Western Star Resources Inc. (CSE: WSR) (OTC: WSRIF) (FRA: 4K2) has announced the results of a district-scale three-dimensional geophysical inversion across its Rowland and White Star tungsten properties in Elko County, Nevada. The modelling has defined buried and partially exposed intrusive bodies and refined the fault network interpreted to channel mineralising fluid into the tungsten skarn system. Importantly, the company's highest-grade rock chips, 4.02% WO3 at Rowland and 3.00% WO3 at White Star, both correspond spatially with the contact between these modelled intrusive rocks and the carbonate host. The modelled intrusive framework extends well beyond the limits of mapped outcrop, opening substantial new search space across both properties.
Blake Morgan, CEO and President of Western Star, stated, "This is the result we were hoping for. The inversion has modelled intrusive bodies spatially associated with areas where we sampled high grade tungsten values, and it has mapped the faults that we believe carried the fluid there. That is the tungsten skarn recipe, and we can now see it in three dimensions across the whole district. Better still, the modelled intrusives are more extensive than has been previously mapped, which means the ground that has produced our best rock chips continues into untested areas. Soil geochemistry from Phase 2 is due back shortly and we can use these in our drill hole planning."
The inversion, completed by Warren Hughes, P.Geo., of East Coast Consulting, defines buried and partially exposed intrusive bodies across the district. The presence of a causative intrusion is essential for a tungsten skarn system, and the modelled intrusive framework extends beyond mapped outcrops. Approximately 25 kilometres of structure has been interpreted in two dominant orientations, northeast-southwest and northwest-southeast, which are interpreted as the fluid conduits that fed the skarn. This represents the first structural framework mapped at property scale in the district.
The modelled magnetic domains correspond closely with the units mapped by Coats (1964), adding depth and continuity to that mapping. The inversion also resolves geology beneath the extensive Quaternary cover on the eastern flank of the district, providing an exploration vector into ground that cannot be mapped or sampled at surface. Soil geochemistry from the Phase 2 programme is expected shortly and will be integrated with the inversion model, the structural framework, and geological mapping to define and rank drill targets.
The tungsten skarn model, as set out in the U.S. Geological Survey assessment (Lederer and others, 2021), requires three elements: an intrusion to drive the system, reactive carbonate rock to host replacement, and structures to focus fluid. Both of the company's properties sit within this model. At Rowland, the sample returning 4.02% WO3 sits directly on the mapped tactite where it abuts the modelled intrusive body. At White Star, the sample returning 3.00% WO3 occupies the same position on the same contact on a separate intrusive body. Both are within or immediately adjacent to interpreted structural corridors.
Western Star also announced that it has satisfied the first performance milestone under the option agreement for the Rowland tungsten project. The milestone required increasing the total project claim area by at least 30% and identifying at least three rock-chip samples grading above 2.0% WO3. Both conditions have been met well beyond thresholds: the claim package has been expanded by approximately 165%, and four Rowland samples returned grades above 2.0% WO3, including 4.02% (RO-16-01), 2.69% (RO-19-15), 2.56% (RO-19-10), and 2.11% WO3 (RO-16-02). The company will issue 500,000 common shares to the vendors, valued at the 10-day volume-weighted average price immediately preceding the verification date, subject to CSE policies.
The scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Jasper Mowatt, MIMMM, MAusIMM, a consultant to the company and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The UAV magnetic survey was conducted by AJ Mining LLC using a DJI Matrice M300 platform with a GSMP-35U v8.0 potassium vapour magnetometer at 70 metres sensor height, with lines spaced 25 to 100 metres. Data processing, levelling, gridding, and 3D inversion were completed by Warren Hughes using Geosoft Oasis Montaj and the MAG3D algorithm on a 50-metre cell. Magnetic susceptibility is a physical rock property and is not a direct measurement of mineralisation; interpretations require confirmation by drilling.
