The district surrounding Arthrath and the broader North East Scotland region is prospective for new magmatic sulphide deposits and other types of mineralization but remains remarkably underexplored. The importance of the region to the UK's critical minerals sector was highlighted in a 2023 report published by the UK Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre, Potential for Critical Raw Material Prospectivity in the UK.

The majority of the region is covered in a blanket of sediments deposited by ice sheets at the end of the last Ice Age, which masks most of the bedrock in the area meaning the underlying geology remains poorly understood. In the absence of meaningful rock exposures, high quality geophysical data are vital to mapping and interpreting the subsurface.

This is especially the case in the exploration for conduit-related sulphide deposits which requires more detailed and deeper penetrating geophysical methods than any historical surveys. There is therefore an opportunity to apply modern technologies and latest advances in geological science to discover new mineral deposits for the economic benefit of the North East Scotland region.

To this end, in September 2022 we brought one of the latest geophysical survey technologies to Aberdeenshire by carrying out an airborne geophysical survey, contracted to SkyTEM Surveys Aps (Denmark) using their SkyTEM312 HP system. This survey collected electromagnetic and magnetic data using a low-flying helicopter borne system, to image the subsurface at higher resolution and to a greater depth of investigation than any previous surveys in this area.

We are using the proprietary data collected by the survey in combination with our compilation of historical exploration data, to develop exciting new geological models and generate a pipeline of new targets for follow up exploration.

Our discovery-driven exploration team carries out desktop studies, surface prospecting and geochemical surveys over the highest ranking targets as part of our ongoing prospectivity appraisals.

September 2022 SkyTEM survey.