Western Star Resources Inc. (CSE: WSR) (OTC: WSRIF) has announced the results of a high-resolution UAV magnetic geophysical survey at its White Star Tungsten Project in Elko County, Nevada. This first modern dataset over the property is expected to refine the geological understanding and guide future exploration for tungsten-bearing skarn mineralization.
The survey, designed to acquire high-resolution magnetic data over historical workings and identify prospective targets, has revealed a broad magnetic high in the western portion of the property. This feature is interpreted as a previously unmapped extension of an intrusive granite (quartz monzonite) associated with tungsten-bearing skarn mineralization. The interpreted intrusive body lies adjacent to mapped carbonate units, defining a newly identified area considered prospective for contact skarn-hosted tungsten mineralization.
Key magnetic products, including Total Magnetic Intensity (TMI), First Vertical Derivative (1VD), Second Vertical Derivative (2VD), and Analytical Signal (AS), have been processed and interpreted. The historical Batholith mine and adit are situated along a northwest-southeast-trending magnetic lineament within a subtle magnetic low, with several comparable geophysical features identified elsewhere on the property. Multiple magnetic lineaments are interpreted as fault and fracture zones that may have acted as pathways for hydrothermal fluids associated with mineralization.
Blake Morgan, CEO and President of Western Star, stated, “The White Star geophysical results provide the second component of the consolidated Jarbidge-Charleston dataset and complete the district-scale magnetic coverage that the property consolidation was intended to unlock. The interpreted intrusive body identified in the high-resolution magnetic data has generated a significant new area of interest, where the contact between the granite and surrounding carbonate rocks may provide a favourable setting for tungsten skarn mineralization.”
Four target zones have been defined for follow-up. The highest-priority target is the central Kqm–Pzt contact immediately north of the Batholith Mine, a direct on-strike extension of the mineralized contact. The second target is a northern Pzt body within the northern Kqm, where a mapped tactite window is cut by a NW-trending magnetic lineament. The third target is a southern limestone corridor with multiple small limestone bodies hosting discrete magnetic features analogous to those at the Batholith Mine. The fourth target is the historical open pit area, where coherent magnetic character supports the possibility of contact geology continuing beneath Quaternary cover.
The UAV magnetic survey was flown to the same specifications as the recently completed Rowland UAV magnetic survey, enabling the two datasets to be processed as a single contiguous district-scale product. The combined dataset is undergoing geophysical inversion and will support integrated targeting across the consolidated Jarbidge–Charleston tungsten footprint. These results will be integrated with pending rock-chip and soil geochemistry to define priority follow-up targets and inform the design of subsequent exploration programs.
The White Star area previously had only publicly available data from 1967 at 1-mile line spacing, with the published geological framework from the 1964 USGS Bulletin 1141-M at 1:62,500 scale. This high-resolution survey is therefore the first modern dataset acquired across the property and is being used to refine the geological model. The geological model at White Star involves a quartz monzonite intrusion that invaded a Palaeozoic sedimentary sequence, reacting with limestone to produce garnet–diopside tactite and hornfels carrying scheelite.
The geophysical results will be integrated with ongoing rock-chip and soil geochemical programs to guide a follow-up exploration program and refine potential drill targets. The company's technical team believes the multiple discrete magnetic bodies apparent within and adjacent to the mapped intrusion represent apophyses of the quartz monzonite, each offering additional prospective contact length.
