PLC Resources launches satellite hyperspectral survey over Abbotts gold project in WA

PLC Resources has started a two-stage satellite geo-spectral survey across its Abbotts gold project in the Murchison region of Western Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The program is intended to screen the whole project area from space, refine geological targets and focus future ground-based exploration.

PLC Resources will cover its four Abbotts tenements, which span 205 square kilometres, and will extend multispectral mapping over a further 300 square kilometres of surrounding ground, the Herald says. Mining-technology, Kalkine and TipRanks published headlines corroborating the start of the satellite survey.

According to the Herald, the first stage will use hyperspectral EnMAP satellite imagery for regional screening, with Geo Spectra contracted to carry out that work. The company says hyperspectral data will allow the team to detect large mineral alteration zones and structural features that can indicate orogenic gold mineralisation across the tenements.

PLC Resources describes this stage as a project-wide filter to identify priority areas for closer inspection. Stage two, the Herald reports, will use higher-resolution multispectral imagery capable of resolutions as fine as 31 centimetres.

That higher-resolution phase will be used to map surface expressions of alteration minerals — specifically iron oxides, clays and sulphates — enabling the exploration team to narrow targets before committing to boots-on-the-ground follow-up. The Herald quotes PLC management saying the higher-resolution imagery will let Geo Spectra “zoom in” on priority zones.

PLC Resources says the satellite program builds on a recent high-resolution airborne magnetic survey that identified a large-scale fold structure with more than 14 km of strike. Management noted that the fold continues south into ground held by New Murchison Gold, which the company highlighted as relevant to the structural interpretation reported in the Herald.

Executive director Simon Phillips is quoted by the Herald as saying the survey provides a project-wide perspective that ground work alone cannot deliver. The company frames the satellite work as a way to efficiently sift broad areas for alteration and undetected structures, and then apply targeted high-resolution imaging to refine targets for maiden discovery.

The available reporting focuses on the technical design, coverage and stated objectives of the satellite program, including the 205 km² tenement footprint, the 300 km² of surrounding mapping, the use of EnMAP hyperspectral imagery in stage one, the 31-centimetre multispectral capability in stage two, Geo Spectra as the contractor for the hyperspectral work and the connection to the earlier airborne magnetic survey that revealed the >14 km fold strike.