Petrology studies have confirmed primary nickel sulphides at Emu NL’s Sunfire nickel-copper-PGE project near Bridgetown in the southwest of WA. The confirmation of disseminated nickel sulphide mineralisation was dug from historic reports accompanying two diamond drill holes in 1970 identifying the presence of the nickel-bearing minerals “pentlandite” and “millerite”.
The nickel mineralisation was revealed from relatively shallow depths of 65 metres to 140m and according to Emu, the information gained will drive an aggressive exploration programme during the second half of 2022.
The latest confirmation of mineralisation builds upon other significant historical intercepts located approximately 200m away within Emu’s all-encompassing 500 parts per million nickel halo. The intercepts include a 19m hit grading 1.07 per cent nickel from 6m and 17m running 0.32 per cent nickel from just 1.5m.
Importantly the find gives further confidence to plunge holes in search of nickel sulphide targets as well as shallower laterite deposits.
Emu is not the only explorer in the area. Over the eastern fence ASX-listed Venture Minerals has its shoulder to the exploration wheel with the $3 billion market-capped Chalice Mining farming in.
The duo is hunting a “Julimar lookalike” like that was discovered by Chalice in March 2020. Interestingly, the shared area of interest displays similar electromagnetic signatures to Chalice’s renowned Julimar discovery and is also located near the highly prospective western edge of the Yilgarn Craton.
The electromagnetic signatures capturing Emu’s gaze are three parallel diagonal trends with the middle Seaton-Ross trend soaking up most of the exploration to date. Notably, work has been focused on only a small section of Seaton-Ross and a further 5.5km of strike length remains untested.
A further 7.5km of the magnetic signature is found in the two parallel belts to the north and south and it appears the three trends total over 13km of targetable strike says Emu.
Emu has planned a detailed soil geochemical survey to extend the footprint of known surface anomalies and a fixed loop electromagnetic survey to identify any targets to test with the drill bit.
Emu NL, Director’s statement said: “The Board is excited to announce the unearthing of historical information relating to its “Sunfire” nickel-copper-PGE project near Bridgetown in the southwest of WA. Emu’s exploration team delved into circa 50-year-old exploration records made available via WAMEX1. In the 1970s, Planet Mining was a company that completed several diamond drill holes at Sunfire. Clearly, exploration back then was not equipped with the technology we currently enjoy and utilise to pinpoint and quantify potential nickel sulphide orebodies.
A half century later, grades then passed over by nickel explorers as non-economic, are subject to re-evaluation based on today’s higher nickel prices, changed mining practices and processing techniques, and the burgeoning global demand profile as battery materials demand increases. The historical information, sourced from WAMEX, incudes drill core results confirming the presence of disseminated primary magmatic nickel sulphides. It can therefore be no surprise that this news has boosted Emu’s enthusiasm for the prospectivity of Sunfire.”
With the bourgeoning battery metals market and EV industry also hungry for more supply, things could get interesting quickly for the junior explorer if it manages to bring home the bacon from its prospective trio of trends.
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