Estrella Resources has continued to return broad intercepts of nickel sulphide mineralisation from its T5 discovery in Western Australia. The company’s latest results from the prospect include an impressive 14.14 metres at 1.05 per cent nickel and 0.58 per copper which includes 5.41m at 1.45 per cent nickel and 0.88 per cent copper from 408.34m down-hole.
Additional intercepts from the phase three diamond drilling program include 24.32m grading 0.82 per cent nickel and 0.44 per cent copper from 348.32m and 18.43m at 0.64 per cent nickel and 0.92 per cent copper from 379.1m down-hole.
Drilling of the T5 discovery is now plumbing the sulphide system at more than 600m below surface and has defined two south plunging shoots that remain open along strike and at depth.
Estrella Resources Managing Director Chris Daws said:“T5 keeps delivering substantial nickel, copper and other economically important battery metals in our exploratory drilling.”
“It’s important to note that we are only just scratching the surface of what looks to be a highly mineralised contact at Carr Boyd and that we have much, much more targeted drilling to go before we will know exactly what we are dealing with but from all accounts this has got to be one of Australia’s stand out nickel exploration opportunities. It is ticking all the right boxes for our expert nickel team.”
The company’s Carr Boyd nickel sulphide project is 80km north-northeast of Kalgoorlie in WA’s rich Eastern Goldfields. The project tenure takes in the defunct Carr Boyd nickel mine and its surrounds, which was discovered in the 1960s and was operated by Western Mining during the 1970s. The mine produced around 200,000 tonnes of ore grading at a healthy 1.43 per cent nickel and 0.46 per cent copper before its closure in 1977.
Interestingly, Estrella’s T5 discovery was made in late 2020 and sits just 400m north of the old Carr Boyd mine on the same geological structure. The company’s exploration program is now systematically testing this nickeliferous ultramafic contact, with mineralisation now identified along more than 3.5km of strike.
The company has now received its drill results from the recent phase of drilling at Carr Boyd which have continued to successfully define significant nickel sulphide mineralisation along the basal contact of the T5 pyroxenite, an ultramafic unit which forms part of the larger Carr Boyd Intrusive Complex which covers close to 75 sq.km within Estrella’s tenure.
Ongoing modelling and interpretation show the sulphide lodes identified at the T5 discovery to have a southerly plunge and trending back towards the deeper extents of the original Carr Boyd mine, providing an enticing target for exploration as the company begins planning the fourth phase of drilling through the ultramafic complex.
Estrella is now designing extensional drilling along the T5 contact however with ongoing modelling and electromagnetic surveying continuing to define targets along several kilometres of strike, the nickel explorer looks to have a wealth of targets to keep its drills busy in the months ahead.
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By Matt Birney
