Perth-based explorer PLC Resources has launched a two-stage satellite geo-spectral survey across its Abbotts gold project in Western Australia's Murchison region, deploying cutting-edge hyperspectral imagery to pinpoint alteration zones and structural targets as it pushes toward a potential maiden gold discovery.
The survey will cover all four of the company's Abbotts tenements, spanning 205 square kilometres, with the aim of identifying large-scale mineral alteration zones and previously undetected geological structures, both of which can serve as key indicators of orogenic gold mineralisation.
How the two-stage satellite survey works
Remote-sensing specialists Geo Spectra will conduct the program in two distinct phases. The first involves a regional screening pass using hyperspectral EnMAP satellite imagery, which will map alteration geology across the full Abbotts project area and extend coverage across an additional 300 square kilometres of surrounding ground.
The second stage moves to significantly higher resolution, with imagery as sharp as 31 centimetres, allowing Geo Spectra to zoom in on priority areas and map specific surface indicators including iron oxides, clays and sulphates. These minerals are often associated with gold mineralisation and can help narrow the focus for ground-level follow-up work.
PLC Resources executive director Simon Phillips said the survey offered a capability that ground-based work simply cannot replicate at this scale. "This survey gives us a project-wide view of Abbotts that we can't get from the ground alone. Hyperspectral and high-resolution satellite data can help map alteration minerals and fine-scale structures that may be associated with gold mineralisation, across all four of our tenements at once," he said.
Magnetic survey already flagged a major structural target
The satellite program builds directly on a recently completed high-resolution airborne magnetic survey over Abbotts, which revealed a large-scale fold structure considered highly prospective for gold deposition. Management describes this as a crustal-level feature extending for more than 14 kilometres of strike, a significant finding given that it also continues south into ground held by New Murchison Gold, a company that has been making headlines across the Murchison with a series of high-grade gold discoveries.
New Murchison Gold has been successfully trucking its discoveries to nearby toll-treating facilities, providing a practical demonstration of the commercial potential sitting within the broader Murchison greenstone belt. The company's market capitalisation recently reached $950 million, a figure that has sharpened attention across the region considerably.
Rochefort drilling results still to come
Separately, PLC Resources has recently wrapped up a follow-up reverse circulation drilling program at its Rochefort gold prospect within the Abbotts project. Assay results from that campaign are currently pending, but geological logging from the program confirmed that the target host rock was intersected, with multiple observations of potential gold-bearing sulphide alterations noted in the core.
The assay results will ultimately determine whether those intersections represent a genuine discovery, making the coming weeks a closely watched period for the company and its investors.
A crowded and competitive Murchison
PLC Resources is not alone in seeing opportunity in the Murchison. Exploration activity across the region has accelerated sharply, with King River Resources recently launching an 11,000-metre drilling campaign at its Mindoolah gold project. Newer entrants including Parbo Resources, Golden Dragon and Reach Resources have also expanded their footprints in the area.
PLC says it expects a prioritised target map from the satellite survey within four to six weeks. Those results will be combined with the magnetic survey data to rank targets for field exploration and aircore drilling, potentially fast-tracking the company's path to a discovery of its own at Abbotts.
With high-grade gold being demonstrated next door and a growing suite of data pointing to structural prospectivity on its own ground, the coming months look to be a pivotal stretch for the company's Murchison ambitions.
