RNI has the right to earn 100% of the flagship Doolgunna Project, which comprises a single Exploration Licence (E52/2438) located just 3,000 metres south-east of Sandfire Resources’ DeGrussa copper-gold discoveries in Western Australia’s eastern Gascoyne region.

On 29 March 2011, Sandfire announced a total Ore Reserve inventory at DeGrussa of 8.39mt @ 5.6% Cu and 1.8gpt Au for 465,000t of contained copper and 485,000oz of contained gold. Doolgunna covers similar lithologies to those recorded at DeGrussa and RNI believes the potential of its Doolgunna Project to host similar high-grade copper-gold deposits is extremely high.

Adding to the Company’s confidence is global evidence that Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) discoveries like DeGrussa occur in clusters. The Doolgunna Project also represents a significant target for shear and vein-related gold deposits, with previous shallow drilling at the Salmon Prospect returning intersections of up to 8.2gpt.

In 2010, RNI embarked on a systematic exploration program at Doolgunna targeting high-grade VMS style copper-gold mineralisation, similar to DeGrussa, located within the basaltic and sedimentary rocks of the Proterozoic-aged Bryah Basin. This program included detailed geological mapping, airborne geophysics, closely-spaced soil sampling and ground electromagnetics to determine priority drilling targets.

After reviewing all of the results from this program, the RNI Board announced in April 2011 it had approved an extensive 950-hole drilling program at Doolgunna covering 24 high-priority VMS copper-gold and vein-style gold targets. This drilling program, which commenced in late May 2011, includes RC and diamond holes to a depth of up to 500 metres. Significantly, three of the highest priority targets in the drilling program are located in the northern part of the Doolgunna Project, closest to the DeGrussa discoveries, where strong below-surface conductors were identified from a moving loop transient electromagnetic (MLTEM) survey.