Figure 1 Photograph of gold-bearing quartz

The Havelock Gold-Antimony Project (“Project”) is located in the heart of the Victorian goldfields near Maryborough, roughly halfway between Bendigo and Ballarat and about 1.5 hours drive from Melbourne, Australia.  Paved highways and roads, along with gravel tracks provide year-round, ready access to all areas of the Project.  Land ownership is a combination of government (Crown) land and private property.

Epizonal gold systems, such as those at the Project, have created high-grade gold deposits that are now a focus for modern exploration.  Significant antimony with gold in this part of Victoria are regarded as a reasonable proxy for epizonal gold mineralization (4). Recent success at Fosterville (Agnico Eagle), Sunday Creek (Southern Cross Gold) and Costerfield (Alkane Resources) has highlighted the potential of Victoria’s epizonal gold-antimony deposits.

The first discovery at the Maryborough goldfield was made on this property in 1853 (5), with nuggets and alluvial gold, which led to small scale hard rock mining.  Water pumping and ore processing technologies were rudimentary during this period and mining generally targeted high grades above the water table.

Two significant gold-bearing structural trends cross the property with numerous historical workings evident.  The first is the Shaw-McFarlane Trend (“SMT”), which comprises about 9 km of intermittent small scale historic workings with recorded multi-ounce per ton gold production in the late 1800’s (6).  The SMT has had minimal modern exploration and most targets have never been drilled.  In 2010, a landowner had a water storage dam excavated on their property and a metal detector operator reportedly recovered 514 ounces of gold, including 23 kg of gold bearing quartz material from the excavation (7).  Management believes the dam excavation intersected the top of a gold bearing quartz vein (reef) that has never been drill tested.

The second structural trend is the Leviathan-Mariner’s Trend (“LMT”), which covers 3 km of historic workings.  In 2021, Leviathan completed an 8-hole diamond drill program on LMT targets.  The drill program returned significant results from 4 of the 8 drillholes, justifying further work.

Table 1 Leviathan 2021 Drill Highlights

Historic underground mining reached a maximum depth of 500 feet (152 m) on the SMT and 900 feet (274 m) on the LMT, limited by mining techniques and the presence of ground water.  Mesozonal and epizonal gold systems are known to have depth extents of more than 1,000 m at other locations in Victoria, highlighting the potential below these historic workings.

The Dja Dja Wurrung Aboriginal people are the traditional owners of the land on which the Project is located.  A Land Use Activity Agreement is in place for the project, providing clarity for both the Dja Dja Wurrung and the Project operator.

The Company advises that there are no current Mineral Resources on the Project and cautions that despite the documented historic production, there is no certainty that exploration will result in mineral resources being estimated.

The Company plans to move quickly to commence exploration on the Project.

The Transaction is a Fundamental Acquisition under TSX Venture Exchange policies and a National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report on the Project is being prepared for Au Gold by an independent Qualified Person.  The Technical Report will be filed on SEDAR+ once it has been reviewed and accepted by the TSX Venture Exchange.