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The KRO Pilbara Wits 2.0 Resource Center features public companies that have property on the Pillbara Craton in Australia. The discovery of nugget gold bearing conglomerate beds has raised the possibility that the Pilbara Craton, which is similar in age to the Kaapvaal Craton on which sits the Witwatersrand Basin, may have a similar gold endowment. Since the discovery of gold in 1886 at the edge of the Witwatersrand Basin South Africa has produced 1.6 billion ounces gold, with another 1 billion identified. The Pilbara Craton has been explored for orogenic gold deposits where the older greenstone basement rocks are exposed, and for iron deposits where the older rocks are covered by the Archean aged rocks of the Hamersley Basin. Past exploration for Witwatersrand style gold and uranium deposits failed. The discovery of gold bearing conglomerate beds near Karratha that daylight below the Mount Roe Basalt suggests that past exploration failed because it did not look at the unconformity between the 3.0 Ga plus aged basement rocks and the overlying Fortescue Group succession of sediments and volcanics because the immature conglomerate beds did not resemble the mature gold bearing ones in the Witwatersrand Basin. As a result all parts of the Pilbara Craton with cover rocks younger than the crystalline basement need to be revisited. This resource center is intended to assist with the challenge of tracking what could become the biggest gold rush in history if Wits 2.0 is confirmed as a reality. At this stage we are simply listing companies with claims on the Pilbara Craton; as we learn more about the geology we will eliminate those companies with no exposure to Wits 2.0.
On September 15, 2017 John Kaiser gave a 24 minute presentation at the Metals Investor Forum in Vancouver where he presented the case that Novo Resources Corp could be the key to the Bre-X Redemption which launches the biggest discovery exploration boom the resource junior sector has ever experienced. The key will be whether the gold bearing beds outcropping on the Purdy's Reward and Comet Well properties are just a "local freak show" that eventually establishes a fair price for Novo in the $5-$10 per share range, or the edge of an extensive system that stretches laterally for hundreds of kilometres and downdip a hundred kilometres that is comparable to the Witwatersrand Reefs in South Africa where 1.6 billion ounces have been mined since discovery in 1886 and where at least another 1 billion ounces remain but at depths where mining feasibility is rapidly diminishing. John's recommendation was that retail investors take the plunge by buying a mere 1,000 shares just to be on board if indeed Novo has made the biggest discovery ever by a junior, a discovery that takes the stock beyond $50 if not swallowed prematurely by a major. If Wits 2.0 is the reality rather than just a "local freak show", Novo, which has "staked" over 7,000 sq km of that part of the Pilbara Craton covered with Hamersley Basin rocks, stands to be a big winner. Novo's staking activity was limited by existing claims seeking other targets such as iron deposits, shear-vein controlled gold deposits, and platinum group metals. Many of these companies, quite a few of them juniors, may turn out to own pieces of Wits 2.0.
Key Wits 2.0 Questions
What is the scale of the distribution of gold bearing conglomerate on the Pilbara Craton?
Is the grade high enough locally to support underground mining?
How can the grade of nugget based gold mineralization be reliably measured?
The companies below have been identified as having claims on the Pilbara Craton. At this stage no attempt has been made to distinguish which ones have Fortescue Group rocks on their claims that may be sheltering gold bearing conglomerate beds. The list is a research work in progress, not an endorsement of Wits 2.0 potential. If anybody knows of a company that should be on the list, please send us a link to the relevant web page of the company to info@kaiserresearch.com. The key to being a candidate for the Wits 2.0 area play is to have claims on the Pilbara Craton where the geology exposed at surface is younger than the 3.0 + Ga granite-greenstone basement rocks. The yellow line in the map above indicates the mapped boundary between older basement rocks and the younger rocks of the Fortescue Group and the even younger overlying rocks of the Hamersley Group. The current focus of the Wits 2.0 Hypothesis is the Pre-Mt Roe unit described in Chapter 3 of GSWA Bulletin 144 which unconformably sits on the basement rocks and is conformably overlain by the Mt Roe Basalt. Aside from the as yet unanswered question as to the lateral extent of the Pre-Mt Roe conglomerate sequence and additional question to ask is the depth of such unit at the location of a company's claims on the Pilbara. In developing analysis of the Pilbara Wits 2.0 we will use the sub-basin classification of the GSWA.
Grassroots (1) or Target Drilling (2)
Flagship Project (1-2)
Discovery Delineation (3) or Infill/Metallurgy (4)
Flagship Project (3-4)
PEA (5) or PFS (6)
Flagship Project (5-6)
Feasibility/Permitting (7) or Construction (8)
Flagship Project (7-8)
Production (9)
Flagship Project (9)
Current News - Flagship Project
Positive Mkt Signal
Negative Mkt Signal
Only flagship projects are tagged if there is a news release or a market signal. Click on marker for a snapshot of the company-project with links to free and KRO member only resources. Works best in Google Chrome.
Pilbara Wits 2.0 - Market Activity for January 18, 2019
