The Nguzu Nguzu, traditionally the figurehead of Solomon Islands Western Province war canoes, or Tomoko, has been chosen as the basis for the Solomon Gold company logo. The iconic Nguzu Nguzu was believed to ward off evil and dangerous sea spirits and to protect the Tomoko raiders in their conquering expeditions to the surrounding islands. Today the Nguzu Nguzu totem is used on the Solomon Islands $1 coin and is now usually only seen and used at major celebratory events; however despite the general advent of Christianity, this iconic figure still remains a highly significant symbol to the people of Solomon Island’s Western Province region.
References: (1) Solomon Times (September 2008); (2) Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, (April 2008)
WELCOME TO SOLOMON GOLD Plc
Diverse Gold Projects in the South-West Pacific
SOLOMON GOLD’s core focus is to discover a world class copper and gold mine on the south west Pacific Rim of Fire, in the shadow of some of the world’s largest gold mines; Ok Tedi (50m oz), Bougainville (50m oz), Grasberg (160m oz) and Lihir Island (40m oz) Click to view webcast of CEO's Presentation at the London 69th Minesite Forum - June 2010
The company holds a number of promising exploration tenements in the Solomon Islands and Australia.
Mt Perry |
Porphyry and Vein Gold |
100% Owned |
| Rannes | Carlin Style Gold | 100% Owned |
| Fauro | Epithermal Gold | 100% Owned |
| Guadalcanal | Porphyry Copper Gold | JV with Newmont |
Solomon Gold is the most active explorer in the Solomon Islands, with a fully operational base in the capital Honiara and unparalleled relationships with local landowners affording unprecedented access to previously unexplored areas.
Newmont Mining, the world’s largest gold miner, has demonstrated confidence in Solomon Gold’s Guadalcanal Project to the extent of committing an expenditure of up to USD 12M over 5 years to earn up to a 70% interest in the project, while Solomon Gold’s 100% owned Fauro Island Project continues to show exciting results, with indications of a potentially large gold deposit similar in style to Lihir Island.
The company recently derisked and diversified its asset base with the acquisition of Australian gold projects at Rannes and Mt Perry in Queensland situated near to Lihir’s Mt Rawdon Mine (1m oz) and Newcrest’s (100,000 oz pa) Cracow Mine. Mt Perry and Rannes provide targets for the discovery of a 2m oz gold resource in bulk disseminated and Carlin style gold systems. Exploration drilling at Rannes and Mt Perry has already returned potentially economic intersections. Both projects are characterised by extensive exploration licences and in the case of Rannes defines a new Carlin style province over 200km long.
Solomon Gold aims to deliver, over the next five years, on its strategy to become an integrated gold explorer, developer and miner in the South West Pacific. Its accomplished Board and Management have significantly vested interests in 19.3% of Solomon Gold. The company will draw on a track record in resource discovery and development to achieve its aims.
Solomon Islands Projects
Fauro (Solomon Islands) 100% owned: An exploration licence covering over 70km2 of Fauro Island was granted to Solomon Gold on 30 November 2009 for a period of three years and is owned 100% by Solomon Gold. The licence may be renewed for 4 years after this initial term and a mining lease may be applied for by the Company.
Fauro lies 82km southeast of the giant copper gold mine on Bougainville, in neighbouring PNG, and Solomon Gold geologists believe Fauro to represent a gold rich high level variant sitting above a porphyry system similar to Bougainville. Fauro’s geological setting is similar to the giant 40m oz Lihir deposit, 560km to the northwest. Lihir and Fauro show similar mineralogy and geological setting, and Solomon Gold believes Fauro to have potential to host a world class gold deposit with geological similarities to Lihir.
The northern peninsula of Fauro and Masamasa Island, 5km east are the remnant rims of a volcano which gave off silica and gold rich mineral fluids as the volcano waned. Stream sediment sampling in December 2009 by Solomon Gold geologists has identified gold contents between two and six times the levels found in highly anomalous samples on the Company’s project on the main island of Solomon Islands, Guadalcanal, 530kms to the southeast. Samples of silicified volcanic host rocks on Fauro taken at the same time by Solomon Gold geologists show gold values up to 169 grams per tonne or over 5 oz per tonne; some samples showed gold visible to the naked eye.
An airborne magnetic and electromagnetic survey over the entire licence area is currently taking place to identify strong resistors interpreted to represent gold rich silicified volcanic rocks in the volcanic rim. Thereafter the company expects to commence a drill program in the second quarter of 2010 to test the anomalies identified. Click here to read more on Fauro
Guadalcanal (Solomon Islands) Newmont farm-in: The Company currently holds tenement interests over 612km2 land covering highly prospective terrain on the southwest Pacific Rim of Fire, a region known for very large copper gold porphyry and epithermal gold deposits, such as Lihir, Bougainville and Ok Tedi in Papua New Guinea and Batu Hijau and Grasberg in Indonesia. In 2001, the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission concluded (that) “Solomon Islands is perhaps the most prospective Pacific island country for minerals after Papua New Guinea.” The country has a Westminster system of Government with modern mining laws. An assistance mission, RAMSI, staffed by other South Pacific nations has helped restore internal stability after a period of ethnic tensions.
Solomons Gold’s main project interests are over the Koloula, Kuma and Sutakiki Valleys an approximate 20 to 30 minute helicopter flight from the nation’s capital, Honiara; and the Mbetilonga Caldera, approximately 15km south of Honiara. A number of impressive prospects have been outlined, which are the subject of ongoing field programs.
Solomon Gold’s programmes on Guadalcanal have included developing a substantial geological, geochemical and airborne magnetic database over the tenements and as a result the Company has established a developed understanding of the geology of the area. The data originally collected indicated a very strong potential for large porphyry copper gold deposits. The Company drilled 14,000 metres of core, resulting in its best intersection, in late 2007, of 32m@9.4g//t gold in a porphyry related skarm system intersected in drillhole SK11 in the Sutakiki Valley, 30km southeast of Honiara.
On March 5 2009, Solomon Gold progressed to operating its Guadalcanal tenements under a Venture Agreement with Newmont Ventures Limited, a subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) (“Newmont”), over its Guadalcanal tenements. In terms of the Agreement Newmont can earn 51% of the Guadalcanal project area by expending USD 6million by March 4 2012, and may elect to expend a further USD 6 million within a further two (2) years to earn an additional 19% interest (a maximum potential interest of 70%). Importantly, in the first year of the joint venture, it completed the acquisition of highly diagnostic airborne electromagnetic data over the entire Guadalcanal Venture licence area, and is well advanced in the collection of a complete stream sediment Bulk Leach Extractable Gold (BLEG) data set, also over the entire licence area. Interpretation of this data, along with the detailed mapping and sampling of advanced prospects being prepared for drill testing in 2010 is well advanced.
The Directors consider Newmont’s interest in Guadalcanal as a significant demonstration of support for the prospectivity of Solomon Gold’s projects on Guadalcanal. Newmont is one of the world’s leading gold project development and operating companies, with considerable experience in the southwest Pacific and Indonesia.
To date, Solomon Gold, its subsidiary, Australian Resource Management (ARM) Pty Ltd and Newmont have expended approximately AUD 20m on the search for a giant gold copper porphyry system on Guadalcanal Island.
Click here to read more about Guadalcanal
Australian Projects
In late 2009 and early 2010, Solomon Gold acquired two companies holding promising exploration projects in Queensland, Australia. The acquisitions reflect a strategy to become an integrated gold explorer, developer and miner in environments ranging from high risk reward situations in Solomon Islands to lower risk, more advanced projects proceeding to resource definition in Queensland. The projects at Mt Perry, Normanby, Rannes and Clermont are 100% owned and operated by Solomon Gold.
Mt Perry (Queensland) 100% owned: The Mt Perry project covers 1,344km2 located four hours drive northwest of Brisbane and lies approximately 15km northwest of Lihir Gold’s Mt Rawdon mine which has a 1 million oz resource producing 100k oz pa gold. The tenements are held in Solomon Gold’s 100% owned subsidiary Acapulco Mining Pty Ltd.
The area is located on the intersection of strong regional geological features and hosts in excess of 60 named historic mines and additional unnamed diggings. Extensive mapping and sampling has identified ten drill targets which have yielded potentially economic results. Extensive drilling programs for 2010 are planned on the 6x3km Chinamans-Spring Creek-Regans, 1x4km Edina-New Moonta and the 1x4km Augustine-Dingle-Nickos-Harpurs systems which have yielded both high grades and long intersections of medium grade mineralisation to date. Airborne geophysical coverage has identified 17 strong resistors and magnetic anomalies to be assessed for porphyry gold copper molybdenum potential. Strongly mineralised porphyry copper molybdenum prospects are evident at Bania, Cradle Gully and Chinamans. Solomon Gold intends to test these targets in 2010.
The Company aims to define a 1 million oz gold resource in the Mt Perry project area. Click here to read more on Mt Perry
Rannes (Queensland) 100% owned: Solomon Gold’s 100% owned subsidiary Central Minerals holds exploration licences covering 3,670km2 over a strike length of 200km on the eastern margin of the Permian Triassic Bowen Basin in Central Queensland, approximately 200km north west of the Mt Perry project area and160km west of the port of Gladstone. The project is based on the recognition by Solomon Gold geologists of long and broad zones of low temperature gold bearing fragmented and silicified rocks at the sheared base of the Bowen Basin limestone and volcanic rich sediments on its eastern margin.
The main project in the area is at Rannes which exhibits structures and geochemistry similar to the Carlin trend in Nevada USA. The Carlin and Battle Mountain Trends are amongst the most prolific gold producing belts in the world, boasting in excess of 200million ounces of combined resources and production to date. Mineralisation occurs on structural trends which are the focus of the intrusions, faulting and characteristic low temperature mineralisation.
Five prospects in the Rannes Central area (Crunchie, Homestead, Kauffmans, Cracklin Rosie and Porcupine Pie) have been subject to first pass drilling by Central Minerals and previous explorers with potentially economic intersections in all five.
In addition, surface soil, stream and rock sampling has identified a further thirteen gold targets, of which five (Soggy-Hogget Hill, Mt Cooper and Brother-Police Camp Creek) are considered to be high order and located close to the drilled prospects referred to above. Police Camp Creek is four kilometres long and defined by strong gold results in soil sampling. Mt Cooper, located in the northwest of the Rannes project, is 7km long, open ended and defined by strong silver values in soils. Mt Cooper is located in Bowen Basin sediments and is considered to represent the upper level expression of a gold mineralised system at depth.
The company plans to continue the exploration program at Rannes, with drilling of further initial targets planned for the next quarter.
Solomon Gold is targeting a resource in excess of 1 million ounces of gold at Rannes. Click here to read more on Rannes
