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Ardea tracks down high-grade nickel sulphides in WA

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Matt BirneySponsored
Drill core from Ardea’s high-grade nickel discovery at Emu Lake, east of Kalgoorlie in WA.
Camera IconDrill core from Ardea’s high-grade nickel discovery at Emu Lake, east of Kalgoorlie in WA. Credit: File

Ardea Resources looks to be on target with its drilling at Emu Lake, north east of Kalgoorlie in WA, recently intersecting high-grade nickel sulphides. The company’s exploration campaign is aimed at testing a series of deeper electromagnetic, or “EM” conductors along strike from the main Binti sulphide discovery, with drilling returning 4.8 metres at 1.44 per cent nickel, including 1.1m at a stunning 4.78 per cent nickel from 365.9m down-hole.

The successful intersection of strong nickel sulphide mineralisation more than 500m south of the main Binti zone now opens up the discovery along more than a kilometre of strike. Down-hole EM has also lit up targets at depth, hinting that the Emu Lake system may have a similar architecture to the neighbouring Silver Swan discovery west of Ardea’s ground.

Interestingly, Silver Swan, like Binti South, proved to be an elusive beast in the early phases of exploration. This is due to the peculiar orientation of the mineralised system. It consists of a series of narrow, high-grade nickel sulphide lodes that sit almost vertically within the stratigraphy and extend to more than 1,500m below surface – a proverbial needle in a haystack.

The pre-mining resource for Silver Swan tipped the scales at 665,000 tonnes at an impressive 9.5 per cent nickel, delivering Ardea an enviable model for ongoing exploration at Emu Lake.

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This new basal contact intercept provides a platform to test along this stratigraphic horizon for channel positions where the sulphides are insitu and expected to be thicker. The available geophysics is showing there is potential for such a channel to exist below AELD0002 which could extend for a considerable length in a similar fashion to the Silver Swan channel.

It is interesting to note that earlier surface EM surveys have not been able to detect these sulphides, demonstrating the potential to open up a previously un-tested, albeit deeper, search space at Emu Lake.

Ardea Resources Managing Director, Andrew Penkethman

Ardea’s Emu Lake project is 70km north-east of Kalgoorlie and sits just 35km to the east of the former Black and Silver Swan nickel mines in Western Australia. The company’s tenure covers an area of more than 240 sq.km and includes the nickeliferous ultramafic stratigraphy of the Kalpini greenstone belt, which extends for more than 20km through the project area.

The company’s Emu Lake tenure already hosts a significant near-surface lateritic resource that weighs in at a hefty 75 million tonnes grading 0.73 per cent nickel, however Ardea’s recent review of the historical data across the region identified that previous explorers had stumbled upon nickel sulphide mineralisation at Binti and Binti Gossan in the course of their drilling in the late 2000s.

Ardea’s first-pass surface EM surveys across the Binti Gossan and its surrounds, lit up various targets along 400m of strike, with subsequent drilling of various targets returning significant intercepts of disseminated to stringer sulphide.

However, down-hole EM has proven to be a decisive exploration tool and whilst previous exploration has concentrated on the Binti targets the latest EM has shone a light on the conductors at Binti South.

Ardea’s Binti South targets sit more than 300m below surface and are invisible to surface EM. Nonetheless, geophysical modelling shows a series of conductive plates associated with the basal contact of one of the ultramafic units that form part of the stratigraphic pile – drilling has now proven these conductors to be high-grade sulphides.

This is a text-book position for nickel sulphide deposits through WA’s Eastern Goldfields, including the world-class deposits of the Kambalda Dome and within the Black Swan Complex.

With Ardea having now proven its exploration model at Binti South and the company planning additional geophysical surveying and systematic extensional drilling to chase nickel lodes to depth, the company could be on a path to tracking down its own Silver Swan in the depths of Emu Lake.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au

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