Impact Minerals identifies ground EM anomaly at Broken Hill JV
THE DRILL SERGEANT: An ongoing review being conducted by Impact Minerals (ASX: IPT) of the recently-acquired Broken Hill Joint Venture project in New South Wales (IPT earning 80 per cent) has identified an electro-magnetic (EM) anomaly adjacent to the dormant Red Hill Mine.
Impact announced the confirmation of widespread high-grade copper, nickel and platinum group mineralisation in July this year.
Impact has reprocessed ground EM data acquired in 2005 at a broad line spacing of 200 metres, from which it says it has identified a previously unrecognised mid to late time conductor on two lines it considers may potentially be related to massive sulphide mineralisation.
The survey covered a part of the Red Hill prospect, recently highlighted by Impact, and which contains the dormant Red Hill Mine.
Impact explained the mine occurs close to the western contact of an ultramafic dyke that outcrops over an area of 500 metres by 250 metres and cross-cuts younger rocks of the Broken Hill Group in the Curnamona Province.
Location of the Broken Hill nickel-copper-PGE JV project. Source: Company announcement
“Again, these new findings at the Red Hill prospect, which we were unaware of when we purchased the joint venture rights to the project, have confirmed our view that the Broken Hill project is highly-prospective for high-grade copper-nickel-PGE mineralisation,” Impact minerals managing director Dr Mike Jones said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“The EM anomaly is adjacent to the dormant mine and extends the prospect area to at least 500 metres of strike.
“Further work will undoubtedly identify some excellent drill targets.”
Impact said it has sourced mining records, which it claims suggest about 500 tonnes of ore was mined at Red Hill between 1906 and 1937, with face samples returning a grade range of 2 to 4 per cent copper, 2 to 3 per cent nickel, 5 to 41 grams per tonne PGE and 22 to 70 grams per tonne silver.
The company has interpreted the old data to indicate four parallel ‘lodes’, each 1m to 2.5m thick were mined. The lodes are open along strike and at depth.
In addition, previous rock chip assays taken over a 130m by 30m northeast trending area centred on the Red Hill Mine and close to the contact between the host ultramafic dyke and the surrounding rocks, returned a grade range of 1 to 36g/t PGE and 0.2 to 6.1 per cent copper and 0.2 to 1.9 per cent nickel.
The company explained these to be, in part, coincident with the EM anomaly. Follow up soil sampling using a hand held XRF machine is in progress.
The Red Hill prospect has not been drill tested.
Impact has a field program in progress at the Broken Hill project comprising field checking, soil and rock chip sampling and re-logging of previous diamond drill core.
Reprocessing of other EM surveys in the project area is also in progress.