Centaurus Metals (ASX: CTM) has obtained further strong drill results from resource growth and development drilling at its 100%-owned Jaguar Nickel Sulphide Project, located in the Carajás Mineral Province of northern Brazil.
The results are expected to contribute to an increase in the global Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE), due for delivery in the next four to five weeks, as well as to upgrade more of the Jaguar MRE into the higher confidence Measured and Indicated categories, in advance of the maiden Ore Reserve estimation and DFS.
“Both step-out and in-fill drilling are continuing to deliver consistent and robust results, further reinforcing the scale and quality of the Jaguar Project,” Managing Director, Darren Gordon, said.
“We are confident that these results will help push the majority of the upcoming MRE update into the higher confidence Measured and Indicated Resource categories, as well underpin further growth in the global resource number.
“With the in-fill drilling now complete, we have streamlined our drill contractor fleet and moved the rigs predominantly onto step-out, extensional and discovery drilling. Initial work on this front has delivered two exciting holes at depths of over 600m down-hole which intersected semi-massive nickel sulphides, with some of these holes stepping off more than 120m down-dip from previous drilling. This bodes well for future resource growth down-dip, under existing planned underground stopes.
“To deliver the MRE update, we are waiting on assays for around 40 critical holes from the in-fill program completed in July. We are working with ALS Global Laboratories to get these critical assays delivered urgently but, based on current timelines and expectations, we will only be able to deliver the MRE in the next four to five weeks.
“We look forward to building on the already substantial MRE of 80.6Mt @ 0.91% Ni for 730,700t of contained nickel, which is already one of the largest nickel sulphide resources held by an ASX-listed company and the largest outside of the majors. In addition, the vast amount of drilling completed this year suggests that we are on track to have more than 500,000 tonnes of contained nickel metal in the Measured and Indicated categories, which will underpin the Jaguar Project’s maiden Ore Reserve estimate.”
Resource Growth – Step-out Drilling
Drilling for the in-fill programme that was required for the upgrade of the Jaguar MRE was completed in July. Once this drilling was completed, the company optimised its contractor drill fleet, removing underperforming rigs and reducing the total number of rigs on site to 10 diamond rigs and one RC rig.
The diamond rigs have now been designated to target resource growth by undertaking both step-out drilling and extensional drilling across all deposits, with a focus on the high-grade Onça Preta and Jaguar South Deposits. These rigs will also continue to undertake important geotechnical, metallurgical and structural interpretation drilling.
The current base of both the Onça Preta and Jaguar South Deposits have now been extended well below the base of the underground operations identified in the May 2021 Jaguar Project Scoping Study, which itself was already restricted by the base of the March 2021 MRE.
Any new resource tonnes generated by step-out drilling are therefore expected to result in growth of the overall MRE and, in time, contribute to future underground operations.
Onça Preta
The December 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) expanded the Onça Preta Deposit, the highest-grade deposit at the Jaguar Project, to 5.2Mt at 1.52% Ni for more than 78kt of contained nickel.
Step-out drilling continues to intersect semi-massive and massive zones of nickel sulphides including 21.7m at 1.35% Ni from 402.3m in JAG-DD-22-333 on section 476790mE and 20.8m at 1.54% Ni in JAG-DD-22-375 on section 476885mE.
Both drill-holes intersected high-grade mineralisation 40m below the limits of the December 2021 MRE, indicating a likely increase in the MRE.
Visuals from more recent drilling continues to be very encouraging with, drill hole JAG-DD-22-4622, the deepest hole drilled to date at Onça Preta, intersecting more than 30m of stringer to semi-massive nickel sulphide mineralisation within broader mineralised intersections a further 80m down-dip from JAG-DD-22-226, which intersected 14.3m at 1.29% Ni and 30.7m at 1.00% Ni.
This highlights the potential for further resource growth down-dip underneath existing stope design.
For further information please visit: https://www.centaurus.com.au
