Nickel Australia has dusted off its drills in preparation for an exploration tilt at the Splinter Project, located about 120km north-east of Esperance.
The company has started surface geochemical sampling and geological mapping, initially targeting the Splinter gold anomaly.
Aerial photography is also taking place and aircore drilling is to follow.
Previous exploration of the 8.5 kilometre by 5.5km project area identified a gold possibility on a par with those that led to gold finds at Tropicana, Tunkillkia and Barns and Baggy Green.
Nickel Australia exercised its right of first refusal under the terms of the Splinter joint venture agreement in June to take control of 100 per cent of the project.
