Octava, Future to launch into Kimberley nickel-copper play

Octava Minerals and Future Metals are set to gallop onto their Palomino prospect in a bid to define the mineralised footprint at their East Kimberley joint venture (JV) that sits along strike from Western Australia’s historic Copernicus Mine.

The JV, managed by Future on the ground, plans to chase up what it says has been strong nickel and copper geochemistry previously recorded at Palomino. The prospect is part of the farm-in JV the two companies formed in January last year, with Future able to earn up to a 70 per cent interest in the Panton North and Copernicus North tenements by sole-funding at least $2 million worth of exploration and development in four years.

Octava will be free-carried through to a decision to mine and also received about $600,000 worth of Future shares as part of the deal.

Palamino lies within the JV’s Copernicus North tenement and consists of gossanous and highly-anomalous pyroxenite occurring only 20km along strike from the whopping 6-million-ounce Panton mineral resource and just a few kilometres north-east of the Copernicus Mine that has an historical resource of 0.825 million tonnes at 1.24 per cent nickel and 0.81 per cent copper.

Historic work at Palamino has indicated strong nickel and copper anomalism and drilling that revealed the presence of a thick pyroxenite body dipping to the north-west that was not previously mapped. The prospect is part of the highly-prospective Alice Downs structural corridor and the best results from historical drilling returned intersections of 5m at 0.39 per cent nickel and 0.32 per cent copper.

Octava Minerals managing director Bevan Wakelam said: “We are pleased to see the Future Metals team will be getting boots on ground at a great target in Palamino. We look forward to further updates as work progresses.”

Hosted within the mineral-rich Halls Creek Orogen, the JV’s project boasts a favourable, tier-one nickel sulphide-platinum group metals (PGM) province setting through a prospective 2km strike and within an ultramafic unit of the Tickalara Metamorphics. Geologically, it comprises ultramafic basal cumulates containing strong nickel and copper geochemistry, with drill targets prospective for nickel sulphide and PGMs.

Adding guts to the story, Future is no shrinking violet in the East Kimberley region, with its 100 per cent-owned Panton Sill PGM resource rated the second-biggest deposit of its kind in Australia. The 5-million-ounce PGM deposit boasts nickel and cobalt to boot, within a stunning resource of 5 million ounces of palladium, platinum and gold and a credit of 239 tonnes of nickel and 20,000 tonnes of cobalt – representing 6.9 million ounces of palladium equivalent.

The Panton North tenement, part of the farm-in JV, sits directly north of the world-class resource and the structures continue along strike into it.

Future is notably well-versed on the Kimberley stage and appears to have the capacity to take the JV’s exploration to world-class outcomes, given their proven track record. And anyone who claims a cobalt resource to their name in Australia deserves an element of respect.

Future plans to kickstart the season with structural and geological mapping and rock chip sampling to track the extent of potential mineralisation. With a sound basis for its exploration, the company is set to give Octava an interesting ride in the “green room” as the mineralisation wave builds. 

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