The company secured exclusivity over the Gonini and Greenstars projects in September. The projects sit in the Guiana Shield, an ancient geological region in northern South America stretching across Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and parts of Venezuela and Brazil. The region's old greenstone belts host major gold deposits and are geologically related to West Africa's prolific Birimian gold belts.
Subject to the completion of the deals, the ASX-listed junior will hold a 90 percent interest in 199 square kilometres of granted gold exploitation rights.
Critical has now brought in GexplOre to run a major structural and geophysical interpretation across Gonini and Greenstars, in addition to more than 6000 square kilometres of the surrounding greenstone belt.
GexplOre has worked on about 20 gold projects across Suriname, Guyana, and French Guiana. The firm has provided structural work for G Mining Ventures' Oko West project in Guyana and Founders Metals' Antino project in Suriname. The Antino project recently saw Canadian major Gold Fields invest C$77 million for a 19.9 percent stake.
The study will proceed in two stages. The first is a detailed, property-scale interpretation over two priority target areas at the 164-square-kilometre Gonini project. The second is a lower-resolution review of the wider greenstone belt, designed to screen for further opportunities.
'Engaging them now means we can build our structural picture and help us screen further opportunities across the belt,' Critical Resources managing director Tim Wither said.