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Forrestania Gold Project

Example of visible gold in rock samples taken from around the Lady Ada deposit.

Classic’s Forrestania Gold Project is located approximately 120 km south of Southern Cross, Western Australia and contains the Lady Ada and Lady Magdalene deposits.

Classic (CLZ) has acquired 80% of the gold rights on the FGP Tenements whilst Hannans (HNR) has maintained its 20% interest in the gold rights.

The Forrestania Gold Project hosts JORC (2012) compliant Mineral Resources of 6.95 million tonnes at 1.33 g/t gold for 297,579 ounces across the Lady Ada and Lady Magdalene deposits. The most recent Mineral Resource Estimate was completed in June 2024 by Cadre Geological Consulting on behalf of Classic Minerals.

Historic mining from the Lady Ada open pit produced 95,865 tonnes at 8.81 g/t gold for 27,146 ounces of gold.

The project sits within Mining Lease M77/1310 and represents the Company's core development asset.

Project Snapshot

Regional Location

The Forrestania Greenstone Belt is one of Western Australia's most prospective gold provinces, with a regional gold endowment exceeding 10 million ounces of gold.

The project is located approximately:

The region hosts several historic and operating gold mines and established mining infrastructure.

Resources

The most recent Mineral Resource Estimate was completed in June 2024 by Cadre Geological Consulting on behalf of Classic Minerals. For full details, see the ASX announcement dated 12 June 2024.

June 2024 JORC Mineral Resource Estimate
Deposit Classification Tonnes Grade (Au g/t) Gold (oz)
Lady Ada Indicated 540,339 1.62 28,143
Inferred 809,642 1.23 32,018
Total 1,349,981 1.39 60,161
Lady Magdalene Indicated 956,494 1.36 41,823
Inferred 4,644,033 1.31 195,595
Total 5,600,527 1.32 237,418
Combined Resource Total Tonnes Average Grade (Au g/t) Gold (oz)
6,950,508 1.33 297,579

Notes:

  1. Mineral Resources are reported in accordance with the JORC Code (2012).
  2. Effective date of the Mineral Resource Estimate: 12 June 2024.
  3. The Mineral Resource is contained within the Forrestania Gold Project tenements.
  4. Estimates are rounded to reflect the appropriate level of confidence.
  5. The Mineral Resource is reported at a 0.5 g/t Au cut-off grade.
  6. Historic mining depletion has been incorporated.
Forrestania Gold Project location. View full size.
Forrestania Gold Project and other major deposits. View full size.
Forrestania Gold Project tenure. View full size.

Lady Ada

Upon first examination of the dominantly west-dipping orientated drill lines, the mineralisation appears to be diminishing at depth. However, when the high-grade intervals (>5.0 g/t Au) are displayed in plan-view (see appendix 2 of ASX Announcement dated 14 March 2017) a south-easterly plunging trend is readily observable. When cross-sections are created parallel to the high-grade plunge, it is clear the mineralisation is open at depth as shown in the oblique and cross sections provided in Figures 2 & 3.

The mineralisation at Lady Ada is hosted within the Sapphire Shear, which presents as two zones of stacked shallow dipping faults. The grades within the shear are variable (typical of shear hosted systems) and present commonly as intervals of 2-3 m, with average grades frequently ranging up to 5.0-15.0 g/t Au. Figure 1 and Figure 2 show high-grade intercepts that have not been closed off at depth. The main (eastern) high-grade part of the Mineral Resource is 55 m wide with a down-dip length of 230 m; the second (western) high-grade part of the Mineral Resource is approximately 35 m wide with a down-dip length of 170 m (as first reported in the ASX announcement from 9 March 2017).

MARC001 was a standout hole which yielded very impressive, high grade gold mineralisation at a shallow depth (38m) in an area that is outside of the current optimised pit design.

The strong results point to both an increase and an upgrade in Resources at the Forrestania Gold Project. The drilling was designed to target mineralisation outside of the current resource model as well as high-grade extensions below and adjacent to the current pit design, in line with Classic’s strategy to sufficiently grow its Mineral Resources to a size that supports establishment of an on-site processing facility at FGP as contemplated in FGP scoping study (see ASX announcement released 2nd May 2017).  Best results include:

Plan view map showing the location of historic drilling. View full size.
Lady Ada (formerly Blue Haze) long section looking west (local grid), showing the extent of the current mineral resource model and the exploration drilling results. View full size.
Lady Ada (formerly Blue Haze) cross section looking north east (cross section 2) showing CLZ proposed drill holes. View full size.

Lady Magdalene

Gold mineralisation at Lady Magdalene (formerly Red Haze) is hosted within a sheared mafic suite. The mineralisation is over a kilometre long, is generally drilled to a down-dip length of 200-300 m (150 m vertical depth), and is generally 10 m thick (true thickness) with a grade range between 1.0 and 5.0 g/t Au. The area was the subject of RC/Diamond drilling, heap- and dump-leaching metallurgical column test work completed by Forrestania Gold NL (LionOre subsidiary) in mid- to late 1999. The gold mineralisation strikes over 500 m north-south and is hosted within the Wattle Rocks Dolerite unit (like Lady Ada), but differs in having multiple, wide (up to 20 m true width), subparallel low-grade shear zones instead of one major, narrow, high-grade shear (the Sapphire Shear) like Lady Ada.

The total Mineral Resource estimated for Lady Magdalene in August 2000 was 2.45 Mt @ 1.65 g/t Au at a 1.0 g/t Au block cut-off grade. The Resource is based on only 50 m x 25 m drill coverage (at best) and higher-grade (supergene) portions of the orebody may become apparent with closer-spaced drilling programmes. Diamond hole FWRD011 had an intersection of 7.0 m @ 9.07 g/t Au (true width unknown), containing visible Au only 25 m from surface and alludes to other, as yet undefined, high-grade intersections being present in the orebody.

Classic has undertaken drilling at Lady Magdalene throughout 2017 with excellent results. Drilling at Lady Magdalene was designed to target mineralisation outside of the current resource model as well as high-grade extensions below and adjacent to the current pit design. Importantly, results from initial holes have identified an additional zone of high grade mineralisation outside of the current resource which extends at depth and along strike, reaffirming management’s view that the FGP has the potential to host a much larger gold system that can be unlocked through further targeted drilling. Best results include:

Lady Magdalene (formerly Red Haze) cross section looking north showing CLZ proposed drill holes. View full size.
View towards NNE at 30 dip showing optimised Lady Magdalene pit shell and Resource model. View full size.

Exploration Targets

The Company is planning an aggressive work program with the aim of developing existing gold resources and discovering new high grade gold deposits within its extensive ground holding at the Forrestania Gold Project. Work will include the completion of resource development drilling and resource calculations at Lady Ada and Lady Magdalene, orientated diamond drilling at Lady Magdalene to identify very high grade gold lodes similar to Lady Ada and extensive regional exploration drilling testing high priority exploration targets for new gold deposits.

Initial work will focus on the completion of phase 2 resource drilling at Lady Ada and Lady Magdalene. This will facilitate the calculation of a new resource base for the Forrestania Gold Project to 2012 JORC standard.

The region is highly prospective for primary gold mineralisation having yielded more than 1 million ounces of gold extracted to date. Remaining known in-ground resources in the region exceed 2.5 million ounces of gold. Exploration work will focus on testing high priority targets specifically those over favourable host rocks including gabbro, which host the Lady Ada and Lady Magdalene deposits, and banded iron formation, which host the 1 million ounce Bounty Gold Mine. The highest ranked exploration targets within the project area have little or no previous drill coverage.

Orientated diamond drilling will be undertaken within the existing Lady Magdalene resource in an attempt to locate high grade cross-cutting gold lodes similar to the Lady Ada deposit which yielded 95,865 tonnes @ 8.81g/t for 27,146 oz Au. Currently existing drilling at Lady Magdalene is too broad spaced to identify these potential high-grade cross-cutting lodes.

The Matrix is our highest priority regional target located 9km south along strike from Lady Ada. Its geological and structural framework is almost identical to Lady Ada and Lady Magdalene with a series of highly prospective cross cutting structures.

No historical drilling has occurred at the Matrix. The geochemistry is weaker than Lady Ada and Lady Magdalene and it is the Company’s belief that this is function of the transported cover/overburden being slightly thicker than what is seen over Lady Ada and Lady Magdalene. It wasn’t until a magnetic survey was flown in the early 2000s that it became clear that the prospect has a very similar magnetic signature to Lady Ada and Lady Magdalene (significant north/north eastern cross cutting features).

Classic intends to conduct a first phase Air Core/RAB drill program over discreet magnetic features (focusing on cross cutting dykes/structures) at the Matrix as soon as the drill POW has been approved.

Classic considers the Matrix as having the potential to host gold mineralisation due to its similar structural positions to the small, high-grade (~9g/t Au) Lady Ada deposit (8km to the north), the large low-grade (1.5Mt @ ~3g/t Au) North Ironcap Resource (4km to the south) and the large high-grade (~4.5g/t Au) Lounge Lizard deposit (12km to the south). A 1000m x 150m >20ppb Au auger soil anomaly overlies the dolerite but stops under cover to the north and west.

Ranked targets at the Matrix Prospect. View full size.

Scoping Study

In March 2017, Classic completed a Scoping Study based on the Inferred and Indicated Mineral Resource at the Forrestania Gold Project. The Scoping Study referred to the Lady Ada (formerly referred to as Blue Haze) and Lady Magadalene (formerly Red Haze) deposits.

Highlights

The Scoping Study showed a technically and financially viable project, and based on A$1,700 gold price and 8% discount rate:

Optimised Pit Shells as Designed by Auralia. View full size.
Optimised Pit Shells as Designed by Auralia overlain on google earth. View full size.
Plan view of Optimised Lady Ada pit shell and Resource model. View full size.
Ranked FGP exploration targets. View full size.