How Cosmo Metals’ LiDAR Survey Unveiled New Gold Targets at Nundle Goldfield

Expanding the Footprint with LiDAR

Cosmo Metals Ltd (ASX – CMO) has taken a significant step forward in its exploration of the historic Nundle Goldfield in New South Wales by interpreting preliminary high-density LiDAR data covering 90 square kilometres of its 259 square kilometre project area. This advanced remote sensing technology has enabled the company to identify substantial extensions to known gold lodes and historic mining features that had previously been underappreciated.

The Nundle Goldfield, with a mining history dating back to the mid-19th century, has long been recognized for its gold and antimony production. However, modern systematic exploration has been limited, leaving considerable potential untapped. Cosmo’s LiDAR interpretation has now delineated a cumulative strike length of at least 2.5 kilometres along the Folly Line gold trend, with indications that this could extend to 3.9 kilometres when including the historic Zwers Scheelite-Antimony mine area.

Folly Line – Structural Complexity and Gold Potential

A particularly intriguing discovery is a roughly 1-kilometre-long structural jog between the Trevena and Gap prospects along the Folly Line. This feature hosts subparallel lines of historic workings, intense alteration zones, and multi-gram gold assay results from previous exploration. Such a structural setting is considered highly prospective for orogenic gold mineralisation, which is typically associated with large, high-grade deposits.

Historic drilling in this area, although limited and shallow, has intersected encouraging gold grades, including a notable intercept of 5 metres at 5.86 grams per tonne gold. The mineralisation remains open at depth and along strike, underscoring the need for follow-up drilling to test the full extent of this target.

Hanging Rock – Underexplored with Significant Historic Mining

To the west, the Hanging Rock field has been mapped to contain 6.7 kilometres of gold lodes, defined by over 550 historic shafts and pits. LiDAR data has also revealed extensive historic alluvial and deep lead gold mining, with some sources traceable to known hard rock lodes, while others remain unidentified and warrant further investigation.

Despite the evident historic mining activity, Hanging Rock has seen minimal recent exploration and no known drilling, presenting a compelling opportunity for Cosmo to apply modern exploration techniques to delineate new targets.

Next Steps and Exploration Outlook

Cosmo Metals plans to conduct ground truthing to verify the LiDAR-identified features, followed by systematic rock chip sampling and geological mapping to refine drill targets. The company is concurrently validating historical exploration data to ensure compliance with the JORC 2012 reporting standards, a necessary step before advancing to resource estimation.

These efforts are part of a broader strategy that includes advancing drilling at the nearby Bingara Project, where previous shallow, high-grade gold intercepts have been recorded. The Nundle and Bingara projects together cover a large, prospective area within the New England Orogen, a region known for significant gold-antimony and copper deposits.

Cosmo’s Managing Director Ian Prentice expressed optimism about the LiDAR results, highlighting the integration of cutting-edge technology with historical data as a catalyst for unlocking the full potential of these underexplored goldfields.