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Carawine Resources Gets Drilling at Big Bang Nickel Targets

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Carawine Resources (ASX: CWX) has drilling underway at the company’s Fraser Range project in Western Australia.

Carawine Resources has three holes planned for the 100 per cent-owned Big Bang tenement to test three conductors, with each hole designed as a reverse circulation (RC) pre-collar drilled to within approximately 100m of the modelled target depth.

These will be followed by diamond core drilled through the modelled target.

The targeted conductors are within three of nine target areas Carawine has identified at Big Bang, including seven target areas considered prospective for magmatic nickel-copper mineralisation.

The company also has MLEM surveying planned for one or more other Big Bang magmatic nickel-copper target areas BB3 and BB5, with timing dependent on the outcome of the current drilling program.

The drilling is co-funded by the WA State Government under its Exploration Incentive Scheme.

“The three conductors targeted by this program are from our first MLEM survey at Big Bang, which covered just three of seven areas identified as prospective for magmatic nickel and copper sulphides,” Carawine Resources managing director David Boyd said in the company’s ASX announcement.

“We look forward to the results of the drilling and expanding our exploration program across the tenement over the coming months.”

 

TO READ THE FULL ANOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE

 

 

Nickel: A Complex Commodity with a Bright Future

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THE CONFERENCE CALLER: The transition of energy as we look at electrifying our transport options through the application of renewable generation is going to require a lot more critical minerals than what we are currently using or finding.

This becomes way too obvious when we look at the periodic table of elements, a reference point we have been using as long as we have been using the elements it lists, and highlight the metals that, due to there use in our electrified future, are becoming more and more critical by the day.

This point was highlighted by CRU vice president sales – APAC, Daniel Rodriguez during the opening session of the Australian Nickel Conference in Perth.

 

 

“When we look at the periodic table, at the commodities that are required to support a low carbon future and energy transition away from coal and oil and gas, it places a great deal of stress on the smaller commodities,” he said.

“Some of these markets are in short supply or have processing risk and/or political risk.”

Copper, nickel, cobalt, and rare earths were given special mention by Rodriguez regarding the risks faced by each as there are limited substitutions for the role each plays as well as geological and processing restraints.

Being the keynote speaker at a nickel conference, Rodriguez spoke more on that particular commodity than the others.

“Nickel costs in line with a lot of other costs have significantly increased due to inflation,” he said.

“We have seen a sixty per cent year on year increase across the whole industry, and that’s across all nickel products.

“These are the highest levels we have seen since 2007.”

In the September 2022 Resources and Energy Quarterly from the Department of Industry, Science and Resources the Office of the Chief Economist predicted, “nickel prices are expected to average US$24,900 a tonne in 2022, boosted by the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Prices are expected to ease over the outlook period, as a result of increased Indonesian production and improving liquidity in the LME nickel market.

These recent high prices have been good for Australia’s nickel export earnings, which reached $4.4 billion in 2021–22.

The DISR bean counters anticipate export earnings to rise to $5.1 billion in 2022–23, before easing to $4.6 billion in 2023–24.

“Australia’s export volumes are estimated to rise from 157,000 tonnes in 2021–22 to 202,000 tonnes in 2023–24, supported by the need for Australian nickel for the transition to low-emissions technologies,” they said.
The demand for nickel over the long term is that it should retain its global demand drivers.

Rodriguez said CRU expects the demand for nickel in batteries alone to reach 1.1 million tonnes by 2026 and to then continue that rise.

“We do see Asia-Pacific being a significant influencer in the global landscaper for nickel,” he said.

“We certainly know it is a buzz commodity, that’s for sure, and we at CRU think it to be one of the more complex commodities that we cover, but obviously one that has an extremely bright future.”

That demand is sure to increase in Europe where electric vehicle demand is thriving to the point where waiting lists are longer than the distance most EVs can travel on one charge.