Projects
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Papua New Guinea Tenements
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PPM has a 100 % interest in five exploration projects in PNG and is earning an interest in Petromin PNG Holdings Ltd's Waria River project. The combined land area totals 2,003 square km.
PPM has several projects in PNG, with more information for each provided below:
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 Presentation - Mar 2010 (18Mb)
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Urua Creek porphyry Au-Cu (PGE,Ni) prospect
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The Urua Creek Au-Cu porphyry prospect is unusual in that it is hosted by a very young (~3-4 My) diatreme, a breccia filled volcanic vent that has had a direct connection to the surface. The presence of carbonised wood fragments in the Urua Creek breccia at several localities is evidence of a surface connection. The diatreme has dimensions in excess of 1,700 x 900 m. Subsequent igneous activity is nested within the breccia. Host rocks to the Urua Creek diatreme are a Late Oligocene marine volcanic sequence consisting of pillow basalts and lesser amygdaloidal basalt and porphyritic basalt. Urua Creek diatreme wallrock has been receptive to subsequent alteration and mineralisation. Soil Au-Cu-Mo anomalism is coincident with the diatreme, suggestive of a porphyry copper system. The diatreme contains areas of both low-grade propylitic and high-grade phyllic Au-Cu mineralisation. Propylitic mineralisation is typically in the order of 33 m @ 0.17 % Cu, 0.27 g/t Au (trench T3). High-grade phyllic hosted mineralisation is present in trench T5 (36 m @ 0.72 % Cu, 0.97 g/t Au; incl. 12 m @ 1.13 % Cu, 2.03 g/t Au).
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(click to view a high-resolution image) |
Copper-gold-molybdenum soil anomalies over the Urua Creek Au-Cu prospect
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Urua Creek Au-Cu prospect showing diatreme geology, highlights of selected trench and rock chip sampling
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Ioleu Creek Cu-Au (PGE) porphyry prospect
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| The Upper Ada’u Au-Cu prospect (EL 1618) is located 200 km ESE of Port Moresby. It covers a 25 km2 area straddling the Keveri Fault Zone. Outcrop and float samples in tributaries of both the Ada’u and Bonua Rivers contain Cu, Au and Zn values ranging up to 16.8 %, 1.28 g/t and 3.80 %, respectively. The crude zonation of polymetallic (Cu-Au-Zn) mineralisation present in both float and outcrop and the development of broad zones of argillic alteration suggest the presence of a shallow buried Au-Cu porphyry. |
(click to view a high-resolution image) |
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Araboro Creek circular feature/intrusive
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The Araboro circular feature is located on the northern banks of the Ada'u River. On satellite imagery and digital terrain maps it is a distinctive 3 - 4 km concentric nested series of circular features localised along the linear belt (Keveri Fault Zone) that includes the Urua Creek and Ioleu Creek prospects. It is likely to be another porphyry centre, and very much enhances the prospectivity of this forgotten eastern end of the New Guinea porphyry copper belt. District scale alignment of porphyry centres is common in porphyry copper districts. Linear belts may be from a few tens of kilometres to hundreds of kilometres long.
The Araboro Creek circular feature has escaped previous geochemical sampling as it lies adjacent to the large Ada'u River and small streams draining its centre disappear into the river's braided gravel flats. However, an historical sample of quartz-sulphide rock collected adjacent the circular feature in Araboro Creek assayed 1.3 % Cu and Cu-stained vuggy quartz float was noted in small streams draining the western flanks of the circular feature. Historical exploration results in the middle and upper reaches of Araboro Creek indicate the source of this Cu-bearing float must be in the stream's lower reaches.
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(click to view a high-resolution image) |
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Alignment of Urua Creek Au-Cu porphyry prospect, Araboro Creek circular feature/intrusive and Ioleu Creek Cu-Au porphyry prospect along the Keveri Fault Zone
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New Hanover epithermal Au project
 The New Hanover project (EL 1566) is located about 60 km west of the Provincial capital Kavieng in New Ireland Province. Access is by a two-hour boat journey from Kavieng. The 363.8 km2 tenement covers an area of coincident panned concentrate gold anomalies and extensive argillic (clay-pyrite) and advanced argillic (quartz-alunite-sulphide breccia, jasperoidal silica breccia) alteration on the south coast of New Hanover.
Very little modern exploration has been completed on the hydrothermal alteration system within EL 1566. Consistently high panned concentrate values focused attention of previous explorers to the ridge-line between the Asmin and Woi Rivers and ridge-and-spur soil sampling defined a 2 km2 geochemical anomaly known as the Kuliuta gold prospect. A six-hole diamond-drilling programme (totalling 705 m), completed in May 1989, followed a six kilometre trenching programme. Trenching results included: 20 m @ 2.46 g/t Au; 30 m @ 3.12 g/t Au; and 25 m @ 1.44 g/t Au. Drilling intersected 20 m @ 1.48 g/t Au.
PPM's exploration of EL 1566 has focussed on a reassessment of the exploration potential outside of the Kuliuta prospect area. In order to complete this reassessment, most streams in the tenement have been traversed, mapped and sampled. Ten anomalies have been defined for followup exploration. This is in addition to the Kuliuta gold prospect. Anomaly definition has been based upon a combination of observations of stream float and outcrop with geochemical results.
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Doriri Creek hydrothermal Ni-Pd-Pt prospect
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Dimidi Creek Pt-Au-Cr prospects
 The Dimidi Creek prospects (EL 1424) are located in a northern tributary of the Ada’u River, approximately 190 km ESE of Port Moresby. Dimidi Creek is noteworthy for both a persistent train of pannable gold and platinum well into its middle reaches, as well as the apparently unique occurrence of float boulders of chromitite (see figure). Three prospects have been identified within the area, viz. Muruk Pt-Ni-Cr prospect, Duna Creek Pt-Cr prospect and Dimidi Creek prospect. All three prospects are located in the Awariobo Range ultramafic complex.
The Muruk Pt-Ni-Cr prospect is a hydrothermal deposit noteworthy for its prominent exposure in the bed of Dimidi Creek (photo). The prospect has many similarities with the Doriri Creek Pd-Pt-Ni prospect and contains several mineralised magnetic lenses hosted in a + 25 m wide NE-SW trending zone of talc alteration. Reconnaissance surface samples have returned grades of 18 m @ 30 ppb Pt, 0.41 % Ni and 1 m @ 65 ppb 2PGE+Au, 0.14 % Ni, 0.32 % Cr.
The Duna Creek Pt-Cr prospect is located in a western tributary of Dimidi Creek, and is centred on a pegmatoid anorthosite dyke that contains an anomalous 88.2 ppb Pt and 0.54 % Cr. Ultramafic wall-rock to this dyke is also PGE-enriched, with an anomalous 30.3 ppb Pt. The extent of dyking is unknown at this early stage. Both lithologies are the first ultramafic rocks of the Papuan Ultramafic Belt to return anomalous PGE values and, given the reconnaissance nature of sampling to date, is considered to be extremely encouraging. PPM’s sampling has indicated the Awariobo Range complex to be PGM fertile. An average PGM content of 21 ppb Pt+Pd in unmineralized rocks compares with a global average of around 10 ppb.
The Dimidi Creek prospect consists of a 75 m interval of variably hydrothermally altered ultramafic, mafic and felsic rocks located along the western bank of the middle reaches of Dimidi Creek. Rock types within the prospect range from peridotite to pyroxenite, leucogabbro to felsite. Textures include equigranular fine- to coarse-grained porphyritic, pegmatitic and heterolithic gabbro breccia. To-date, no significant PGM results have been obtained from detailed sampling of these lithologies.
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Goroa Creek cumulate layered Pt-Pd prospect
 The Goroa Creek Pt-Pd propsect (EL 1271) is located 175 km NNE from Port Moresby, at the NW end of the Papuan Ultramafic Belt. Irregularly spaced creek-side outcrop grab sampling from across the stirke of the Goroa Creek mafic-ultramafic sequence has identified three cumulate-layered PGM reefs, the first occurrence of such mineralisation in the SW Pacific. All three reefs occur in a layered gabbro sequence. Pt:Pd ratios of >1 are typical of cumulate-layered PGM mineralization.
The lowermost 'Reef' 1 is located near the base of a plagioclase- and sulphide-rich gabbro, immediately above its contact with utramfics. A single sample from the reef assayed 244 ppb Pt+PD. A second thicker 'Reef' 2 occurs in the upper part of the plagioclase- and sulphide-rich gabbro unit and straddles the contact with overlying weakly layered plagioclase-poor gabbro. This reef is about 100m thick and averages 60 ppb Pt+Pd. Highest assay is 114 ppb Pt+Pd. A third narrower 'Reef' 3 is present in the upper part of the weakly layered plagioclase-poor gabbro unit. Highest assay is 96 ppb Pt-Pd and the average is 54 ppb Pt+Pd.
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