Cashed up and ready to drill – Legend Mining has $14 million in the bank and is preparing to dive into a bag of targets at its Rockford project in Western Australia’s Fraser Range, about 250km east of Kalgoorlie.
The company is looking for magmatic nickel-copper, volcanogenic massive sulphides hosting zinc, copper and silver and structurally-controlled gold in 2532 square kilometres of prospective ground that has recently returned some tantalising geophysical hits. The project is made up of 11 exploration licences, with 109sq km under 100 per cent Legend ownership and other land operated under joint ventures (JVs).
Legend shares about 1711sq km in a JV with Creasy Group, while those two companies are also joined by mining giant IGO for a separate 634sq-km JV. An IGO-Legend JV makes up the remaining 18sq km.
There are several prospects and targets across the tenements, with the main three areas of interest being Octagonal, Mawson and Magnus.
The Octagonal prospect received attention in December last year in the form of a maiden high-powered fixed-loop electromagnetic (HPFLTEM) survey that resulted in the imaging of four electromagnetic conductors, three of which are interpreted as extensions of nickel-copper mineralisation confirmed by drillholes.
Notably, the company says two of the drillholes at Octagonal intersected nickel-copper sulphide within fertile ultramafic sills next to the strong electromagnetic conductors, confirming mineralised intrusion occurs outside the main intrusive body – just as it does at the renowned Nova-Bollinger deposit.
IGO's Nova-Bollinger deposit is about 150km along strike to the south-east of the Rockford project and contains 11 million tonnes at 1.52 per cent nickel, 0.615 per cent copper and 0.05 per cent cobalt.
Legend says it expects to be back on the ground at Octagonal shooting another more extensive HPFLTEM survey in March or April this year, followed by some diamond drilling.
About 40km to the east of Octagonal, Legend has made significant technical steps in maturing its Mawson prospect. The reprocessing of 3D seismic data and incorporation with downhole and handheld petrophysical property data has confirmed a target area north of the main Mawson nickel-copper-cobalt deposit, which the company says may be an extension of the keel of the Mawson intrusion.
The interpretation is backed-up by geochemical modelling that suggests the keel has the same signature as the main Mawson deposit zone. Legend says diamond drillhole planning is now underway to test the highly-prospective target with some core.
In February last year, the company released an updated mineral resource estimate for Mawson of 1.45 million tonnes at 1.14 per cent nickel, 0.74 per cent copper and 0.07 per cent cobalt for 16,500 tonnes of contained nickel, 10,600 tonnes of copper and 1100 tonnes of cobalt. The numbers represent the indicated and inferred categories combined and about 70 per cent lies within the higher-confidence indicated category.
On the back of the success of the HPFLTEM at Octagonal, Legend is planning to give its Magnus prospect, about 25km to the north, the same treatment. The company says it is planning the survey to support a single drillhole put down in 2021 that targeted a gravity anomaly beneath the reach of shallow air-core (AC) drilling, which showed some tantalising geochemistry.
The hole intersected highly-prospective mafic and ultramafic assemblages from 173.65m to the end of the hole at 597.3m, suggesting the Magnus intrusion may continue at depth.
Legend says it is planning to be on the ground at Magnus conducting the HPFLTEM survey in April, following the survey acquisition at Octagonal.
And the cashed-up explorer is also keeping the heat turned up at Rockford, looking to add resources to its books as the nickel price labours at about the $16,500 per ounce mark.
In December, Legend received more than $3 million from the ATO by way of a research and development (R&D) rebate for its innovative application of electromagnetic geophysical techniques at Mawson. And the company continues to apply innovative science to the ground at Rockford, with “SimClust” analysis confirming new geochemical areas of interest as priority targets for Mawson-type nickel-cooper intrusions.
Management says it will assess the targets with moving loop electro-magnetics (MLTEM) to test for conductors in April.
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By Andrew Duffy
