. Layering can also be identified on a regional scale from airborne magnetic data.

The rock types of the Pahia series are similar to those associated with the Merensky and J-M Reefs of the Bushveld and Stillwater complexes, both of which host economic concentrations of PGEs.

Stream-sediment geochemical surveys performed by Sigma Resources in 1987 and 1988 showed that the highest proportion of samples with at least 10 to 25 parts per billion (ppb) of both platinum and palladium occur in the streams that drain the top of the Longwood Range; these areas correspond with the Pahia layered series. Soil geochemical sampling carried out by Sigma above the tree line of the Longwood Range showed that a weak 15- to 30-metre-wide anomaly ran approximately parallel to the inferred layering along the ridge crest. Rock samples taken from float in drainage channels determined that troctolites and olivine gabbros contained all of the anomalous PGE values.

The best sample, taken from the top of the range, returned 3 grams platinum and 3.3 grams palladium per tonne.

Results of a recent aeromagnetic survey over the Longwood complex show that the area underlain by the Pahia layered series can be divided into two arcuate magnetic features. The more westerly feature is characterized by a magnetic ribbing pattern; preliminary interpretations suggest that the ribbed domain is underlain by layered troctolites and gabbros that dip 30 to the west. The highly magnetic east domain is thought to correspond with serpentinized peridotites.

The company has planned an initial three holes to test the stratigraphy and platinum potential of the Pahia layered series. Future drilling will be guided by the data produced from the first three holes.

Anzex also intends to follow up on previously identified gold targets in the Longwood Range area. Several mesothermal quartz vein targets were identified but never drilled. The most promising was around Foals Creek, where a northeasterly trending zone of anomalous gold-in-soil values suggests a possible vein target hosted within altered diorite intrusives.

Along the eastern portion of the Longwood Range, Anzex believes that a possible magmatic feeder zone with nickel-copper sulphide potential may exist. The company bases this belief on its recently completed aeromagnetic program.

In a separate development, juniors Glenhaven Resources (GNN-A) and Blackstone Resources (bzz-a) have acquired a prospecting permit surrounding the Longwood project.

Another Anzex property, Mosquito Hill, is situated about 68 km south of MacKay, in north Queensland, Australia. The property is a target for volcanogenic-related massive sulphide stockworks or breccia deposits.

Previous exploration has identified flat-lying sheeted sulphide Breccias.

Four drill holes encountered massive sulphides with discontinuous anomalous base metal and gold values. Induced polarization and gravity surveys have since been performed to define drill targets.

Anzex has 9.4 million shares fully diluted and a working capital of $1.2 million.