Auroch Minerals Intercepts More Saints Nickel

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Auroch Minerals (ASX: AOU) released assay results from the first six drill-holes from the first drilling program to be carried out at the company’s recently-acquired Saints nickel project, located near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

Auroch Minerals said the results from semi-massive to massive sulphide mineralisation intersected in several of the diamond drillholes returned extremely high-grade nickel, particularly at the Saint Patricks target area.

The best of these came from hole SNDD006 that returned high-grade results of:

2.22 metres at 4.84 per cent nickel, 0.34 per cent copper and 0.15 per cent cobalt from 110.68m down-hole, including 0.9m at 6.01 per cent nickel, 0.31 per cent copper and 0.16 per cent cobalt.

These results followed on from recently announced high-grade results achieved in drill-hole SNDD005 of:

1.77m at 6.72 per cent nickel, 0.27 per cent copper and 0.13 per cent cobalt from 227.31m down-hole, including 0.50m at 9.98 per cent nickel, 0.24 per cent copper and 0.2 per cent cobalt.

The company reported that drill-hole SNDD003 targeted a DHEM target to the north of the existing nickel sulphide mineralisation at Saint Patricks and intersected:

1.87m at 1.09 per cent nickel, 0.08 per cent copper and 0.04 per cent cobalt from 92m down-hole, including 0.47m at 2.74 per cent nickel, 0.26 per cent copper and 0.08 per cent cobalt.

This result added approximately 30m to the strike of known nickel sulphide mineralisation at Saint Patricks, and remains open to the north.

Drill-hole SNDD002 also targeted a DHEM plate down-plunge of the existing nickel sulphide mineralisation at the Western Contact and intersected:

3.31m at 1.05 per cent nickel, 0.06 per cent copper and 0.03 per cent cobalt from 219.9m down-hole, including 1.7m at 1.48 per cent nickel, 0.1 per cent copper and 0.05 per cent cobalt, approximately 40m further down-plunge from the limit of the existing nickel sulphide resource.

“We are extremely pleased with the results from the first six drill-holes of our maiden drilling program at the Saints nickel project,” Auroch Minerals managing director Aidan Platel said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We have confirmed extremely high-grade nickeliferous massive sulphides over significant widths, particularly at Saint Patricks.

“We have also intersected high-grade nickel sulphide mineralisation outside of the limits of the existing nickel resource at both Saint Patricks and the Western Contact, adding to the strike of the known mineralisation.

“Importantly, the results have shown that strong DHEM conductors are consistently coincident with semi-massive and massive nickel sulphide mineralisation, thus confirming DHEM as an excellent exploration tool at Saints.

“The DHEM surveys from the first six drill-holes have all provided us with several strong conductor plates that require follow-up drill-testing.

“This initial drilling program was designed to confirm the existing nickel sulphide mineralisation and to develop new targets for a more extensive drilling program early in 2020, and the first results have shown that we have successfully achieved this.

“The drilling is ongoing with two holes (SNDD010 and SNDD011) left to complete, after which we will undertake DHEM surveys on the remaining drill-holes that were not yet surveyed.

“We also have assay results pending from drill-hole SNDD007 onwards, all of which will be announced to the market as they are received.”

Auroch has also completed down-hole electromagnetic (DHEM) surveys for the first six holes of the current drilling program with all identifying strong EM conductors.

 

Email: admin@aurochminerals.com

 

Web: www.aurochminerals.com

 

Carawine Resources Strike Farm-In and Joint Venture with FMG

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Carawine Resources (ASX: CWX) has entered into a Farm-In and Joint Venture Agreement with a subsidiary of FMG Resources (ASX: FMG).

Carawine Resources said the deal will cover exploration of the Lamil Hills (E45/5326), Trotman South (E45/4847) and Sunday (E45/5229) tenements all part of the company’s Paterson project in Western Australia.

Lamil Hills is within 30 kilometres to the northwest of Newcrest Mining’s Telfer gold-copper mine; Trotman South is 30km to the south of the Telfer mine; and Sunday is within 5km of Metals X’s Maroochydore copper-cobalt deposit.

The tenements are at an early exploration stage, with Carawine’s work to date comprising target generation activities based mostly on work by previous explorers.

Under the terms of the agreement FMG will explore Carawine’s eastern Paterson project tenements targeting copper, gold and base metals.

Fortescue is to pay $125,000 cash up front and spend $0.5 million on exploration in the first eighteen months.

Fortescue has the right to earn up to a 75 per cent interest by spending $6 million total in two stages:

Stage 1: 51 per cent interest after $1.5 million exploration spend within three years; and
Stage 2: 24 per cent interest after additional $4.5 million exploration spend within four years.

The agreement works well for both entities as it provides Fortescue with highly prospective tenement holding within the Paterson Province and ensures Carawine is well positioned to share in the benefits of any discovery.

The deal complements Carawine’s recent farm-in and joint venture agreement with Rio Tinto subsidiary, Rio Tinto Exploration Pty Ltd, with the potential for up to $11.5 million to be spent on exploration at the Paterson Project under both agreements.

“With the addition of Fortescue as a partner in the Paterson we now have two major resource companies funding exploration on our Paterson tenements,” Carawine Resources managing director David Boyd said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“This Agreement gives Fortescue access to underexplored tenements over highly prospective ground.

“This deal also ensures Carawine is well positioned to share in the benefit of any discoveries, with Fortescue well placed to support a potential development should the exploration activities be successful.

“The Agreement with Fortescue represents a further endorsement of Carawine’s exploration targeting strategy, which has already led to the formation of active joint ventures with Rio Tinto Exploration in the Paterson province and with Independence Group NL in the Fraser Range region of WA.”

 

Email: info@carawine.com.au

Web: www.carawine.com.au

 

Breaker Resources Funded to Drill Bombora

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Breaker Resources (ASX: BRB) has agreed to a non-brokered $8 million share placement to Electrum Strategic Opportunities Fund II LP, a major US-based private equity fund focused on precious metals.

The placement consists of approximately 23 million newly issued shares being undertaken at 35 cents a share.

Breaker Resources indicated the proceeds of the placement will be used to ramp up reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling aimed at growing the one million-ounce Bombora Resource at the company’s Lake Roe gold project near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

“Breaker welcomes the support of a prominent North American institutional fund and their support is seen as an expression of confidence in the growth potential of the company’s Lake Roe gold project,” Breaker Resources said in its ASX announcement.

“The placement follows a strategic review undertaken by Breaker aimed at unlocking the full value of the company’s Lake Roe gold project.

“As a result of the strategic review, the Board has formed the view that the best way to deliver value to shareholders is to expand the Resource base through further drilling.

“The company has consequently placed the Lake Roe pre-feasibility study on hold and has decided to partner with Electrum with the shared objective of advancing the Lake Roe project along the value chain through expansion of the project’s existing Resource.”

 

Email: breaker@breakerresources.com.au

Web: www.breakerresources.com.au

 

Ardiden Identifies New Pickle Lake Gold Targets

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Ardiden Limited (ASX: ADV) has identified several priority targets for gold mineralisation at the West Pickle prospect, part of the company’s 100 per cent-owned Pickle Lake gold project in Ontario, Canada.

Ardiden identified the new targets by way of an airborne geophysical survey.

The company has also completed a review of available historical drilling data at the adjacent South Limb prospect, from which it has identified several high-grade shallow mineralised intercepts which it plans to drill test this winter for potential gold mineralisation extensions at depth.

West Pickle and South Limb are two of four main gold prospects comprising the Pickle Lake gold project, which also includes the Kasagiminnis deposit and Dorothy-Dobie prospect.

Although it is situated directly along strike of the high-grade Central Patricia and Pickle Crow gold mining centres, the West Pickle area has surprisingly received very little exploration attention to date.

Ardiden was eager to point out the geophysical survey it has completed highlighted hidden structural discontinuities and multiple possible conduits for hydrothermal fluids at West Pickle including:

Two large and highly conductive geophysical responses detected at West Pickle in proximity to iron formations. Strong conductors are typically associated with pyrrhotite and gold mineralisation along strike at the Central Patricia Mine.

Multiple magnetic lows identified at West Pickle in prospective Iron Formations. Magnetic lows can indicate that gold-mineralising fluids may have altered the rock.

The West Pickle area is structurally complex with folding and faulting discontinuities over the entire 5km strike of property, providing a number of prospective geological settings for gold mineralisation.

The company said the geophysical survey will greatly assist in its planning of ongoing exploration work and identification of potential high-grade gold drill targets.

“The identification of these new targets at Pickle Lake underscores our commitment to add to the quality gold resources announced at Kasagimminis,” Ardiden CEO Rob Longley said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Our geophysical survey has successfully delivered targets and aligns with our planned drilling approach in 2020.

“We have a good mix of known gold deposits, anomalous gold prospects and untested yet highly-prospective ground, so our opportunities for resource growth and new discoveries are really exciting as well as the opportunities of aggregation of gold-prospective land holdings within the Pickle Lake area.”

 

Email: info@ardiden.com.au

Web: www.ardiden.com.au

 

Corazon Mining to Commence Drilling at Lynn Lake

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Corazon Mining (ASX: CZN) announced plans for drilling to be carried out at the company’s Lynn Lake nickel-copper-cobalt sulphide project in Manitoba, Canada.

Corazon Mining has completed an extensive targeting program focusing on areas surrounding the many historic mines within the project.

The work the company has completed has incorporated the analysis and integration of multiple historical exploration datasets, combined with modern geophysical processing technologies.

Corazon has now identified several high-priority drill targets and now has preparations for drilling these targets underway.

Permits for drilling have been granted by the Provincial Government of Manitoba and a drilling contractor has been engaged and Corazon intends to commence drilling as soon as possible.

Drill Targets Identified Priority Lynn Lake Mine Area drill targets include:

Near-surface mineralisation;
Areas on-trend from historical mines; and
Areas adjacent to Corazon’s existing resources.

In addition, several new high-potential areas that are geophysically analogous to previously mined areas have been defined within the Lynn Lake Mining Centre.

Corazon has taken a strategic review of the Lynn Lake project on the back of the recent recovery in the price of nickel.

The company has consolidated the entire Lynn Lake nickel camp and its extensive historical datasets, which includes more than 75 years of exploration and 24 years of mining information.

Corazon is the first company to gain control of the entire Lynn Lake nickel camp since mine closure in 1976; in doing so, Corazon believes it has created the opportunity to compete detailed interrogation and targeting within the mine area and across the wider project area.

“Substantial mineral resources have been defined within the historic mining centre and good opportunity exists to add to the resource base from exploration within well-defined mineralised corridors,” Corazon Mining said in its ASX announcment.

“With little modern exploration undertaken to date, the opportunity for further discoveries within the Lynn Lake mining centre is substantial.

“Exploration in recent years has highlighted the project’s potential, with discoveries made by several companies including Western Areas (ASX: WSA), Independent Nickel (TSX: INI) and Corazon.”

Lynn Lake’s current JORC-compliant resource identifies 110,300 tonnes of nickel metal, along with 51,400 tonnes of copper and 5,200 tonnes of cobalt.

 

Email: info@corazon.com.au

Web: www.corazon.com.au

 

THE DAILY ROADHOUSE

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Rex Minerals Spreads Exploration Across the Globe

THE INSIDE STORY: Rex Minerals’ (ASX: RXM) exploration aspirations cover the search for copper in Australia and gold in the United States of America.

White Rock Minerals Sees Red Mountain Potential in Alaska

THE INSIDE STORY: White Rock Minerals (ASX: WRM) is based in the historic mining town of Ballarat in Victoria, yet is exploring in New South Wales and Alaska.

Superior Lake Firing up Canadian Zinc Project

THE INSIDE STORY: Superior Lake Resources (ASX: SUP) is focused on the redevelopment of the Superior Lake zinc project in North Western Ontario, Canada.

 

White Rock Minerals Sees Red Mountain Potential in Alaska

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THE INSIDE STORY: White Rock Minerals (ASX: WRM) is based in the historic mining town of Ballarat in Victoria, yet is exploring in New South Wales and Alaska.

White Rock Minerals owns the Red Mountain project in central Alaska – a high-grade zinc-silver-lead-gold project – and the advanced Mt Carrington gold-silver project in NSW.

Red Mountain has a Mineral Resource estimate of 9 million tonnes at 13 per cent zinc equivalent.

The company describes Red Mountain as being a quality advanced exploration project in an established mining district with plenty of potential to discover large zinc-silver-lead-gold-copper deposits in addition to extending the known zinc-silver-lead-gold deposits at Dry Creek and West Tundra Flats deposits.

There are already two high-grade deposits at the Red Mountain project, with an Inferred Mineral Resource of 9.1 million tonnes at 12.9 per cent zinc equivalent for 1.1 million tonnes of contained zinc equivalent at Dry Creek and West Tundra Flats.

This VMS polymetallic Resource zinc equivalent grade is made up of 5.8 per cent zinc, 2.6 per cent lead, 157 grams per tonne silver and 0.9g/t gold.

Recent drilling at Dry Creek intersected 1.4 metres at 13.9 per cent zinc, 4.4 per cent lead, 115g/t silver, 0.8g/t gold and 0.3 per cent copper for 21.6 per cent zinc equivalent.

White Rock reported assays from this drill core confirmed high-grade mineralisation had been intersected in massive sulphide over 200 metres down-dip from its previous drilling efforts.

The company interpreted this deepest intersection in the Dry Creek deposit to indicate a possible steeper dip to mineralisation than first interpreted, suggesting the deposit could be wide open down dip along its entire 1,200 metre strike length.

The massive sulphide intersected was interpreted to be the extension to the high-grade Fosters lens, the upper of two lenses in the Dry Creek deposit.

“This aggressive step-out drill hole at Dry Creek has shown that the deposit is wide open with fantastic high-grade zinc and silver persisting over 200 metres deeper than previously drilled,” White Rock Minerals managing director Matt Gill said when announcing the results.

“While this particular intersection is narrow, we know that typical VMS lenses pinch and swell along strike and down dip, as evidenced by previous drilling where true width intersections of up to 40 metres at the Fosters lens have been recorded.

“The majority of the current Inferred Resource is drilled to a depth of just 200 metres so a further step out of over 200 metres suggests considerable upside is possible in expanding the size of the deposit.

“Furthermore, ground conditions and the onset of winter terminated the drill hole prematurely with the high-grade Discovery lens remaining untested at this depth.

“This leaves considerable additional potential to this down dip position in the deposit, especially when considering the Resource footprint extends for 1,200 metres of strike.

“A targeted drill program early in the 2020 field season could unlock just how significant the Resource expansion potential could be.”

White Rock’s Mt Carrington project is underpinned by a Mineral Resource estimate of more than 340,000 ounces of gold and 23 million ounces of silver.

The Mineral Resources are situated in seven surface deposits, all located on granted Mining Leases and with developed infrastructure.

The company completed at Pre-Feasibility Study for Mt Carrington in late 2017, from which it has commenced progressing Mt Carrington through a Definitive Feasibility Study and permitting process prior to a Decision to Mine, at which point a construction and commissioning finance package is available, subject to certain conditions.

 

Email: info@whiterockminerals.com.au

 

Web: www.whiterockminerals.com.au

 

Rex Minerals Spreads Exploration Across the Globe

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THE INSIDE STORY: Rex Minerals’ (ASX: RXM) exploration aspirations cover the search for copper in Australia and gold in the United States of America.

Rex Minerals’ Hillside copper project is located on the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia.

The JORC Code 2012-complaint Mineral Resource estimate for the Hillside project consists 337 million tonnes at 0.6 per cent copper and 0.14 grams per tonne gold, equating to approximately 2 million tonnes (4.3 billion pounds) of copper, 1.4 million ounces of gold.

Of the 2 million tonnes of contained copper classified as a Mineral Resource, approximately 65 per cent has been classified as Measured and Indicated Resources.

The Mineral Resource remains open at depth and towards the north and south.

The company claims the Mineral Resource for the Hillside project to be one of Australia’s largest open pit copper Mineral Resources.

In August 2019, Rex Minerals completed the acquisition of Hog Ranch Group Pty Ltd giving it ownership of the Hog Ranch gold project in Nevada, USA.

The company wasted little time in announcing an Inferred Mineral Resource at Hog Ranch of 44 million tonnes at 0.6 grams per tonne gold for 0.83 million ounces of gold.

The Resource was based on a large historical drilling database containing a total of 2,678 drill holes, a large percentage of which was completed by Western Mining Corporation (WMC) that operated an open pit and heap leach operation there from 1988 through to 1991.

“The acquisition of Hog Ranch and the rapid delivery of a maiden Mineral Resource of over 800,000 ounces of gold (the documentation and reporting of which has been independently peer reviewed by Peter Stoker of AMC Consultants Pty Ltd), demonstrates how positively we view Hog Ranch and its potential,” Rex Minerals managing director Richard Laufmann said when announcing the Resource.

“Hog Ranch offers Rex investors immediate exposure to the gold sector in one of the world’s most well‐ endowed gold regions.

“Nevada is a proven destination for successful gold exploration, discovery and production.

“The current database of 2,678 drill holes, which is included within the Mineral Resource estimate, has a total combined length of over 200,000 metres.

“At replacement, this drill data base alone would cost over $30 million.”

The Inferred Mineral Resource is based on large shallow disseminated gold mineralisation that exists from surface at Hog Ranch and extends to 175 metres below surface as well as on the historic database.

Outside of the Inferred Mineral Resource, Rex has defined a broad alteration system that stretches for over 20 square kilometres, which the company considers to highlight the potential scale and opportunity at Hog Ranch.

Deeper high-grade vein hosted gold targets at Hog Ranch that were intersected by earlier explorers remain untested.

 

Email: rex@rexminerals.com.au

 

Web: www.rexminerals.com.au

 

Near surface high-grade results from Dazzler drilling

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Northern Minerals (ASX: NTU) recently completed infill and step-out reverse circulation (RC) drilling at the Dazzler prospect, part of the company’s Browns Range project in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Northern Minerals has received high-grade assay results for the first 12 (BRDR0037-0048) of the 51 drill holes it completed at Dazzler in September that included intercepts from surface of up to 7.71 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO), including 7,502ppm dysprosium.

The company explained the drilling program was designed to step-out to the north of the previous drilling in order to update the existing Mineral Resource at Dazzler that has been estimated at 144,000 tonnes at 2.23 per cent TREO comprising 3.2 million kilograms TREO using a cut-off grade of 0.15 per cent TREO.

Northern Minerals said it considers the latest results to be of note as many of the intercepts occur at or near the surface, increasing the potential for a low operating cost operation.

It will now use the results achieved from the latest round of drilling to update the Mineral Resource Estimate which it anticipates will be completed in January 2020.

The Dazzler deposit is located less than 15 kilometres from the Browns Range pilot plant on the edge of a small scarp slope.

Further RC drilling at Browns Range is set to commence anon, with exploration and resource definition drilling planned at several different deposits and targets.

“We continue to be impressed and enthusiastic about the potential of Dazzler,” Northern Minerals managing director and CEO, George Bauk said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“As with all mineral deposits ‘grade is king’ and these results continue to deliver on the upside.

“We will now commence updating the Mineral Resource Estimate and investigate mining studies for Dazzler.”

Other recent activities have included mineralogy on four composites at Nagrom from PQ diamond core that was drilled at the Dazzler deposit in May that were made up from four distinct ore bands observed in the core.

These bands varied from three to 13 per cent TREO.

Ore sorting work on coarse fractions of the composites has indicated that these can be effectively sorted.

The test work program at Nagrom has focused on the beneficiation steps of the process, with crushing, scrubbing, grind size optimization and magnetic separation test work completed on the four composites.

The friable portion of the Dazzler material breaks down by scrubbing, with 50 per cent of the ore reporting to the less than 10mm size fraction and this is generally upgraded in rare earths.

Sighter magnetic separation work has been promising.

Flotation and bake tests are planned, and samples will be prepared for environmental test work and radionuclide deportment studies.

 

Email: info@northernminerals.com.au

 

Web: www.northernminerals.com.au

 

Superior Lake Firing up Canadian Zinc Project

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THE INSIDE STORY: Superior Lake Resources (ASX: SUP) is focused on the redevelopment of the Superior Lake zinc project in North Western Ontario, Canada.

The project is a high-grade zinc deposit with a JORC resource of 2.35 million tonnes at 17.7 per cent zinc, 0.9 per cent copper, 0.38 grams per tonne gold and 34g/t silver and a Probable Ore Reserve of 1.96 million tonnes at 13.9 per cent zinc, 0.6 per cent copper, 0.2g/t gold and 26.2g/t silver.

The Superior Lake Zinc project is located east of Thunder Bay in the province of Ontario and covers 175 square kilometres, consisting two deposits – Winston Lake and Pick Lake.

In August 2019, Superior Lake released a Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS), which outlined an operation at Superior Lake that would produce 34,000 tonnes per annum of contained zinc metal with All in Sustaining Operating Costs of US$0.47 per pound, ranking the project in the lowest cost quartile of zinc projects globally.

The BFS assumed mine access via a new decline from surface instead of rehabilitating the old Winston shaft.

The numbers were based on a 1,000 tonnes per day operation, with a total upfront capital cost of US$87 million (plus US$10M pre-production and Owner’s costs).

Superior Lake is expected to produce over life-of-mine an average of 32,000 tonnes per annum of zinc concentrate and 5200 tonnes per annum of copper concentrate.

At this stage, production is expected to commence in 2021 for a mine life of nine years.

The company believes several advanced exploration targets exist that present an opportunity for a potential extension to the mine life.

Key highlights from the study include:

Financial returns:

C1 Cost – US$ 0.35/lb zinc
AISC Cost – US$ 0.47/lb zinc
NPV8 pre-tax US$157 million (A$224M)
IRR 31 per cent (pre-tax)

Key production figures include:

Plant throughput 325,000 tonnes per annum
Total 2.2 million tonnes treated
Average grade: 13.7 per cent zinc
Average zinc recovery: 96 per cent
Initial capital expenditure of US$86 million (A$106M) excluding owners and pre-production
Life of Mine of nine years
Annual production (after ramp-up) of 38,000 tonnes per annum contained zinc and 1400 tonnes per annum contained copper

“The purpose of this BFS was to validate Superior Lake becoming a viable zinc operation,” Superior Lake CEO David Woodall said when the BFS was released.

“This was clearly achieved, as the Study demonstrates the project will generate strong cash flow throughout the nine-year mine life.

“The driving factor for the result was the low AISC (LOM – US$0.47/lb), which, if brought into production, would rank the project in the lowest quartile of producers globally.

“The development of the project has been completed with the future in mind, as the decline will be in close proximity to each of the major geophysical anomalies that were identified in the 2019 exploration program, all of which are expected to be tested in the near future.

“A discovery at any of these anomalies would significantly change the parameters of the project both in terms of mine life as well as production profile.

“In the coming months, the company will focus on finalising off-take, equity and debt financing as well as completing an Optimisation Study whereupon a decision to mine will be made.”

 

Email: info@superiorlake.com.au

 

Web: www.superiorlake.com.au