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sIte VIsIt

Hunting the next big one

ole 30 will forever be a watershed
Hmoment for Estrella Resources Ltd
as it confirmed everything the company
had been chasing: nickel sulphide min-
eralisation surrounding the historic Carr
Boyd Rocks mine outside of Kalgoorlie.
“It was 100% a game-changer for us,”
managing director Chris Daws told Pay-
dirt. “It gave us an enormous amount of
encouragement that what we were doing
was correct and the intrusive basal con-
tact was definitely the place to be look-
ing.”
The assays were taken from the T5
prospect, 1.1km away from the mine.
Results included, 2.5m @ 3.66% nickel,
0.46% copper, 0.16% cobalt and 2.09 g/t
silver, and 3.7m @ 2.85% nickel, 0.65%
copper, 0.13% cobalt and 2.58 g/t silver.
The overall grade of the sulphide zones
was 13.9m @ 1.07% nickel, 0.39% cop-
per, 0.005% cobalt and 1.56 g/t silver.
The effect the discovery had on the
company and the Carr Boyd project was Technical director Neil Hutchison (left), managing director Chris Daws (centre) and senior
almost immediate. Estrella enlisted two geologist Dave Mallon posing with the breakthrough Hole 30 at Carr Boyd
diamond drill rigs to follow up on the re-
sults. methodically drill along the basal con- have been anything but disappointing for
“That hole changed everything for us, tact and gather an understanding of Carr Estrella. A 60m diamond hole confirmed
the project and Estrella itself,” Daws said. Boyd’s geology. Estrella is now more a 3.7m zone @ 1.76% nickel and 0.66%
“It allowed for the market cap to go up hopeful than ever of hitting the next big copper in November.
and gave us better access to capital.” one any day now. “It’s really just time and holes for us,”
However, that pivotal moment for Es- “We’ve got a big year ahead of us and Daws said. “We’re going in and testing
trella happened in November 2020 and it’s coming along, we just need that next areas we know that are highly prospec-
the company is still searching for the breakthrough hit we’re all very keen on tive. Steve [Brockhurst, non-executive di-
next big one – but hasn’t lost motivation getting,” Daws said. “Unfortunately, we rector] keeps repeating to me that 99% of
or confidence. just didn’t get it in 2021.” the world’s nickel is found on these kinds
Daws and his team have continued to
Assays received over the past year of basal contacts. We have at least 15km
of that we want to test and we’re going
along the wall and drilling 100m down-
hole at a time.
“It’s taking time, but we are hopeful
of finding the next breakthrough spot.
We’re in the hunt and continuing to drill
those holes.”
While feeling the dissatisfaction of ex-
treme wait times for assay results, like
most companies, the Estrella team de-
cided to use time wisely and upgraded
rigs which has already paid off.
“We’ve had some outstanding results
over the past year but assay results are
sometimes taking up to 90 days,” Daws
said. “It’s just been insane the amount of
time they’re taking.
“We’re fortunate that we have the XRF
handheld machines to give us an imme-
diate response, but you’re still very reliant
on the assay results you need as confir-
mation of what’s actually happening.
Drill rigs are being put to good use at prospects T5, Broonhill, Mossgiel and Gossan Hill “It’s great that WA is undergoing an-
over this year to continue mapping the Carr Boyd nickel project

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