Galileo Mining (ASX:GAL), the Mark Creasy backed cobalt explorer, has its eyes on additional potential through the discovery of high-grade platinum group element (PGE) hits at its Norseman project, located in the WA Goldfields region.
The PGE mineralisation, which consists of shallow palladium and platinum – commonly associated with cobalt grades – is centred around the company’s Mission Sill deposit, where Galileo already holds an impressive mineral resource.
Galileo reports a top PGE result at the Mission Sill resource of: 12m @ 2.2 g/t PGE from 12m (drill hole NRC152).
The drilling success was coupled with further high grade cobalt activity, including 42m @ 0.19% cobalt from 21m (drill hole NRC155).
Platinum and palladium mineralisation appeared both above and within the cobalt mineralisation, raising the prospect of extracting PGE as a lucrative by-product from a cobalt mining operation.
The PGE results received to date suggest the possibility of a continuous zone of shallow palladium and platinum mineralisation,” Galileo managing director Brad Underwood said.
“Further drilling will be required to determine the magnitude of the mineralisation and we will be assessing the prospect of a deeper primary source to the PGEs.
“Drilling for PGEs at the Mission Sill has also confirmed the high-grade nature of cobalt within the Norseman Cobalt Project. We expect that the quality of the cobalt mineralisation will be a significant advantage to Galileo as we pursue the development of our resource base.” Mr Underwood said.
The cobalt prospector has committed to additional drilling to better understand the PGE hits and will add the findings to its long list of drilling targets explored since floating on the ASX in May this year.
Galileo is exploring for cobalt at Norseman, where it has drilled a number of priority targets and is also looking for Nova-style nickel-copper-cobalt ore within the Fraser Range.
Investors will not need to wait long for further results from the Norseman project, with Galileo flagging additional assays from resource extension drilling at the Mission Sill expected in October.