Chalice Mining says it has identified a major new area of interest at its globally significant Julimar exploration area north east of Perth that could be similar to its first big discovery at Gonneville.
The discovery takes to five the number of significant areas of known or potential mineralisation Chalice has identified along and near a 26-kilometre strike line.
The new area has been named Flinders (to go with other major areas of interest including Hartog, Gonneville, Janz and Torres). Flinders is almost adjacent to the area of interest at Torres and in Wednesday’s statement Chalice said:
“Airborne electromagnetic (EM) in this area has identified a strong, late-time EM anomaly coincident with a ~1.8km x 1.2km discrete, lens-shaped magnetic feature at the Flinders target, located approximately 25km NE of Gonneville and ~3km NW of Torres.
“No exploration has ever been completed at Flinders; however its magnetic and EM response is considered highly prospective given the obvious similarities with Gonneville.
“This makes the Torres-Flinders area a high-priority for additional exploration and access discussions in relation to the (nearby army) Training Area are well advanced, with the Flinders target expected to be accessible for exploration activities.”
“This work has already yielded an exciting new target located some 25km north-east of Gonneville that is now elevated to top priority within the portfolio,” Chalice said on Wednesday.
In the same update Wednesday Chalice also indicated that the size and quality of the reserves at Gonneville would likely undergo change in the update to be issued in May after further drilling in and around the mineralised area.
Last November, Chalice issued its first reserves estimate for Gonneville which included: 10 million ounces of palladium, platinum and gold (or PGE).
These figures make the project the largest PGE discovery in Australian history.
The 330 million tonne resource also holds 530,000 tonnes of nickel (making it the largest sulphide-based nickel discovery globally for 20 years), as well as 330,000 tonnes of copper and 53,000 tonnes of cobalt.
Chalice CEO Alex Dorsch said in Wednesday’s statement: “Recent step-out drilling at Gonneville has again highlighted the outstanding growth potential of the tier-1 scale resource, and the opportunity for significant growth of the deposit to support future underground mining.
“The Gonneville Intrusion is ~500m thick and wide-open to the north-west, and we continue to see pockets of very high-grade sulphide mineralisation as we target extensions well beyond the current resource boundaries, so, step-out drilling will continue for the foreseeable future to assess the overall extent of the mineral system.”
“Infill drilling within the shallow (up to 250 metres deep) Inferred part of the Gonneville Resource is nearing completion – with these resource blocks expected to be upgraded to a higher-confidence category as part of the next resource update, scheduled for May 2022,” Chalice revealed.
The company also said the follow up drilling (many hole assays are still to come) has extended the sulphide mineralisation a further 400 metres “below the limit of the Gonneville pit shell” and is open in several directions.
As well early results are in for Hartog and awaited from Janz and Torres.
“Assay results have also been received for first-pass AC drilling at the Torres target, while all holes completed at Jansz remain pending,” the company revealed in the Wednesday statement.
“The first-ever exploration drilling program at Hartog is underway over what is a very large area, with dozens of MLEM and soil targets.
“We have already intersected intrusive geology – which is a good start – however, we remain focused on gaining access to the highest-priority areas over the coming weeks.
“The previous narrow high-grade intersections north-west of Gonneville make the southern end of the Hartog target a very exciting area for expansion of the Gonneville Resource.
“The polymetallic PGE-nickel-copper-cobalt Resource defined at Julimar is already very significant on a global scale, however recent troubling developments in Ukraine have highlighted the strategic importance of this critical minerals deposit and the new West Yilgarn mineral province to support the decarbonisation of the global economy and to de-risk critical supply chains.”
Investors didn’t like the news and sold Chalice shares down 3.9% to $7.48. But that only partly unwound the 5% plus rise on Tuesday.
