Galileo Mining Ltd (ASX: GAL) has finalised multiple drill targets for the upcoming aircore drilling campaign at its 100% owned Norseman project located within the Kambalda nickel belt of Western Australia.
Managing Director, Brad Underwood, said soil sampling and existing drilling have defined five priority palladium-nickel targets for testing in the initial aircore drilling programme scheduled to commence in mid to late October.
“Soil sampling and existing drill results have established the prospectivity of our ground at the Norseman project. Very few early-stage palladium prospects exist with such strong indications of mineralisation,” Mr Underwood said.
“Our Norseman project with palladium-nickel-cobalt fits well with our Fraser Range nickel-copper-cobalt project. Both areas have excellent potential for new discoveries as we explore for the metals which will drive the global transition towards the use of cleaner technologies.
Aircore drilling is scheduled to begin in approximately two weeks subject to the usual constraints of rig availability and weather conditions. We look forward to getting on the ground and starting our next phase of drill testing.”
Priority Aircore Drill Target Descriptions
Target JD1: Central position of the Jimberlana Dyke. Maximum palladium value in soil sampling from this area was 0.81 g/t Pd while maximum nickel recorded was 0.2% Ni. Geochemical anomalism is associated with outcropping Jimberlana Dyke layered intrusion. Prospective areas of the dyke to the north and south occur under shallow cover with soil sampling rendered invalid by the cover material. Aircore drilling is designed to extend over areas where cover prevents effective soil sampling.
Target JD2: Southern position of the Jimberlana Dyke where the dyke has breached a north striking sulphidic sediment stratigraphically beneath the Mission Sill intrusion. Maximum palladium value in soil sampling from this area was 0.32 g/t Pd and maximum nickel was 0.12% Ni.
Target MS1: Southern prospective contact zone between Mission Sill ultramafic and overlying gabbro. This is a similar geological position to where mineralisation occurs at known deposits such as the Lac des Iles mine in Canada and the Munni Munni deposit in Western Australia. Previous RC drilling recorded wide intersections of palladium such as 68 metres @ 0.2 g/t Pd.
Target MS2: Prospective contact zone between Mission Sill ultramafic and overlying gabbro where the sill has interacted with the east-west trending Jimberlana Dyke. Maximum values up to 0.3 g/t Pd and 0.25% Ni in soil sampling from this location are associated with laterite-ironstone with prospective zones (as identified by magnetic interpretation) obscured by cover material.
Target MS3: Northern prospective contact zone between Mission Sill ultramafic and overlying gabbro. Ultramafic rock outcrops however the prospective contact position is mostly under shallow cover. Maximum palladium value in soil sampling from this area was 0.16 g/t Pd. Maximum nickel value was 0.19% Ni.
RC and/or diamond drilling will be undertaken after the completion of aircore drilling to follow up any anomalies resulting from the aircore programmes. RC/diamond drilling will also test down dip and along strike of Galileo’s existing mineralised drill results within the Norseman Project area including palladium intersections such as:
27 metres @ 0.58 g/t Pd, 0.12 g/t Pt, 0.13 % Cu & 0.18% Ni (MTRC096) 2 including 3 metres @ 1.1 g/t Pd, 0.19 g/t Pt, 0.23% Cu & 0.26% Ni; and
24 metres @ 0.51 g/t Pd, 0.08 g/t Pt, 0.10 % Cu & 0.15% Ni (MTRC086) 2
The grade within the sulphide zone at the Mt Thirsty prospect (Figure 3 cross section) increases towards the east supporting the interpretation that increased mineralisation occurs within the target zone.
