The Henderson tenements cover an approximately 438 km2 area in the central section of the Western Australian Yilgarn Craton and include about 25 km strike length of the Mt Ida/Ularring Greenstone Belt. Venus Metals (VMC) E30/520 tenement covers about 25 km of the Mt Ida/Ularring Greenstone Belt, historically known for its gold and nickel potential and recently recognized as an emerging Lithium Province (refer to ASX release 7 February 2022). (Figure 1)
Two regionally significant fault zones, the Ida Fault and Ballard Fault, transect the project area (Figure 1) and are considered to have played important controls on gold deposition. Significant gold mines associated with those structures in proximity to the Henderson Project include the historical First Hit Mine (Viking Mines; 7km south), the Riverina Mine (Ora Banda Mining; 15km south), and the historical Bottle Creek Mine (30km north). Historical gold workings within the general project area include the Hilltop Mine and Emerald Mine (excised from VMC tenement).
The historical Hilltop Gold Mine is located in the southern section of the project area and is outlined by two parallel north-westerly trending lines of workings. The primary production came from two shallow shafts at the centre of the Southern Line of workings. Official records show only one year of gold production from 1940-1941. Total recorded production is 200t at an average grade of 22.4 g/t Au for about 100 oz contained gold. Previous reconnaissance sampling of Venus's Southern Line of workings showed that significant gold grades remain in mined rock piles (mullock) next to the shafts (up to 77.2 g/t Au; refer ASX 9 September 2021). The preliminary results of surface rock chip sampling at the Hilltop Target Area (refer ASX 31 October 2024), which encompasses the historical Hilltop gold mine, include.
- Gold assays up to 50.1 g/t Au returned from mullock rock chip samples along the Northern Line of workings (~125m strike) at Hilltop.
- Exposed auriferous quartz veins assay up to 6.4 g/t Au Figure 4.
- Up to 36.9 g/t Au was returned from mullock from the Southern Line of workings (~50m strike length), which confirms previous reconnaissance sampling by Venus that returned up to 77.2 g/t Au.
- Indications for common free gold in shear-hosted auriferous quartz veins within a halo of biotite alteration. Similarities in mineralisation style with nearby high-grade gold deposits Mt Ida – Timoni and First Hit.
- Limited modern exploration of the historical Hilltop mining area since recorded mining stopped in 1941 during WWII.
- A programme of RC drilling is planned to test the gold mineralisation at depth.
Figure 1 Henderson Project Tenements on GSWA 250k Geology Map.
Figure 2. Auriferous quartz vein (sample 24110014; 6.4g/t Au) within sheared mafic host rock, exposed in the shallow open stope.
Hilltop Stage 1 RC Drilling
The recent RC drilling refers to the ASX release of 4 March 2025. Seven holes for 402m were completed, targeting workings along Southern and Northern Lines. Due to the steep terrain, the drilling was restricted to three areas that included the main shafts at Southern Line and an open stope at Northern Line where previous sampling returned up to 50.1 g/t Au from quartz-rich mullock (Refer ASX 9 December 2024). Two drill holes targeting the main shafts at Southern Line intersected a sub-vertical zone of gold mineralisation outlined in hole BRC041 4m @ 10.3 g/t Au from 24m, including 1m @ 25.1 g/t Au, and 2m @ 2.82 g/t Au from 50m in hole HBRC042.
The gold mineralisation occurs within a broader zone, up to 10m wide, with elevated arsenic and lead assays. This zone has been traced about 20m along strike to hole HBRC043, which is only weakly mineralised. The drilling that targeted the Northern Line of workings did not delineate any significant gold mineralisation but identified steeply northeasterly dipping zones, up to 3m wide, with anomalous arsenic and gold down-dip from quartz veins exposed in open stopes at the surface. The drilling results further confirm a low-sulphur gold system with gold in high-grade quartz-rich samples likely to be present as free gold.
The mineralisation is interpreted to relate to inclined, likely stacked, tension veins developed in relatively competent rock units. Higher gold grades were encountered near cross-cutting northwesterly trending sub-vertical brittle-ductile fault zones that may have provided the main channel ways for mineralising fluids.
Further Work
Venus considers the Stage 1 drilling programme results at Hilltop to be encouraging. The company is planning Stage 2 RC drilling aimed at better defining the orientation of the high-grade lode intersected in the Southern Line drilling and drilling the central sector of the Northern Line of workings, between holes HBRC044 and HBRC045, which was initially omitted from the Stage 1 drilling because of the steep terrain.
The positive results from the reconnaissance rock-chip sampling at the Snake Hill target area warrant follow-up soil and rock-chip sampling, followed by possible drill testing based on the results.