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NICKEL CONFERENCE REVIEW

Auroch goes marching in

uroch Minerals Ltd has made a prom- Auroch has also begun down-hole EM
Aising start to its maiden drilling cam- survey work at Saints – acquired from Mi-
paign at the Saints nickel project, about notaur Exploration Ltd in August – in a bid
65km north-west of Kalgoorlie. to identify fresh drill targets for testing early
On the eve of the Australian Nickel Con- next year.
ference, Auroch reported 1.6m of nickelif- Saints boasts a resource of 1.05mt @
erous semi-massive to massive sulphide 2% nickel and 0.2% copper containing
mineralisation had been intersected in 21,400t nickel and 1,600t copper, of which
drill-hole SNDD005. While assays were 92% is hosted in fresh rock.
still pending at the time of print, it was the Auroch also acquired the Leinster nickel
fifth successive hole in which disseminat- project from Minotaur (now the company’s aidan platel
ed to massive sulphide mineralisation has major shareholder at 14%) with drilling
had been struck from the start of the 10- set to begin next month to upgrade the “Effectively these tenements haven’t
hole programme. 600,000t @ 1.39% nickel and 0.3% copper been drilled for the last 10 years and that
Auroch managing director Aidan Platel containing 8,400t nickel and 1,800t copper really was the big attraction for us.
said he was pleased with the initial feed- resource to JORC-compliant status. “As we have seen at existing nickel
back from the drilling, which will total about Exploration drilling is also planned for operations in Leinster and Kambalda,
3,000m. the Valdez prospect to the north-east of these things can be happily mined to over
“There certainly appears to be some the existing resource and along strike from 1,000m depth, so there’s plenty of upside
intergrown pentlandite [a major nickel sul- the Waterloo deposit recently acquired by potential down-dip and down-plunge of the
phide mineral] in amongst the pyrrhotite, Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd. known mineralisation.”
with some pyrite and chalcopyrite as well, “Like Saints, it appears to be open along Auroch is likely to drill its Arden zinc pro-
so pretty juicy looking stuff,” he said. strike and down plunge, has EM plates ject in South Australia in January when
“We’re expecting some good numbers. quite close to the mineralisation and has there is an expected break between pro-
Assays are pending and we’ll get that out seen very limited exploration historically,” grammes on the nickel front.
to market as soon as we receive it.” Platel said. Project2_Layout 1 27/08/19 12:01 PM Page 1

– Michael Washbourne

The advanced Goongarrie Nickel Cobalt Project (GNCP) is Ardea’s flagship
asset and is of a scale and quality suitable for battery producers and end
users wanting to secure long term supplies of nickel and cobalt.
Complementing GNCP is Ardea’s exciting Perrinvale exploration prospect in
the east-west Cathedrals Belt, Australia’s newest nickel province. Ardea
also control a number of other nickel prospects in Western Australia that are
being systemically explored and provide additional discovery potential.
See us at the Australian Nickel Conference Oct. 15, Pan Pacific Hotel, Perth.

Page 40 NOVeMBeR 2019 aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT