Azure Minerals Moving Andover Apace
COMMODITY CAPERS: One would have had to have been hiding under a weighty rock over the past year or so to not hear about the advancement of Azure Minerals (ASX: AZS) Andover nickel-copper-cobalt project in the West Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Azure Minerals rounded out a successful 2021 by claiming a new discovery at the Andover project (60% Azure / 40% Creasy Group).
Azure Minerals announced diamond drilling had discovered a new zone of nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation at the Skyline prospect located approximately 300m to the west of the VC-23 prospect.
The drilling also intersected substantial massive nickel and copper sulphide mineralisation in the VC-07 West mineralised system.
Up to that time, 133 diamond drill holes had been completed on the Andover project, with 102 holes drilled at VC-07 East, 20 holes at VC-07 West, 8 holes at VC-23 and 3 holes at Skyline.
The first three Skyline drill holes intersect nickel and copper sulphide-rich mineralisation coincident with electromagnetic (EM) conductors, encountering:
ANDD0129
7.4 metres of disseminated nickel-copper sulphides from 55.5m;
6.4m of disseminated nickel-copper sulphides from 64.2m; and
6.7m of disseminated nickel-copper sulphides from 81.4m
ANDD0131
2.9m of disseminated nickel-copper sulphides from 70m; and
1.8m of disseminated nickel-copper sulphides from 73.8m
ANDD0132
2.6m of disseminated nickel-copper sulphides from 106.8m; and
13.7m of blebby and disseminated nickel-copper sulphides from 115.2m.
“We’re very pleased that our regional exploration drilling has got off to such a great start with a new nickel-copper sulphide discovery made at the Skyline prospect,” Andover Minerals managing director Tony Rovira said at the time.
“The first three holes all intersected nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation coinciding with EM conductors, confirming that on the Andover project, electrical conductance continues to be associated with sulphide mineralisation.
“Meanwhile our drilling continues to intersect substantial nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation within the VC-07 mineralised corridor, with the latest massive sulphide intersections at VC-07 West also coinciding with electromagnetic conductors.
“With multiple mineralised drill hits and extensions of the EM conductors that have yet to be drilled, VC-07 West looks promising for hosting significant nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation.”
In February, Azure Minerals reported receiving assay results from the final 14 drill holes of the mineral resource drill-out of the Andover deposit, which it subsequently sent off to its consultants to be included in the prospect’s maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE), which is expected to be released in late March 2022.
The company then turned its attention to drilling at the Ridgeline nickel-copper sulphide prospect, which it announced this week had returned multiple high-grade nickel and copper intersections.
Nickel-copper sulphides intersected at Ridgeline returned high-grade assays, including:
ANDD0134
6.3 metres at 3.59 per cent nickel, 0.21 per cent copper and 0.17 per cent cobalt from 459.2m downhole, within 12.6m at 2.17 per cent nickel, 0.46 per cent copper and 0.10 per cent cobalt from 459.2m;
ANDD0128
4.9m at 3.5 per cent nickel, 1.34 per cent copper and 0.17 per cent cobalt from 542.8m downhole, within 14.5m at 1.84 per cent nickel, 0.88 per cent copper and 0.09 per cent cobalt from 537m; and
ANDD0127
0.9m at 4.45 per cent nickel, 0.19 per cent copper and 0.17 per cent cobalt from 356.6m downhole, within 4.1m at 1.4 per cent nickel, 0.6 per cent copper and 0.06 per cent cobalt from 356.6m.
A geologically targeted step-out drill hole, ANDD0147, collared approximately 140m along strike to the west of Ridgeline intersected a three-metre-wide zone of nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation, including two intervals of massive nickel-copper sulphides.
Nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation at Ridgeline starts approximately 200m along strike to the west of the Andover nickel-copper deposit and extends to the west for at least 600m.
Azure has drilled 32 holes at Ridgeline, intersecting several distinct horizons of sulphide mineralisation.
While attending the recent 2022 RIU Explorers Conference, Azure announced staking of two new Exploration Licence Applications (ELAs) in the Kookynie gold district and application for an additional two new ELAs to the south of the company’s Barton tenement package.
Azure made application for two Exploration Licences located within the Kookynie gold district.
The tenements are:
• Christmas Well ELA 40/421 69sqkm Azure is sole applicant;
• Two Dees ELA 40/432 33sqkm Azure is sole applicant.
Christmas Well is thought to have potential for Kookynie-style gold mineralisation and Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) mineralisation (copper-zinc-lead-gold-silver).
Two Dees is considered prospective for gold mineralisation considered similar to Genesis’ nearby Ulysses and Admiral-Butterfly-Clark gold deposits.
Azure has also made applications for two new Exploration Licences further south from Kookynie:
• Cranky Jack ELA 31/1310 173sqkm Azure is sole applicant; and
• Yarri ELA 31/1314 208sqkm Multiple applications, pending ballot.
Azure Minerals expects to eventually hold a large, strategically-situated portfolio of tenements within the Kookynie district with potential extensions to the south, comprising:
• One granted Exploration Licence (E40/393: 198sqkm);
• Six ELAs (totalling 483sqkm) with Azure as the sole applicant; and
• Four ELAs (totalling sq336km) where Azure is a competing applicant, and will go into a Mining Warden’s Court ballot to decide ownership.
Email: admin@azureminerals.com.au