Mantle Minerals Ltd’s (ASX:MTL) second phase of drilling at the Highway nickel deposit within the Pardoo nickel sulphide project in Western Australia has returned wide intercepts of up to 68m grading 0.44 % Ni and 0.1 % Cu.
Best intercepts include: 68m @ 0.44 % Ni from 57m ; 111m @ 0.37% Ni from 159m; 81m @ 0.39 % Ni from 102m; 24m @ 0.43 %Ni from 138m; and 24m @ 0.41 % Ni from 176m
The mineralisation remains open both along strike and at depth.
Executive Chairman, Nick Poll said tthese intersections confirm the results from phase one drilling and position the company to prepare for a Minerals Resource Estimate under the JORC (2012) code in the first quarter of 2023.
Our recent drilling at the Highway nickel sulphide deposit has provided great results for us to get on with calculating a JORC (2012) resource and sets us up to explore for more nickel sulphides along strike and elsewhere on the tenement,” Mr Poll said.
The company previously announced completion of the 20-hole, 4157m Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling programme at the Highway Deposit in September 2022. This programme was designed to infill existing drilling, increase the confidence in geological and grade continuity with the deposit, and to hopefully convert a substantial part of the mineralisation to JORC (2012) Indicated Resource status. A complete table of all significant intersections is provided below.
It is also evident from the distribution of intersections that the mineralisation pinches and swells along strike, which is consistent for nickel deposits of this type. Hole CPRC017 (68m @ 0.44 % Ni from 57m), along with previous drilling, confirms that the mineralisation is thickening towards the southern limits of the current envelope of mineralisation.
Mr Poll said this demonstrates excellent potential for additional mineralisation further along strike towards the south, whilst possibilities remain for extensions towards the north.
Next Steps
Mantle has completed geological modelling for the Highway deposit, including for the new drilling intersections here, and is already proceeding with a JORC (2012) Mineral Resource Estimate, which is to be completed by the end of Q1 2023.
Furthermore, the Company is currently reinterpreting surface and down hole geophysics to target additional nickel sulphide mineralisation and hopefully higher grades along strike from the Highway deposit.
Recent petrographic and litho-geochemistry work on thin sections and multi element assays suggest that the nickel sulphide mineralisation at Highway strongly correlates with the occurrence of magnetite and has a detectable magnetic signature.
Mr Poll said this provides encouragement to follow up on existing magnetic anomalies within the Pardoo project as well as using existing down- hole electromagnetic data from Highway, to locate higher-grade nickel mineralisation along strike and at depth.