Mineral explorer Metal Hawk has commenced a 3000m RC drill campaign aimed at nickel sulphide targets at the company’s Berehaven nickel-gold project near Kalgoorlie in WA. The program is designed to test multiple zones with nickel sulphide potential across the project area including four new electromagnetic conductors within 5km of last year’s notable Commodore nickel discovery.
Drilling so far has focused on exploring along a western ultramafic trend at the project’s Commodore prospect where significant nickel sulphide mineralisation has been identified to the north and south at the Torana and Commodore South prospects.
Whilst the RC program will continue to probe the western trend further, a volley of several holes will be fired at four electromagnetic conductor targets about 3km to 5km east of Commodore.
As the weathering east of Commodore is shallower, the electromagnetic targets were successfully picked up by a ground moving-loop electromagnetic survey earlier in the year.
The new electromagnetic targets are along strike from nickel prospects Blair North and Euston just outside of Metal Hawk’s northern fence line.
Previous drilling at Blair North has encountered 2m at 3.94 per cent nickel from 161m downhole and a single hole at Euston delivered 4m at 1.78 per cent nickel from 140m including 2m at 2.44 per cent nickel from 140m.
The holes have been designed to intersect a conductive target zone between 150m and 220m.
Follow-up downhole electromagnetic surveys are planned after the drilling to detect any conductive responses related to nearby accumulations of massive sulphide nickel mineralisation.
Metal Hawk Managing Director, Will Belbin said:“We are continuing systematic rigorous exploration at Berehaven with this next phase of RC drilling. Since the discovery of high-grade nickel at Commodore late last year, the regional work we have carried out on this project has generated several more exciting discovery opportunities for nickel and gold.”
In addition to further RC drilling at Torana the company is planning a bout of diamond drilling to test a strong downhole electromagnetic conductor at the prospect.
The off-hole conducting target is about 200m downdip from recent drilling that encountered a 10m zone of disseminated mineralisation running 0.55 per cent nickel from 130m within a broader zone of 30m at 0.37 per cent nickel from 125m.
Torana is 1.5km north of Commodore where Metal Hawk discovered high-grade nickel sulphide in September last year. Initial assays from one of the discovery holes revealed a 1m interval grading 5.89 per cent nickel from 144m downhole.
Before the discovery the company consolidated more than 90 square kilometres of unexplored ground at Berehaven, north of the Blair nickel sulphide deposit that churned out about 1.26 million tonnes at 2.62 per cent nickel for almost 33,000 tonnes of contained metal between 1989 and the mine’s closure in 2008.
To cap off Metal Hawk’s program, further drilling will be carried out at the Commodore South prospect where recent drilling intersected 2m at 0.54 per cent nickel from 171m within a broader ultramafic package of 13m at 0.24 per cent nickel from 167m.
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By Matt Birney
