Torrens
The Torrens Joint Venture
The Torrens Joint Venture is between Argonaut Resources NL (30%) and Aeris Resources Limited (70%) covering the exploration licence, EL 6407. The Torrens Joint Venture is exploring for Iron Oxide Copper‐Gold (IOCG) systems in the highly prospective Stuart Shelf region of South Australia.
The project is situated 75 kilometres from BHP Group’s Olympic Dam mine, within 50 kilometres of OZ Mineral’s Carrapateena mine and only 40 kilometres from BHP's recent Oak Dam West copper discovery.
The Torrens Anomaly
The Torrens anomaly contains strong magnetic and gravity anomalies with previous drilling by Western Mining Corporation (WMC) intersecting intense magnetite and haematite alteration typical of Olympic Dam and Carrapateena style ore bodies.
The Torrens anomaly is one of the largest and most geologically prospective IOCG exploration targets in the world. The merit of the Torrens anomaly is based on a number of complementary features:
- The anomaly sits on the Torrens hinge zone, a continental scale zone of crustal weakness with the capacity to act as a conduit for mineralising mantle fluids.
- Deep crustal fracturing and subsequent emplacement of mantle fluids is a compelling explanation for the substantial volume of iron found in association with world class IOCG deposits such as Olympic Dam.
- The volume of rock within the Torrens anomaly with the physical characteristics of IOCG ore is approximately 13 billion tonnes, based on three dimensional geophysical modelling.
- Limited historical drilling by WMC and modern drilling by the Torrens Joint Venture has confirmed that the targeted geophysical anomalies are associated with IOCG alteration systems.
