Plumbago Creek is a copper-gold-rare earth target on a granted Exploration Licence near Tabulam in northern New South Wales. The target sits on the contact between the Permian Bruxner Park Adamellite and a marble unit. Modern airborne geophysics shows a magnetic body of about 1,000 m by 400–500 m, resolving into five pods, wrapped in a potassium-uranium alteration halo.
Over 87 years, eleven operators worked this ground for iron and then for marble. No sample from the licence has ever been assayed for copper, gold, rare earths or pathfinder metals, and no hole has been drilled into the magnetic body.
Location and Access
Tabulam district, southern New England Orogen, northern New South Wales, Australia. Access and land-use details are provided on request.
THE OPPORTUNITY
A contact-skarn target where a granite meets marble – a well-understood, drillable deposit style with copper-gold (± tungsten, rare earth) potential. The same ground hosts high-purity marble that was quarried commercially for decades, giving the project a possible industrial-mineral dimension alongside the metals target.
WHY IT IS STILL AVAILABLE
Every past operator came for a single commodity – iron, then marble – and assayed only for that. Each left for economic or market reasons, not because the metals were tested and found wanting. The metals were never looked for, so they were never found.
THE TEST – CHEAP FIRST
Stage one is low-cost: re-assay retained samples for the full copper-gold-REE suite, re-model the geophysics for a skarn geometry, and run a field study to confirm whether the ironstone is a true skarn. Stream sediment sampling, mapping, ground magnetics and a confirmation hole on the best anomaly follow.
KEY RISKS
The ironstone may be a weathering profile on limestone rather than a skarn, in which case the magnetic target is not a mineralising system. This is the first question the field study is designed to answer, before any larger spend.
TWO DEAL STRUCTURES
DOOR A – EARN-IN JOINT VENTURE
Suits explorers who want to fund exploration and share the upside.
On signing: A$50,000 cash, non-refundable.
Firm commitment: A$50,000 of exploration expenditure within 12 months. Any shortfall is payable to CAADIA Metals in cash. After that, the partner may withdraw at any time.
Stage 1 – earn 51%: Spend A$250,000.
Stage 2 – earn 80%: Spend a further A$1,500,000.
CAADIA Metals' 20%: Free-carried to a decision to mine. CAADIA Metals then either contributes pro-rata or converts to a 2.0% net smelter return royalty.
Royalty buy-back: The partner may buy back 1.0% of the royalty for A$2,000,000.
Success payments: Payable on a maiden JORC (2012) Mineral Resource and on a decision to mine.
The partner operates the project. No interest vests until Stage 1 is complete.
DOOR B – OPTION TO BUY 100%
Suits companies that want sole ownership rather than a joint venture.
Option price: A$300,000 in total. Transfer of the licence is subject to NSW Government approval.
Work and holding costs: Funded by the partner from signing, keeping the licence in good standing.
Royalty: CAADIA Metals retains a 2.0% net smelter return royalty.
Success payment: Payable on a maiden JORC (2012) Mineral Resource.
The partner may walk away at any time, returning the licence in good standing with all data.
