Apollo confirms new Fraser Range nickel system

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Apollo Minerals (ASX: AON) has claimed to have discovered a substantial nickel sulphide system at the Plato prospect within the company’s Fraser Range nickel project in Western Australia.

The announcement follows a review of exploration data the company carried out with independent geological consultants CSA Global.

The review compared all drilling results from Plato with available data from Sirius Resource’s (ASX: SIR) Nova nickel deposit.

“Key similarities in the style of nickel sulphide mineralisation mean that Plato becomes one of only three high concentration nickel-copper sulphide systems discovered to date within the Fraser Zone,” Apollo Minerals said in its ASX announcement.

The review included technical evaluation of assay results from 2014 drilling at Plato, which intersected 3 metres at 0.4 per cent nickel and 0.1 per cent copper within a larger 60m mineralised interval.

Apollo indicated it now plans to target Plato and other high priority areas.

“The next phase of exploration will include ground Electro-Magnetic (EM) surveys, infill soil geochemistry and aircore drilling,” the company said.

“Follow-up deeper RC and diamond core drilling will follow based on results.

“Apollo is also considering the use of other high powered electrical geophysical techniques to identify new, deeper targets for drill testing.”

The Fraser Range nickel project is part of the Orpheus Joint Venture (Apollo 70 per cent: Enterprise Metals (ASX: ENT) 30 per cent)

The project is centred over the main high density Fraser Zone of the Albany-Fraser Orogen and consists of four tenements covering 665 square kilometres, which is one of the largest tenement areas in the main Fraser Zone outside of Sirius Resources.

 

Fraser Range gravity image showing Plato prospect, other nickel sulphide systems and Apollo Fraser Range Project landholdings. (High density gravity region shown in pink and red) Source: Company announcement

“The project is highly prospective for magmatic hosted nickel and copper mineralisation similar to Sirius Resources’ Nova-Bollinger massive nickel sulphide deposit,” Apollo said.

“Early stage exploration on the project by Enterprise Metals focused on detailed soil geochemistry, airborne and ground EM surveys and most recently RC and core drilling at the Plato and Plato South prospects.

“Independent consultants have reviewed this work and confirmed that the gabbros at Plato were formed from primitive, mantle sourced magmas capable of hosting massive nickel sulphide mineralisation.

“On 4 February 2015, Sirius confirmed that drilling at their nearby Crux prospect, situated 15km along strike from Plato, intersected disseminated and matrix nickel-copper sulphides suggesting the potential for additional major nickel-copper mineralisation.”

Website: www.apollominerals.com.au