Impact Minerals can revel in the festive season after earlier-than-anticipated results from first-pass reconnaissance drilling at its Rockwell prospect in NSW delivered a timely Christmas present, unwrapping a generous sprinkling of encouraging sniffs of platinum group elements over at least 400m of possible strike.
The ASX-listed, PGE-base metals explorer recently completed a 28-hole aircore and RC drill program totalling 2,412m at Rockwell, which forms part of its wider Little Broken Hill Gabbro, or “LBHG” intrusions area at the Broken Hill project in NSW.
Drill results for five of the holes at Rockwell, which came back from the lab far sooner than expected, show solid grades of 3PGE – palladium, platinum and gold – with copper and nickel bites also occurring over at least 400m of strike within the basal ultramafic unit of the LBHG.
One of the more notable intercepts within the ultramafic unit was 61m going 0.4 grams per tonne 3PGE from 31m, including 12m at 1.4 g/t 3PGE and 0.2 per cent copper from 73m, which in turn includes 1m at 2.3 g/t 3PGE, 0.4 per cent nickel and 0.2 per cent copper from 73m and 1m at 2.6 g/t 3PGE, 0.7 per cent nickel and 0.2 per cent copper from 79m.
Other encouraging assays included 1m at 2.6 g/t 3PGE, 0.7 per cent nickel and 0.3 per cent copper from 113m and 1m at 0.6 g/t 3PGE, 0.2 per cent copper and 1.1 per cent nickel from 52m.
The latest PGE-copper-nickel drill intersections occur within a more extensive mineralised zone of at least 1.5km long that also contains anomalies in the basal unit of the LBHG as identified by previous Impact assays and hand-held XRF data.
The company says the basal ultramafic unit extends for 6.5km and the latest drill hits from Rockwell may suggest a significant PGE-nickel-copper deposit is lurking at the base of the LBHG given most of the 6.5km extent of the target area remains untested.
Impact Minerals Managing Director, Dr Mike Jones said: “These new assays demonstrate that the basal ultramafic unit of the LBHG contains thick widths of modest grades of PGE, nickel and copper with higher grades in many places over a significant strike extent. The LBHG is basically starting to light up like a Christmas tree.”
“Given that our drill program is the first ever to test the basal unit, which extends over the entire 6.5km-long extent of the intrusion, further supports our growing belief that the LBHG may potentially contain a vast reservoir of PGEs and possibly nickel and copper.”
According to Perth-based Impact, mineralisation appears to be increasing in thickness and grade at depth and to the south and is still open in all directions.
The company plans to get cracking on follow-up drilling, including diamond drilling for the first time, at Rockwell and other LBHG prospects in the March 2021 quarter.
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By Matt Birney
