Legend Mining has declared a maiden nickel-copper-cobalt resource at its Mawson deposit in the Fraser Range that it says still has plenty of room to grow and is currently comparable to about a year’s worth of production from heavyweight Fraser Range neighbour IGO’s Nova discovery. The initial estimate clocks in at 1.45Mt at 1.14 per cent nickel, 0.74 per cent copper and 0.07 per cent cobalt for a nickel equivalent grade of 1.2 per cent.
Mawson is part of Legend’s Rockford project and the company says it already has 28,200 tonnes of contained metal consisting of 16,500t nickel, 10,600t copper and 1,100t of cobalt. Importantly the mineralisation commences from a relatively shallow depth of 65m and continues currently down to about 305m below surface. It is still open at all sides and notably Legend says the main source is still yet to be discovered. Interestingly, 3D seismic data maps show the mineralised intrusion in drilled areas down to 500m below surface, but the company says the data indicates it could extend below the Mawson fault to possibly 800-1000m depth.
The maiden mineral resource estimate is based on 26 drill holes completed between 2019 and 2021 which consisted of 24 diamond core and 2 reverse circulation drill holes for 8,938m. The drill hole spacing was predominantly 20m by 20m across the discovery zone, broadening to approximately 50m by 100m over the remaining areas.
The company is eagerly anticipating the final commissioned Octagonal 3D seismic model and the reprocessed model for Mawson as a basis to plan diamond drilling for the upcoming field season. In the meantime, regional aircore drilling and innovative high power EM surveys are underway.
Legend Mining Managing Director Mr Mark Wilson commented: “This is the third published nickel resource in the Fraser Range, demonstrating that this under explored nickel belt has the potential to host further accumulations of nickel-copper sulphide. Our ongoing systematic exploration efforts will look to discover more of these accumulations across Rockford.
The Mawson prospect is within the company’s Rockford project which covers more than a whopping 3000 square kilometres within the celebrated Fraser Range, about 250km east of Kalgoorlie. The region came to prominence almost a decade ago after the discovery of the game-changing Nova-Bollinger nickel, copper and platinum discovery about 120km away.
Mawson is a mafic-ultramafic intrusive system hosting nickel-copper-cobalt sulphide mineralisation. It lies in the eastern margins of the Fraser Zone, which is a north-east trending belt of Proterozoic rocks forming part of the Albany-Fraser Orogen. Striking similarities in mineralisation style exist between Mawson and IGO’s nearby revered Nova-Bollinger deposit, which is situated on a similar tenor gravity ridge to the Mawson deposit.
IGO’s Nova deposit is forecast to push out about 23,000 tonnes of nickel, about 10,000 tonnes of copper and 900 tonnes of cobalt in a year which is roughly comparable to the initial resource at Mawson.
When Sirius Resources first announced its extraordinary Nova-Bollinger discovery in the Fraser Range it set the market alight and every small capped company with a million in the tin went south to try its luck. Most of them came home only months later with their tails between their legs with a hard-won realisation of the vastness of the Fraser Range and the cost of finding another Nova-Bollinger.
Legend however is one of the few that managed to stay the distance, carefully and methodically homing in on the source of the mineralisation on its ground.
With nickel prices on the up and critical minerals copper and cobalt in huge demand, the open nature of this encouraging deposit will no doubt have the blue sky punters thinking carefully about just how big Legend’s deposit might be after it has exhausted all avenues with the drill rig.
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