LEADING MODERN
EXPLORATION OF
QUEENSLAND’S
GOLD FIELDS
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ABOUT
Queensland Gold Hills Corp. is a TSX-V listed mineral exploration and development company focused on gold discoveries in the historic mining districts of Queensland Australia.
Queensland Gold Hills Corp. is advancing the drill ready Big Hills Gold Project in South East Queensland, Australia.
BIG HILL GOLD PROJECT QUEENSLAND AUSTRALIA
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INTRODUCTION
Queensland has a long and rich history of gold mining.
Queensland has been overlooked by modern exploration techniques as explorers left the confines of Australia and went to developing nations all over the world to seek out gold discoveries in exotic locations.
There has been limited exploration for gold in Queensland since the mid 80’s as the the implementation of environmental permitting regulations made overseas exploration more attractive. With the rest of the world caught up with these environmental permitting regulations Queensland’s well established and consistent regulations are making exploration in Queensland attractive again.
CORPORATE
CORPORATE INFORMATION
STOCK SYMBOL:
TSX-V : OZAU
STOCK EXCHANGE:
TSX VENTURE
SHARES OUTSTANDING :
40,042,146
STOCK OPTIONS:
3,289,429
WARRANTS:
9,360,000
FULLY DILUTED:
52,691,575
MANAGEMENT & BOARD
BLAIR WAY | CEO & DIRECTOR
ALICIA MILNE | PRESIDENT & DIRECTOR
Alicia Milne is a legal professional and a specialist in securities and corporate administration of public companies. She is a securities compliance consultant providing services to various public companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange. With over 20 years in the legal profession, Ms. Milne has developed her career as a corporate secretary, compliance officer and corporate consultant, as well as an independent director. Formerly the Corporate Secretary of Pretium Resources Inc., Ms. Milne also serves as an independent director on four publicly listed companies. Ms. Milne is a member of the Governance Professionals of Canada and is a former director of Women in Mining BC.
KEVIN BOTTOMLEY | DIRECTOR
Kevin Bottomley is an accomplished capital markets advisor has held numerous executive public company roles. Kevin has successfully raised over $100M over the span of 15 years and has strong relationships with investors based in North America, Europe and Asia. Kevin has focused primarily on company creation in both the mining and special situations sectors
JODY BELLEFLEUR | CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, DIRECTOR
Jody Bellefleur is a CPA, CGA with over 25 years’ experience as a corporate accountant, focussing exclusively on public companies for the last 13 years. Ms. Bellefleur is responsible for all aspects of regulatory financial reporting, including the preparation of quarterly financial statements, management discussion and analysis reports, the coordination of annual audits, and government tax and regulatory reporting. Early in her career, she was the Controller of a private manufacturing company, where she learned valuable skills necessary to run a successful business. Ms.Bellefleur has served as the CFO of Zimtu Capital Corp. (TSXV:ZC) since 2013 and is responsible for the financial reporting of multiple equity holdings of Zimtu Capital Corp., and acts as CFO for many of them. Ms.Bellefleur holds a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.), Accounting from the University of British Columbia.
LEO POWER | DIRECTOR
Leo Power is an established businessman in Newfoundland and Labrador, with an Executive MBA (Joint Kellogg-Schulich), and a Master of Oil and Gas Studies (Memorial University, NL). He is currently President and CEO of LNG Newfoundland and Labrador Limited, a Director of Canada Fluorspar Inc of NL, as well as a Director of Search Minerals Inc. a TSXV-listed company exploring for rare earth elements in Labrador. Leo completed the Directors’ Education Program of the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.
PROPERTY
BIG HILL GOLD PROJECT QUEENSLAND AUSTRALIA
OVERVIEW
The Big Hill Gold Project (EPM 18255) covers the historic mines of Big Hill, Queenslander, Monte Cristo and Sultan & Taylor of the Talgai Goldfields. This is one of eight historical Goldfields in the broader Warwick-Texas District active in the late 19th century, which include Canal Creek, Thanes Creek, Leyburn, Palgrave, Pikedale, Lucky Valley and MacDonald Goldfields.
These supported both alluvial and reef mining, with the Queenslander Mine distinguishing itself as the first lode gold mine in the state of Queensland with a total production of 4.1Koz of gold at an average grade of 50g/t with some early crushings reported up to 4000g/t.
GOLD PROSPECTIVITY
The Big Hill project area is currently defined by:
- shallow historic high grade mine workings
- coincident surface geochemical anomalism and corresponding magnetic responses
- favorable geological domain and structural setting.
EXPLORATION MODEL
The exploration model for the Big Hill project is a high grade, shear hosted, orogenic gold system. This type of lode gold system is associated with continental margin accretionary orogens (oceanic-continental) typically occurring in terranes dominated by turbiditic (meta- sedimentary) rocks and are commonly associated with second- and third-order faults and shear zones resulting in moderately to steeply plunging, tabular to pipe-like orebodies.
Production records from historical mining activities show the vein system has the capacity to host significant high-grade mineralisation along with complex stranded structural architectures capable of creating large mineralised shoots. The vein systems remain open at depth below the historical workings as well as along strike and remain untested by drilling.
The historic mines of Big Hill and Queenslander are the primary focus of follow-up exploratory work based on their historic production history, favorable geological and structural settings and their location within the granted mining lease ML50287 which is part of EPM18255.
Current exploration of Big Hill Mine, Queensland. Click to enlarge
HISTORIC WORKINGS REPORTS
Discovered in 1863 and mined into the mid 1900’s the gold system on the Big Hill property was targeted in several locations with historical workings. The historic reports, although incomplete show significant grades and ounces produced.
Big Hill
1865 to 1939 producing 6,791 Oz from 6,758 Tons. With the highest grade crushings of 12t @ 7.5 Oz/t (232g/t).
Queenslander:
1863 to 1938 with records after 1904 of 2,121 Oz from 540 Tons. Production pre 1887 unreported with the exception of the highest grade mined from the 50ft level at 444 Oz/t (13,764 g/t).
Monte Cristo
1864 to 1933 1,294 Oz from 271.5t crushed Reports indicate that a reasonable amount of material may have been hand picked.
Map of historic mines. Click to enlarge.
A PROLIFIC MINING PROVINCE: WARWICK TEXAS GOLD FIELDS
► Gold was first discovered in the Warwick area in 1864 (Ball 1903; Waring 1981). An Aboriginal stockman found nuggets in a dry creek bed just below the site of the present-day Queenslander mine workings. In the rush that followed the Queenslander Reef was quickly found, and work commenced on the first lode gold mine in the colony of Queensland.
► The small alluvial field which led to the initial discovery was soon worked out and mining activity became concentrated on the rich quartz reefs of the Talgai Goldfield such as Queenslander, Big Hill and Monte Cristo Reefs. Encouraged by these successes, further prospecting led to the development of the Sultan and Taylor, Australian and St Patrick mines.
► Prospecting in the district continued in earnest until the end of the 19th Century, by which time nearly all the 60+ shows in the broader Warwick-Texas district had been discovered. There were additional discoveries in the adjacent goldfields of Canal Creek, Thanes Creek, Leyburn, Palgrave, Pikedale, Lucky Valley and MacDonald Goldfields (see Map WT ) (Donchak et al 2007).
► From 1905 the miners moved onto new gold discoveries at Gympie, 170km north of Brisbane and activity within the Warwick-Texas district goldfields decreased.
► In 1930, government assistance became available for mining operations in the Warwick-Texas district in the hope of providing worthwhile employment during the depression, however operations ceased by 1941.
2 hours drive SW of the capital City of Brisbane on Australia’s east coast. Click to enlarge.
Map WT – Goldfields of Warrick Texas District. Click to enlarge.
GEOLOGY
BIG HILL GOLD PROJECT
Located in the highly prospective historic Warrick Texas Goldfields in SE Queensland the management team is focused on delivering value through modern exploration techniques.
NI 43-101
NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Big Hill Au Project, SE Queensland, Australia.
► The structural setting and mineralisation characteristics of shear-hosted gold deposits in the Big Hill Project area exhibit similar characteristics to other orogenic shear-hosted deposits and the project area holds the potential for discovery of extensions to the known deposits along with additional mineralised zones.
► Initial modelling, geochemical and geophysical surveys indicate potential for extensions to these deposits along with additional vein systems outside the known deposits.
► The principal mineralisation style associated with the Project is structurally controlled shear-hosted orogenic gold. This type of lode gold system is associated with continental margin accretionary (oceanic-continental) orogens typically occurring in terranes dominated by turbiditic (meta-sedimentary) rocks and are commonly associated with second- and third-order faults and shear zones (Groves et al 1998; Vearncombe et al 1989).
► Figure 2 below shows the tectonic setting of gold rich epigenetic mineral deposits with the inset illustrating schematic representation of structural setting and depth of formation for orogenic gold deposits (Groves et al 1998).
Southern New England Orogen : main accretionary units & structural trends (Fergusson 2019)(supplied by MPX). Click to enlarge
Figure 2 Tectonic Setting of Gold-Rich Epigenetic Mineral Deposits (Groves et al 1998). Click to enlarge
Mineralisation within EPM18255 comprises typically steeply dipping, E-W striking quartz veins within a NW trending structural grain. Vein thicknesses are typically greater than 1m but can thicken in places to up to 5m, such as that intersected in the Big Hill underground workings.
Strike length of the vein systems can range up to ~150m, based on the extent of historical workings at the Queenslander and Big Hill mines. Quartz vein textures include massive, laminated, brecciated and anastomosing veins.
Flat, west plunging high grades zones reported from the historical mining are potentially related to intersections of vein sets.
Big Hill Project Ground Magnetic RTP first vertical derivative image. Click to enlarge
The Magnetics shows the mafic volcanic units mapped at surface appearing to correlate with some of the magnetic high responses. This is consistent with petrological observations of Waring (1981) which described some the mafic volcanic units as containing primary magnetite. A broad magnetic low in the northwest of the survey area correlates with a magnetic low on the regional scale magnetics and is potentially associated with an intrusive body.
Big Hill Project Local Geology. Click to enlarge
Big Hill Prospect Geology. Click to enlarge
INVESTORS
SHARE INFORMATION
SHARE STRUCTURE
ISSUED & OUTSTANDING:
40,042,146
WARRANTS:
9,360,000
OPTIONS:
3,289,429
FULLY DILUTED:
52,691,575
*as of Dec 6, 2021
FINANCIALS
AGM
2022
MD&A Q3 Nov 30, 2021
FS Q3 Nov 30, 2021
MD&A Q2 Aug 31, 2021
FS Q2 Aug 31, 2021
MD&A Q1 May 31, 2021
FS Q1 May 31, 2021
2021
FS February 28, 2021
MD&A February 28, 2021
FS November 30, 2020
MD&A November 30, 2020
FS August 31, 2020
MD&A August 31, 2020
FS May 31, 2020
MD&A May 31, 2020
2021
Financial Statement Request Form
Proxy
Notice of Meeting
HISTORY
Queensland has a rich history of gold discovery and production dating back to the golds rushes in the late 1800’s to the modern production facilities operational today. Queensland has many prolific gold provinces in the state that is almost 3 times the size of Texas and 8 times the size of Victoria.
Queensland has a long history of gold exploration dating back to the mid 1800’s gold rushes that swept across Australia. The first round of gold rushes started in the 1850’s and lasted 20 years, first in New South Wales then Victoria and fanning out to Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. In the mid 1880’s another series of gold rushes swept through most states over the next 20 years with large gold discoveries at Halls Creek in Western Australia and in the late 1890’s at Mount Morgan in Queensland.
Here’s hopin’, cover of the Queenslander, 16 August 1934. Collection of Geraldine Mate
Map of Queensland, Recently discovered goldfields, 1874. Compiled from the latest official government surveys. Gibbs, Shallard and Co Printers, Sydney. Collection of the National Library of Australia. Click to enlarge
The Queensland goldfields were much more remote than the Victorian goldfields of Ballarat and Bendigo, home to the well-known modern-day Fosterville Mine owned by Kirkland Gold.
In the mid-1850s, when Queensland was still part of New South Wales, the colonial government encouraged the search for gold on the northern frontier. It hoped that a discovery would attract European settlers from the south. Captain Maurice O’Connell, the leader of a government settlement at Gladstone, reported “very promising prospects of gold” in 1857. But it was a discovery made a year later that sparked the first Queensland gold rush. A prospector named Chapple found gold at Canoona, near Rockhampton, in 1858. By the end of the year, 15,000 hopeful miners had arrived.
The first major gold discovery in Queensland came almost a decade later. In 1867 James Nash discovered gold in the small agricultural town of Gympie, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Brisbane. This was the start of the Gympie gold rush. Within months of Nash’s discovery, 25,000 people came to the area to try their luck. The influx of miners gave a much-needed boost to the struggling economy of the young colony.
Late 1871 an indigenous boy, Jupiter Mosman, found gold in a stream near what became Charters Towers. The town of Charters Towers was founded at the site, and miners flooded in. The population reached a peak of 30,000 during the gold rush of the 1870s and ’80s.
Farther north, a find along the Palmer River pulled miners to the frontier in the mid-1870s. Then, in 1882, Edwin and Thomas Morgan made one of Australia’s most important gold strikes at a site known as Ironstone Mountain, near Rockhampton. The brothers renamed the mountain Mount Morgan after themselves. Mount Morgan, the so-called “mountain of gold,” would become one of Queensland’s richest and longest surviving gold mines. Mt Morgan was operationa until the eraly 1980’s.
Known modern deposits in northeast Queensland include Kidston (5 Moz Au), Ravenswood/Mount Wright (5.8 Moz Au), Mount Leyshon (3.8 Moz Au), Red Dome/Mungana (3.2 Moz Au) and Mt Morgan (17 Moz Au and 239 Kt Cu). The deposits occur in a wide range of geological settings including porphyries, breccias, skarns and veins.
Warwick Texas Gold Fields
Gold was first discovered in the Warwick area in 1864. An indigenous stockman found nuggets in a dry creek bed just below the site of the present-day Queenslander mine workings. In the rush that followed the Queenslander Reef was quickly found, and work commenced on the first lode gold mine in the colony of Queensland.
The small alluvial field which led to the initial discovery was soon worked out and mining activity became concentrated on the rich quartz reefs of the Talgai Goldfield such as Queenslander, Big Hill and Monte Cristo Reefs. Encouraged by these successes, further prospecting led to the development of the Sultan and Taylor, Australian and St Patrick mines.
Prospecting in the district continued in earnest until the end of the 19th Century, by which time 60 discoveries were made in the broader Warwick-Texas district. There were additional discoveries in the adjacent goldfields of Canal Creek, Thanes Creek, Leyburn, Palgrave, Pikedale, Lucky Valley and MacDonald Goldfields. From the late 1800’s many miners moved onto new gold discoveries at Gympie, 170km north of Brisbane and activity within the Warwick-Texas district goldfields decreased. In 1930, government assistance became available for mining operations in the Warwick-Texas district in the hope of providing worthwhile employment during the depression, however operations ceased by 1941.
Gympie Gold Fields
The Gympie goldfields discovery was late in 1867 when James Nash discovered gold at Gympie
The very rich and productive area, which covered only an area of 120 square miles (310 km2), was officially declared the Gympie Goldfield in 1868. The mining shanty town which had quickly grown with tents, many small stores and liquor outlets, and was known as “Nashville”, was renamed Gympie after the Gympie Creek named from the indigenous name for a local stinging tree. Within months there were 25,000 people on the goldfield.
Topographical map of Gympie and environs, Queensland Geological Survey, 1909. Illustrating report on Gympie Goldfield by B Dunstan, Government Geologist, sheets 9 and 10. Collection of the State Library of New South Wales. Click to enlarge
Charters Towers
A significant Queensland goldfield was discovered at Charters Towers on 24 December 1871 by a young 12-year-old indigenous stockman, Jupiter Mosman, and soon moved attention to this area. The goldrush which followed is arguably the most important in Queensland’s gold-mining history. This district had very little alluvial gold and was much more difficult hard rock mining. Thousands of men rushed to the field, and a public battery was set up to crush the quartz ore in 1872. The town of Charters Towers grew to become the second largest town in Queensland during the late 1880s with a population of about 30,000
The Charters Towers gold field produced over 200 tonnes (6.6 million troy ounces) of gold from 1871–1917. The gold is concentrated into veins and was Australia’s richest major field with an average grade of 34 grams per tonne. The grade was almost double that of Victorian mines and almost 75% higher than the grades of Western Australian (Kalgoorlie) gold fields of that time.
Between 1872 and 1899 Charters Towers was booming and even had its own stock exchange. The Great Northern railway between Charters Towers and the coastal port of Townsville was completed in December 1882. During this period, the population was approximately 30,000, making Charters Towers Queensland’s largest city outside of Brisbane.
By 1917 gold mining became uneconomic. During World War I labour was hard to find, and as the mines drove deeper, ventilation and water problems arose. This production decline was similar across Australian gold mines, with rising costs and a fixed gold price eroding profitability. The town entered a long period of relative stagnation and little further development has occurred since.
Illustration from a prospectus of the Brilliant Gold Mining Company, Charters Towers, 1899. Collection of John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Click to enlarge
Mount Morgan
Mount Morgan Mine was a copper, gold and silver mine in Queensland, Australia. Mining began at Mount Morgan in 1882 and continued for almost 100 years until 1981. Over its lifespan, the mine yielded approximately 262 metric tons (258 long tons; 289 short tons) of gold, 37 metric tons (36 long tons; 41 short tons) of silver and 387,000 metric tons (381,000 long tons; 427,000 short tons) of copper. The mine was once the largest gold mine in the world.
From 1982 to 1990, Mount Morgan Limited began processing tailings of its previous operations at the Mount Morgan mine site. In parallel, Mount Morgan mine facilities were used to process materials from other Peko Wallsend operations. At the end of both such operations in 1990, the Queensland Government began negotiating with Mount Morgan Limited regarding terms of closure.
Wealth from the Mount Morgan mine funded Persian oil exploration, establishing the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which became BP in 1954. Wealth from the Mount Morgan mine was also bequeathed in 1912 to establish the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.
Mount Morgan tailings are being considered for reprocessing yet again as the price of gold escalates making the tailings grade appealing.
Workers and their families, Mount Craven Mines Eidsvold, 1889. Collection of John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Click to enlarge
Mount Isa
The Mt Isa is of the world’s most significant gold and base metal producing districts, host to many world class copper-gold and lead-zinc-silver ore bodies. The region is also prospective for gold, phosphate, cobalt, rare-earths, molybdenum and rhenium mineralisation and has a number of significant operating mines and new projects in development. There is well established mining, transport and processing infrastructure in close proximity to the regional centres of Mt Isa and Cloncurry.
It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, based on combined production of lead, silver, copper and zinc.
A lone prospector, John Campbell Miles, stumbled upon one of the world’s richest deposits of copper, silver and zinc during his 1923 expedition into the Northern Territory. When Miles inspected the yellow-black rocks in a nearby outcrop, they reminded him of the ore found in the Broken Hill mine that he had once worked at. Upon inspection these rocks were weighty and heavily mineralised. A sample sent away to the assayer in Cloncurry confirmed their value. Miles and four farmers staked out the first claims in the area. Taken with friend’s stories of the Mount Ida gold mines in Western Australia, Miles decided upon Mount Isa as the name for his new claim.
With an estimated urban population of 18,588 as of June 2018, Mount Isa continues to be the administrative, commercial and industrial centre for the state’s vast north-western region. Population has decreased moderately at an average annual rate of -2.66% year-on-year over the five years to 2018. Although situated in an arid area, the artificial Lake Moondarra 19 kilometres (12 mi) north of the city on the Leichhardt River provides both drinking water and an area for watersports, birdwatching and recreation.
Chillagoe – Palmer River
In 1872 gold was discovered by James Mulligan on the Palmer River inland from Cooktown. This turned out to contain Queensland’s richest alluvial deposits. After the rush began in 1873 over 20,000 people made their way to the remote goldfield. This was one of the largest rushes experienced in Queensland. The rush lasted approximately 3 years and attracted a large number of Chinese. In 1877 over 18,000 of the residents were Chinese miners.
The population varied with the scale of mining and the peak year was probably 1917, with about 10,000 people, 13 hotels, two newspapers and a hospital. During the 1930s and continuing until 1943, subsidised railway freight rates transported ore to the Chillagoe smelters, but lack of manpower during wartime and competition from Mount Isa forced their closure. Small amounts of mining for tin, molybdenum, wolfram and fluorspar continued, and Chillagoe marble continues to be quarried.