Cells Creek

Geological setting and mineral system

The project sits in the Central Block of the New England Orogen and holds two gold occurrences ~1.6 km apart: the Cells Creek shear- and quartz-vein workings in Silurian metasediments, and the Oakbourne disseminated pyrite–gold prospect in altered high-K augite andesite whose albite–stilpnomelane–epidote assemblage Clutha reinterpreted as pre-metamorphic hydrothermal alteration (Temby 1994, R00001546). The combined signature — hydrothermal alteration, stratabound magnetite-jasper and quartz-pyrite bodies, a coherent Au–As–Sb association — is read as consistent with a volcanic-hosted low-sulphidation epithermal to exhalative system; this classification is advisory and untested against modern geochronology. Whether the two occurrences are one system is a structural/stratigraphic inference, not yet tested. The IP source is interpreted to strengthen with depth — an inference from pole-dipole data; no historical hole has reached the depth at which it is predicted to become productive.

The grades — what the system has already demonstrated

Result (depths / widths / R-number)	Confirmation status / discrepancy & Phase 1 resolution
273 g/t Au over 0.81 m — chip channel, Cut 1 (R00013991)	Independent NSW Dept of Mines channel sample; corroborated by a 392 g/t Au shaft-bottom grab from the same shaft system (R00028312, grab support). Grades demonstrably nuggety, narrow (economic widths ≤0.76 m). Phase 1 screen fire assay + oriented core resolves support.
~5.5 g/t Au over 1.5 m — winze-face chip channel, Oakbourne (R00050611)	Departmental channel sample; the disseminated system's best historical channel. A 13 g/t Au upper-adit grab (R00001546) is grab support only, not a channel width.
BHP reconnaissance — panned concentrates to 16.7 g/t Au; Oakbourne/Tobins rock chips to 9.65 g/t Au (R00006526)	Independent 1986–87 regional confirmation of a coherent gold–arsenic signature across the district; a primary bedrock source was not located at surface.
CCRC6 — best 0.07 g/t Au on 2 m gold-only composites; ended in mineralisation, open below ~85 m (R00020361)	The only modern drill result — low, but from a shallow, gold-only, 2 m-composited programme; the down-dip continuation has not yet been tested.

Exploration history — seven documented campaigns, documented exits

Every campaign confirmed gold in the system; each exit is documented as corporate, economic or method-driven — not exhaustion of the target
Period	Operator (licence)	Model targeted	Departure reason (R-number)
1964–68	NSW Dept of Mines	Vein & disseminated gold; aided development	Assessed uneconomic on near-surface values then available (R00050611; R00013991; R00028312)
1981	Northumberland Development (EL 1552)	Vein gold + alluvial	Surrendered after a single field season; nuggety, sub-gram results (R00010929)
1986–87	BHP Minerals (ELs 2643–2645)	Epithermal gold	Gold-fertile but primary bedrock source not located; licences relinquished (R00006526)
1989–94	Clutha Minerals (EL 3321)	Disseminated Au–pyrite / IP	Group placed under administration 1995 — corporate, not geological (R00003882–85; R00001546–48)
1995–97	Southpac Ltd	Acquisition / farmout	Surrendered EL 3321, Feb 1997, after farminee withdrawal (R00002898; R00020361)
Dec 1996	Golden Cross Operations	Oakbourne IP chargeability	Withdrew on 0.07 g/t from a shallow, gold-only, 6-hole RC programme (R00020361)
2015	Consolidated Gems Australia (EL 8150)	Surface rock-chip	Ground forfeited 2015 (RE0007583)

Why the grade is still available — in the operators' own words

Wrong commodity, wrong model.  Golden Cross withdrew on a best value of 0.07 g/t Au from a programme that tested a single Oakbourne IP anomaly to shallow depth with gold-only assays (Robinson 1998, R00020361). Clutha's exit was corporate — the group was placed under administration in 1995 — not a geological verdict on the ground (Temby 1994, R00001546). BHP proved the district gold-fertile with a coherent gold–arsenic signature but relinquished because it never located the primary bedrock source (BHP 1987, R00006526). No operator retired the target on the basis of an adequate deep, multi-element drill test — because none was ever done.

The analytical gap.  CAADIA's audit of the open-file record establishes that no historical programme applied modern multi-element ICP-MS or screen fire assay; the 1996 RC holes were composited over 2 m and assayed for gold only, and so could not apply arsenic — the pathfinder the preceding decade had shown tracks gold more reliably than gold itself (Temby 1991, R00003884; Robinson 1998, R00020361). Clutha's own report warned that “Oakbourne-style mineralisation could pass undetected” in the prevailing regolith (Temby 1990, R00003882, §Discussion). Independent pathfinder confirmation is on record: Stockyard Spur rock chips returned 13.7 g/t Au with 9,000 ppm As, and regional arsenic maps the gold-bearing shears where soil gold does not (Temby 1990, R00003883; Temby 1991, R00003884).

The untested target.  The 1965 geologists defined the strongest gold-bearing pyrite on a line plunging ~60° toward 080° magnetic; that vector has never been systematically drill-tested (McManus & Ringis 1965, R00050611). Hole CCRC6 ended in mineralisation and was not closed off below ~85 m (Robinson 1998, R00020361). And the bonanza-tenor Cells Creek vein/shaft system — 273 g/t Au over 0.81 m, a shaft reported to have produced over 200 oz — has never been drilled by any operator (Suppel & Staude 1965, R00013991; Rasmus 1968, R00028312). 

The miss, precisely. No operator's exit was a verdict on the gold — it was a verdict on the method. The one modern drill programme (Golden Cross, 1996) tested a single Oakbourne IP anomaly to shallow depth, composited over 2 m, and assayed for gold only — so it could not apply arsenic, the pathfinder the prior decade had shown tracks the gold; its deepest hole (CCRC6) still ended in mineralisation, open below ~85 m. The bonanza Cells Creek veins were never drilled at all. The grade is still available because the ground was screened out on the wrong depth, the wrong sample support and the wrong element suite — not because it was drilled and found wanting.

System scale — documented footprint and model class

Footprint (documented dimensions, not tonnes).  The 1993 IP survey defined an open-ended chargeability–resistivity corridor ~475 m long and 40–60 m wide, within which Zone D has an interpreted strike of ~150 m; the Cells Creek veins were worked over a line ~90 m long (Cuts 1–5); the two occurrences span ~1.6 km. Recorded historical production is of the order of 57–62 kg Au. Drilling to date reached only 40–91 m (1996 RC), above the depth at which the IP source is interpreted to strengthen and below which CCRC6 remains open.  Model class.  The synthesis assigns the system to the volcanic-hosted low-sulphidation epithermal to exhalative class as an advisory interpretation; it does not quantify an analogue endowment range, and none is asserted here — any class analogue belongs to the model, not to this project.  Commercial framing.  The Technical Synthesis v4.1 advances no gold-price recharacterisation or commercial valuation; accordingly none is presented in this summary.

The targets

Primary — Target 1, CCRC6 down-dip (Oakbourne).  CCRC6 ended in fresh andesite with rising gold and trace pyrite–pyrrhotite–chalcopyrite, open below ~85 m. The known limitation is method-ambiguity in the geophysics that frames the Oakbourne bulk model: the chargeability source may in part reflect barren pyrrhotite rather than gold-associated pyrite (Robinson 1998, R00020361). This is resolved directly — Stage 1a re-processing of the 1993 IP gates any Zone D metre, and diamond holes CCDD001 (220 m) and CCDD002 (180 m) with full multi-element assay establish whether the deepening sulphide carries gold.

Secondary — Target 3, Cells Creek veins:  first-ever drill test of the never-drilled bonanza shoots beneath the Cut 5 shaft — oriented holes CCDD003 (260 m) and CCDD004 (220 m), sampled on geological boundaries with screen fire assay for the nuggety gold.  Target 2, IP Zone D:  contingent reserve holes CCDD005/006 (~460 m) on the 60°/080° plunge, drilled only if IP re-processing confirms a coherent deepening source.

Testing the thesis — gates, kill criteria, cost to answer

Phase & indicative cost	Scope	Gate & kill criterion
Stage 1a — pre-drill (within ~A$140k data work)	Georeference 1996 collars, workings and 1993 IP grid to GDA2020; re-process the 1993 IP; re-assay retained 1996 pulps multi-element.	Gate: Target 2 proceeds only if re-processing confirms a coherent deepening source. Kill (Zone D): a barren-pyrrhotite response — binary, and answered before any Zone D metre is drilled.
Stage 1b — primary drilling  CCDD001–004 ≈880 m (~A$250–400/m all-in)	4 diamond holes, oriented core; screen fire assay + 4-acid ICP-MS multi-element (Au, As, Ag, Sb, Hg, ±Te, Mo); CRM/blank/duplicate 1:20 + umpire checks; DGPS collars.	Target 1 gate: a multi-element-confirmed CCRC6 intersection validates or retires the Oakbourne bulk model. Kill: if the deepening sulphide carries no gold, the bulk target fails; if the high-grade shoots prove short, narrow and discontinuous, continuous mineralisation may be insufficient.
Stage 1c — contingent  CCDD005–006 ≈460 m	Zone D at depth on the 60°/080° plunge — reserve holes only.	Proceeds solely on the Stage 1a gate; otherwise not drilled, conserving core metres.

Technical Manager: Dr Tim McConachy FAusIMM (1974), Senior Fellow SEG, former Rio Tinto Chief Geologist.

Data room (under NDA): technical synthesis v4.1, Phase 1 drill programme design, source register and figure set.

Contact: Doug Alcock, Managing Director, CAADIA Metals Pty Ltd — dalcock@caadiametals.com.au

No JORC (2012) Mineral Resource, Ore Reserve or Exploration Target is declared or implied. Historical results are compiled from GSNSW open-file (DIGS) records, have not been verified by a Competent Person for public reporting, and are provided for context only. The IRGS / distal-replacement interpretation is a working hypothesis under test; alternative interpretations of the geophysical data exist. Earn-in terms are indicative and non-binding, subject to contract, due diligence and grant of the Exploration Licence.