Page 56 - pd306-July22-mag-web_Neat

OPERATIONAL REVIEW
DIGGeRs & DeALeRs PReVIeW MACA.NET.AU

Explorer hitmakers go platinum

lmost out of nowhere, Western Australia most immediate parallels to the South Af- same time, we will focus on potential starter
Anow boasts a fully-fledged PGM explo- rica Platreef complex. mine areas, zones with higher grades and
ration sector. “Mineralisation at Platreef is contained good widths.
Until two years ago, the WA PGM hand- within disseminated sulphides of less than “We are close to identifying those areas,
book consisted of the Panton Sill project 1% to more than 25%, with very rare mas- and we also have metallurgical test work
and a handful of grassroots sites, all with lit- sive sulphide, while at Callisto it is less than which will help us progress to a formal
tle or no testing in two decades. Then came 5%,” Underwood said. “If it is going to be scoping study.”
Chalice Mining Ltd’s discovery of the Juli- like Platreef it is going to be a very large, It may be a cautious approach in com-
mar complex on the outskirts of Perth and extensive system. The host rock runs 5km parison to a gold-only project, but PGM
suddenly WA was back in the PGM game. and we have got mineralisation across a development can be a tricky process with
Chalice’s surprising success, and opti- 100m by 200m area already. We have to no Australian company getting the mix of
mistic forecasts for platinum and palladium take a steady, systematic approach to drill- resource, metallurgy and economics right
demand in the coming decade, encour- ing it. The new programme is 20 very shal- yet. Fortunately for Underwood, Galileo has
aged a return to the late 1990s when PGM low RC holes for 4,000m which will allow us patient major shareholders.
explorers were across the State. to chase the mineralisation quickly.” “IGO [Ltd, 8.4% shareholder] needs re-
Future Metals Ltd has returned to Panton At its Parks Reef project, 80km west of sources to mine, while Creasy [34.8%]
with the intention of applying advanced ex- Meekatharra, Podium is undertaking a sim- doesn’t need a share price sugar hit, he
ploration and engineering strategies, while ilar programme, albeit from a more elevated wants resources as well,” Underwood said.
Podium Minerals Ltd is enjoying new mo- base. “So, we are not in lockstep with the market’s
mentum at its Parks Reef project near Mt The company has defined a 2.8 moz 3E short-term strategy.”
Magnet where it has already defined a 2.8 PGM resource on
moz PGM resource over a 15km strike. the project but with
Galileo Mining Ltd is the latest company 15km of identified
to declare a discovery, announcing hits of mineralised strike,
33m @ 2 g/t 3E (palladium-platinum-gold), there appears
0.32% cobalt and 0.3% nickel and 6m @ plenty of room for
2.69 g/t 3E, 0.41% copper and 0.36% from expansion.
the Callisto prospect on its Norseman pro- “With a small
ject. board and low
While it is a brand new PGM play, Galileo amount of funding,
managing director Brad Underwood con- we drilled 15km
firmed to Paydirt his company had been strike to 100m depth
on the hunt for platinum and palladium for for that resource,”
more than a decade, having been formed Podium manag-
out of legendary prospector Mark Creasy’s ing director Sam
nickel and PGM portfolio around Norseman Rodda said. “I was
and the Fraser Range. then approached
“Yes, we’ve changed our focus slightly to to assess what the
concentrate on this discovery but we have company could do
always been focused on PGMs, indeed the with the orebody.
company name was PlatX prior to listing so We targeted a like-
we’ve always been working away at that,” minded team. My
Underwood told Paydirt. “This, however, experience is in
is the first time we have had an economic understanding how Galileo has declared a new PGM find on its Callisto prospect
intersection and it has been a long time to take a resource at Norseman
coming.” through develop-
Any new PGM discovery is bound to at- ment, construction and production, we Rodda is hopeful other investors will
tract comparisons to Chalice’s Julimar dis- brought in Hannah [Hudson] as CFO with show the same level of maturity.
covery but geologically at least Underwood her experience in adding value to each “There are a few PGM stories on the go,
sees few similarities. company she has worked with, Mark Flem- it is exciting and the more information we
“We don’t want to use the Julimar model, ing as the exploration manager and Jason can have out there, the more we can back
this is different. We want to tread our own Whittle with his metallurgical background.” the industry and the commodities,” he said.
path,” he said. “At Callisto, the target is a The results is a more targeted approach “We have a mostly retail shareholder base
mineralised sulphide unit developed at the which will likely see the resource expanded but we are getting queries from informed
base of an ultramafic sill where it intrudes later this year and scoping studies started institutional investors who understand the
into a package of sedimentary rock. thereafter. role of PGMs in the hydrogen economy.
“Every hole has intersected mineralisa- “This is a seriously large orebody,” Rod- We think we’ll get a lot more interest from
tion, disseminated low-level sulphides, da said. “We have almost completed drill- investors and offtake parties as that story
which is remarkable.” ing and add to the resource, but eventually moves forward.”
Instead of Julimar, Galileo is drawing we plan to extend it towards 10 moz. At the
– Dominic Piper

Page 56 JULY 2022 aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT