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Estrella believes it’s a direct extension of
T5’s basal contacts and a significant new
area for the project.
Drilling so far has already confirmed a
2m semi-massive sulphide zone and this
year will see the company follow up drill-
ing in the area with the new diamond rig
and downhole geophysics.
“The CSIRO has actually started col-
laborating with a number of different ex-
plorers, attempting to feed information
between each other,” Daws said. “It’s
quite high-tech stuff.
“Over this year, we want to keep giv-
ing our sulphide materials to CSIRO so
Success seen from Hole 30 allowed Estrella to significantly upgrade their camps after that we can understand the chemical re-
years of being thrifty with their funds lationship between our targets.”
An RC rig currently spinning at Broon-
hill is expected to soon move to Gossan
other exploration boom, but it is putting zones, respectively. The Estrella team Hill, which Estrella believes is a “mirror
serious pressure on some of the servic- has felt its understanding of T5 to im- image” of the T5-Broonhill contact on the
es like assay laboratories which is obvi- prove hole-by-hole and Hole 57 even southern side of the tenement.
ously impacting the wait times.” showed three different zones of miner- Diamond drilling and downhole geo-
Thumb-twiddling was thus swapped alisation alone with increasing grades at physics will also take place at Mossgiel
out for innovation as the Estrella team depth. during the first half of this year.
fitted its drill rigs with extra air compres- “We want to continue drilling deeper at Estrella’s current diamond rig is work-
sors. T5 this year,” Daws said. “Other things ing continuously while its RC rig is op-
“It allows for the equipment to pen- we’ll be looking at [this quarter] is getting erating on a single shift basis as assay
etrate deeper and quicker, as well as in a new diamond rig that we’ve been results from last year are still being pro-
giving us dry samples from any holes waiting on for a while.” cessed.
that may have water in them,” Daws ex- Estrella has also enlisted collaborator But any hurdle in Estrella’s way has
plained. “It has already been a massive CSIRO to study the sulphide properties failed to knock the team’s enthusiasm
improvement…we’re getting very quick between the historic Carr Boyd and T5. and thrifty skills. Technical director Neil
rates of RC drilling at 200m per day.” Three nickel experts from CSIRO visited Hutchison happily pointed out on site the
Even before the upgrades, Phase 4 of the exploration site in November to assist plastic flowerpots used in the past to cap
exploration was seeing Estrella drill up to on the geological model. off completed holes, including the prolific
4,600m over an eight-week period as it Information from the collaboration is Hole 30.
continued to map out the area north of being used to develop exploration this Reflecting on humble beginnings elic-
the T5 prospect. year over three of the latest targets: its joy out of Daws.
Drill holes from T5 such as Hole 41 Broonhill, Mossgiel and Gossan Hill. “As a junior, we’ve always looked to
and Hole 42A have been encouraging, An RC drilling programme began at save costs wherever we can, and you
unearthing 8.25m and 19m mineralised Broonhill, 1.4km north of T5, last year. have to do that as a junior,” he said.
“We’re not a BHP [Ltd]. We have to be
wary when we spend our dollars and
what we spend our dollars on.
“It wasn’t until our breakthrough with
Hole 30 that we really started to upgrade
our camp as well. But once you get boots
down on site, you can maintain a pres-
ence at the project. And once you have
that presence, keeping the project mov-
ing with holes being drilled, it makes
things easier. Our guys on the ground
are living and breathing the project, day
in, day out.
“The nickel sector is really heating up
and I have no doubts this is really just the
beginning – not the end of where it’s all
going. There’s going to be a fair amount
of activity corporately, price-wise and ex-
ploration-wise for us. It’s going to be an
awesome 2022 for nickel and Estrella.”
Drill core on display at Carr Boyd. Many more assay results are still awaited, including
ones sent last year – Fraser Palamara

aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT FeBRUaRY 2022 Page 15