ASX newcomer, Tambourah Metals has launched an airborne gravity survey across its Bolgar East and Tolarno tenements at its Julimar North project in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. The survey will look to unveil ultramafic rocks prospective for nickel, copper and platinum group element mineralisation akin to Chalice Mining’s spectacular Julimar discovery nearby.
Tambourah has hit the ground running after recently pocketing $8 million from a strongly backed initial public offering for its listing on the ASX.
Some 140 kilometres north-east of Perth, the company is looking to unearth nickel and platinum group element, or “PGE” mineralisation across several tenements that form its 80 per cent owned Julimar North project.
The now commenced airborne gravity survey, consisting of about 1,300-line kilometres, will look to fast-track drill target definition across the two underexplored properties.
According to the company, airborne gravity surveys are a proven exploration method for identifying ultramafic rocks that could potentially host nickel, copper and PGE mineralisation.
Curiously, Bolgar East lies only 38km from Chalice’s revered Gonneville discovery.
The Gonneville discovery hole last year returned 19m at 2.6 per cent nickel, 1 per cent copper, 8.4 grams per tonne palladium and 1.1 g/t platinum from 48m, propelling Chalice’s share price from under 20c to as high as $9.34 after the discovery.
Chalice says it has so far identified 11 high-grade mineralised zones along a 1.8km-by-0.9km area. A further 24km of strike is reportedly yet to be drilled.
Chalice’s Gonneville discovery is something of a polymetallic picnic. Other hits from a plethora of eye-catching results at the project include 25m at 8.5 g/t palladium, 0.9 g/t platinum, 0.1 g/t gold, 2 per cent nickel, 0.9 per cent copper and 0.11 per cent cobalt from 46m.
Tambourah has already defined some interesting targets at Bolgar East after a recent interpretation of previous airborne magnetic data identified five high-priority targets prospective for nickel, copper and PGE mineralisation.
Once the new airborne survey is concluded, the company will look to use the survey data to generate a model where the targeted dense rocks will appear visually distinct from the surrounding less dense rocks.
Prospective areas identified from the survey will then be followed up with ground-based electromagnetic surveys and systematic auger soil sampling to pin-point the drill targets.
Meanwhile in the Pilbara, the company is eyeing some 1,500m in RC drilling at its 100 per cent owned Tambourah gold tenure.
The property, covering 1,520 hectares, is no stranger to bumper grade gold either with historical mining at the turn of the 20th century reportedly churning out more than 5,000 ounces of the precious yellow metal at a cracking 30.0 g/t gold from several locations.
Recent rock chip sampling by Tambourah appears to have added further intrigue to the project’s potential for hosting high-grade gold. Samples taken from a ‘central corridor’ stretching for about 4km of strike returned 6.275 g/t gold and a dazzling 33.364 g/t gold between the historical mine workings.
Management says the sampling program has identified new areas of extensive surface quartz veining between and along strike from the historical works. Numerous drill-ready targets have now been piled up following the field campaign.
Historical drilling at the project has also returned several serious gold strikes including a sublime 10m at 10.8 g/t gold hit from 35m at the Kushmattie prospect. Another cracking intercept at Kushmattie delivered 8m at 13.6 g/t gold.
Other notable intersections from past drilling include 1m going 26.3 g/t gold from 21m at the Tambourah King prospect, hosted within a broader 3m interval going 9.10 g/t gold.
A 1m intercept at 7.1 g/t gold was also returned at the Alexandria prospect, whilst drilling at the Western Chief prospect delivered 1m at 4.4 g/t gold and 2m at 3.2 g/t gold in the same hole.
Company management says subsequent drilling in 2019 confirmed the historical results and identified extensions to the mineralisation. A string of solid results from the drilling included 9m at 5.92 g/t gold from 35m at Western Chief. A 10m hit going 5.13 g/t gold from 37m was also recorded at the Duke of Wellington prospect.
Tambourah is the latest player to join the modern-day gold rush in the Pilbara being fuelled by De Grey Mining and its world-class Hemi discovery at the Mallina project. Following discovery early last year, De Grey’s share price soared from about 4c in January to reach as high as $1.60 by September 2020.
De Grey recently released a striking maiden resource at Hemi of 192.4 million tonnes grading 1.1 g/t gold for a whopping 6.8 million ounces of contained gold.
Curiously, Tambourah believes the geology at Hemi shows similarities to its namesake tenure located about 100km south-east of the major gold discovery.
Further to the south-west in the Pilbara, Tambourah has amassed more gold-prospective ground at its 100 per cent owned Cheela gold project.
Cheela takes in around 38,000 hectares and lies along the major structural corridor of the Nanjilgardy Fault.
Notably, the 1.6-million-ounce Mt Olympus gold mine and the Paulsen’s gold mine, operated by ASX-listed gold mining giant Northern Star Resources, both lie nearby and along the same geological structure.
Tambourah has reportedly defined some 70km of strike length along the Nanjilgardy Fault at Cheela.
Historical drilling at the underexplored project returned numerous significant gold hits including a broad 16m intercept going 4.75 g/t gold from 88m and a shallower 12m interval at 3.85 g/t gold from 34m.
The company has now submitted a ‘Programme of Work’ to the Department of Mines in Western Australia for both Cheela and Tambourah.
Management says drilling programs for the projects have now been prepared and the company is in the process of securing a rig for the proposed upcoming drilling at Tambourah and Cheela.
Tambourah has also recently put its foot on the Russian Jack tin, tantalum and lithium project in the Pilbara. Pegmatite swarms have reportedly been identified within two kilometres of the underexplored tenement application and the company plans to conduct regional mapping and sampling at the project once the tenement has been granted.
Despite being a newcomer to the ASX, Tambourah has managed to hit the bourse with some grade A tenure in some of the hottest exploration jurisdictions in Australia. If Julimar North starts showing even a hint of nickel/copper/platinum it will no doubt cause a few pulses to quicken given its strategic location near Gonneville.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Matt Birney
