Manhattan Corporation Limited provided an update on planned drilling and the completion of the initial phase of the New Bendigo Structural Study at the Tibooburra Gold Project located in the far north-west of NSW. The recently completed initial stage of the structural study has identified: That intersection lineations between the regional shear foliation (penetrative fabric) and cross-cutting structural features such as veins and discrete shears may exert a plunge control on gold mineralisation, potentially promoting the formation of high-grade shoots; and The lower grade material intersected within the dominant shear (New Bendigo Fault Zone), may be related to bleeding/remobilisation of the higher-grade mineralisation proximal (up and down) the predominant shear fabric from high-grade mineralisation that has been formed from the intersection lineations. The structural study was undertaken under the supervision of MHC's Structural Consultants led by Dr. John Beeson (Geoscience Now) and Mr. Peter Croft (Brockman Solutions) included field mapping, a review of the recently acquired diamond core and the acquisition and interpretation of televiewer data of selected holes.

Mapping completed of the surface outcrops at New Bendigo identified a strong, NNW-trending penetrative fabric associated with the Koonenberry Fault, with numerous quartz veins oriented sub-parallel to the penetrative fabric. A number of steeply-dipping, cross-cutting quartz-rich tensional veins have also been mapped and observed in core, varying in trend between NE-SW to ENE-WSW, together with discrete cross cutting shears developed at an acute clockwise angle to the penetrative fabric. On the basis of this information, a three-dimensional (3D) model was created to assess the relationship between the various structural features and existing drilling coverage proximal to the new Bendigo workings.

The model suggests that high grade gold mineralisation is related to the penetrative fabric, the fabric sub-parallel quartz veins, with cross cutting quartz veins and discrete shears potentially associated with high-grade intercepts. The Structural Consultants' Interpretation of this model is that intersection lineations between these structural elements may exert a plunge control on gold mineralisation, that may promote formation of discrete high-grade shoots within the shear system. Further drilling is required to determine whether the high-grade mineralisation shows continuity along the penetrative fabric and sub-parallel quartz veins or the cross-cutting structures, or both.