Lunnon Metals Limited (ASX: LM8) has received further promising exploration results fronm surface diamond drilling (DD) targeting the East Trough prospect, located just a few hundred metres to the immediate south-west of the company’s cornerstone asset and first discovery, the Baker deposit in Western Australia.
The company’s first significant nickel intercept after its June 2021 Initial Public Offering was at East Trough, with an intersection of 2m @ 5.07% Ni in ECO21RC_005. Nickel mineralisation was intersected at the nearby “East Cooee Hanging Wall” prospect shortly thereafter, which led to the discovery of Baker in December 2021.
The Baker Mineral Resource estimate (MRE) stands at 929,000 tonnes @ 3.3% nickel for 30,800 contained nickel tonnes1 and is currently the subject of a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) due to be completed and reported to the ASX in the current quarter.
The focus for exploration activities in and around Baker has recently shifted to potential additional sources of nickel mineralisation in proximity to the potential underground development. With this objective in mind, DD hole ECO23DD_023 intersected: 0.38m @ 13.83% Ni, 0.5% Cu, 0.2% Co, 1.49 g/t Pd, 0.73 g/t Pt (from 298.29m above a 1.0% Ni cut-off).
This interval sits approximately 120 metres down plunge from ECO21RC_005 and broadly between a number of historical WMC Resources Ltd (WMC) DD intervals including 2.25m @ 3.37% Ni (from 285m downhole), 1.91m @ 2.43% Ni (from 196.41m) and 3.33m @ 2.75% Ni (from 479.9m).
Significantly, these intercepts sit on the contact between the Kambalda Komatiite and Lunnon Basalt, the more traditional mineralisation setting associated with channel hosted “Kambalda style” nickel deposits.
The Baker PFS is on schedule for completion and reporting this quarter. The opportunity in the broader area around Baker, that we originally tested successfully straight after IPO, is exciting but inevitably took a back seat due to the need to focus on our new discovery,” Managing Director, Edmund Ainscough, said.”
East Trough is now demonstrating it has the potential to add meaningful nickel metal tonnes to any potential future Baker operation, given its proximity.”
Future Plans
The East Trough prospect had a wide framework of DD completed by WMC, predominantly in the 1970s. As the company discovered at nearby Baker, significant nickel sulphide mineralisation, if present, may be able to be delineated within such broad spaced drilling by applying modern exploration techniques and revised geological interpretations coupled with closer spaced drilling.
These results at East Trough, located to the immediate south-west of the company’s Baker discovery and the 30,800 tonnes of nickel metal2 Baker currently hosts, highlight the ongoing prospectivity of the broader Baker- East Cooee area, the company’s highest-ranking target at the time of its original listing on the ASX in 2021.
Subject to ongoing success and positive DD results, the East Trough area may be the subject of a MRE exercise to report initial Inferred Mineral Resources enabling this nickel mineralisation to be factored into the considerations of any potential future Baker underground operation.
