Western Mines Group (ASX: WMG) says it has extended the nickel mineralisation at its Mulga Tank project in Western Australia a further 200m south beyond previous testing after assessing assays from four more drillholes plugged into the intriguing complex.
The results are the first from a new line of seven holes drilled a further 200m south of the company’s previously-defined extremity of nickel sulphide mineralisation. All holes were drilled to 300m at an inclination of -70 degrees to the west.
Management says all four holes end in mineralisation. Shallow zones of higher-grade mineralisation show up in some holes, but all contain significant multi-metre nickel intercepts ranging between 3m and 21m in length and reporting nickel grades greater than 0.32 per cent.
Nickel and cobalt intercepts in each of the four holes run, from just below the transition to fresh rock, to 188m at 0.28 per cent nickel and 129 parts per million cobalt from 112m, 173m at 0.29 per cent nickel and 131ppm cobalt, 170m at 0.26 per cent nickel and 125ppm cobalt and 164m at 0.28 per cent and 127ppm cobalt, respectively.
The best grade intercept is 6m going 0.57 per cent nickel including 1m at 1.2 per cent. The longest intercept exceeding 0.32 per cent nickel is a continuous 21m running 0.34 per cent.
Cobalt grades run as high as 536 ppm, but are typically more subdued in the 120ppm to 150ppm range. Copper grades are found to be going as much as 489ppm.
We’ve stepped out further to the south with these Phase-3 holes, in some cases up to 400m from our previous drilling. This is well outside the area modelled in our JORC Exploration Target which was based on the Phase 1 program – but we are still seeing nickel sulphide mineralisation and the system just keeps getting bigger.
Western Mines Group Managing Director Dr Caedmon Marriott
The company says the latest results show similar uniformity and consistency to its previous line of drilling just 200m to the north. Also of significance is that several holes sit outside the company’s conceptual exploration target shell.
The holes show good intervals of sulphide mineralisation with sulphur and associated chalcophile element results (copper and platinum group elements) and some intersections of higher-grade results that may offer vectors to further pods or zones of richer material. The principal goal of the step-out drilling has been to find the limits of mineralisation, which has not yet been defined in the southerly direction.
The work will also help Western Mines identify the areas of strongest mineralisation, which will enable it to refine its initial resource definition and eventual early mine planning.
The company designed 23 holes for its phase-three program. Four were centred around a single drillhole of interest in the high-grade core of the deposit, while a further three were to infill and/or extend the far south-eastern corner of the project grid.
An additional 12 holes were planned in two east-west lines of five and seven holes, respectively, to explore possible further southwards extension of the known mineralisation in the Mulga Tank ultramafic complex. The four remaining holes have been assigned to regional scout drilling off to the north-west of the complex.
As exploration progresses, management will also refine the extent of deeper massive sulphide mineralisation and ultimately further develop the bigger and already-evolving picture of a hybrid Perseverance-style where two styles of nickel mineralisation exist.
It would comprise a shallow upper disseminated zone of nickel mineralisation extending to depths of about 200m and an extensive deeper nickel sulphide system that has been steadily expanding with every phase of drilling. And that would make it more similar to BHP’s Perseverance nickel ore deposit near the WA town of Leinster, which is composed of high-grade massive and heavily disseminated sulphides within an extensive sheet of more weakly-mineralised sulphides.
Western Mines has previously observed that “everywhere it drills it seems to find nickel” and so far, the trend seems to be continuing. Like all good things, it must eventually come to an end, but the company will almost certainly remain happy to ride the wave for a while longer yet.
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