Metal Hawk’s Berehaven nickel project on the outskirts of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, is growing in size with strong geochemical platinum group elements, or “PGE” results from the Torana prospect. The new data came just to the north of the Commodore nickel sulphide discovery that the company made in the project area last September, 20km south-east of the historic goldfields town.
Berehaven’s first run with the RC drill bit last year confirmed the potential for a significant mineralised komatiite system, yielding hits grading a very strong 5.9 per cent nickel.
Whilst Metal Hawk has continued to punch RC and diamond holes into Commodore, it widened its focus across the broader Berehaven project area including Torana with air core and RC drilling and extensive ground geophysical moving loop electromagnetic surveys.
Torana is 1.5km north-west and along strike from Commodore where RC assays have just returned a 10m zone going 0.20 per cent nickel, 424ppm copper and 126ppb PGE from a shallow 25m depth, at the top, western margin of an extremely weathered ultramafic unit.
Penetrating below the unit intersected a thick interval of more than 60m of weathered ultramafic rocks, with highly anomalous nickel copper PGE assays reporting 35m graded at 0.26 per cent nickel, 132ppm copper and 45ppb PGE from 120m, that included a 10m zone showing 0.32 per cent nickel, 240ppm copper and 87ppb PGE from 120m.
A second hole intersected the same nickel copper PGE zone in highly weathered ferruginous saprolite and reported 40m with 0.42 per cent nickel, 234ppm copper and 104ppb PGE from 100m, including a 12m yield of 0.51 per cent nickel, 605ppm copper and 236ppb PGE from 101m.
The company believes the significant geochemical results point to a probable magmatic nickel sulphide source at the Torana prospect.
Interestingly, Metal Hawk argues the geological logging and geochemistry suggest the ultramafic sequence at Torana has been overturned and consequently the target basal contact position is at the western margin of the ultramafic unit.
Metal Hawk will test the bedrock with follow-up RC drilling for nickel sulphide mineralisation beneath the exceptionally weathered zone of nickel copper PGE anomalism, with a downhole target depth of 200m.
RC drillholes will be cased with PVC and a campaign of downhole electromagnetic surveys will be undertaken in order to test for any conductive responses related to massive nickel sulphide mineralisation.
The latest round of RC drilling at Berehaven focused on exploring the fertile ultramafic stratigraphy along strike from the Commodore nickel sulphide discovery.
Metal Hawk Managing Director, Will Belbin said: “We are very excited by the width of ultramafic rocks and the signature of strong nickel-copper-PGE anomalism in the latest batch of results and look forward to drill-testing the fresh rock below and more of these exciting regional prospects which historically have been very sparsely explored for nickel.”
The company is pleased the process has identified new untested EM targets in favourable geological locations.
Metal Hawk is also looking south and east from the Commodore discovery and is encouraged by the continuation of the Commodore stratigraphy, with several RC holes intersecting significant thicknesses of high magnesium oxide ultramafic rocks beyond the 100m level. Most assays from the holes are expected within the next month.
Acreage 5km east of Commodore is also shaping up for priority regional nickel sulphide targets after encouraging MLEM surveys and will be drilled after regulatory approval.
The company will be following up from historical RC drilling in 2007-2008 that reported significant nickel sulphide mineralisation including a 2m zone going 2.44 per cent nickel from 140m.
For the interest of car enthusiasts, Belbin joked there are no plans to include any Ford Motor Company car models in the naming of future exploration prospects.
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By Matt Birney
