Rox and Sipa awarded WA Government EIS Co-funding
THE DRILL SERGEANT: The Western Australian Government recently announced companies that were successful in the latest ballot for co-funded drilling under its Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS).
Rox Resources (ASX: RXL) picked up a further grant under the scheme, for $119,200 to support exploration at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Fisher East nickel project, located 450km north of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.
According to Rox Resources the co-funding will be allocated to deep drilling at the Camelwood deposit which is one of several nickel sulphide deposits at the Fisher East nickel project.
“This is in addition to funding we have received under previous EIS funding rounds and brings the total awarded for 2017 to $191,200,” Rox Resources managing director Ian Mulholland said in a company announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“We would like to take this opportunity to again sincerely thank the WA Government for their continued support of Rox and the exploration sector.”
It is anticipated the co-funded drilling will be undertaken at Fisher East during 2017.
Sipa Resources (ASX: SRI) secured external totalling up to $300,000 from the Western Australian and Australian Federal Governments for two exploration initiatives at the company’s Paterson copper-gold project in WA.
Sipa Resources explained the additional funding – comprising $150,000 in co-funding from the Western Australian Government’s EIS and up to $150,000 for a new collaborative study between Sipa and the CSIRO Minerals Discovery Group – represents a boost to its exploration efforts in the Paterson Province, where it recently discovered an extensive copper-gold mineral system.
The company’s completed a maiden 4,500m drill program, which delineated a major gold-copper mineral system over a four kilometre strike length at the Obelisk prospect, within the Great Sandy Tenement.
Sipa explained the drilling confirmed the anomaly is continuously developed over the entire strike length, including a 1.5km long zone where strongly anomalous copper and gold results were returned, leading to the company identifying it to be a target for follow-up exploration.
“The Paterson is a new frontier for Australian exploration and, while the prize is great, the thick cover and tough operating conditions make it a challenging environment for exploration,” Sipa Resources managing director Lynda Burnett said in an ASX announcement.
“We are very grateful for the support of these groups and we are looking forward to collaborating with some of the best geoscientists in Australia to work towards a major new mineral discovery next year.”