New Tenement Expands Area Land Position By 70%
Cobalt Blue Holdings’ (ASX:COB) wholly owned subsidiary Broken Hill Cobalt Project Pty Ltd has received notice of the proposed grant of Exploration Licence Application 6151 (ELA6151).
CEO, Joe Kaderavek, said he tenement application comprises approximately 67 sq. km with COB’s strategic exploration footprint in the Broken Hill region increasing by some 70%.
“We are continuing to assess opportunities for further acquisition across the Curnamona Province,” Mr Kaderavek said.
“With the current Mineral Resource inventory supporting a 17 year operation, further consolidation in the region will secure long-term exploration potential.”
ELA6151 is located within the Broken Hill Domain of the broader Curnamona Province. Bound by the Mundi Mundi Fault to the east, the application area is dominated by shallow Cenozoic cover sequences (shown by regional mapping and limited historical drilling to range in thickness from 0 m to >20 m) and underlain by successions of the Willyama Supergroup including the Himalaya Formation (Thackaringa Group); notably hosting the Pyrite Hill, Big Hill and Railway deposits.
With the imminent grant of ELA6151, COB’s tenement holding will increase to approximately 160 sq. km.
Mr Kaderavek said the continued consolidation of ground within the Broken Hill region remains a priority for the execution of COB’s long-term exploration strategy targeting discovery and delineation of cobalt mineralisation considered to complement the existing Mineral Resource inventory and proprietary processing pathway of the Broken Hill Cobalt Project.
To date, COB has identified a pipeline of exploration targets providing opportunity to sustain Mineral Resource growth achieved since 2016.
While direct extension of the existing deposits forms an ongoing exploration focus, several targets identified by the 2017 VTEM-Max survey are yet to be tested. Of these, two areas remain a high priority:
- Pyrite Hill South
The Pyrite Hill South targets comprise two conductivity anomalies (BH01 and BH32) broadly coincident with a folded sequence of outcropping quartz-albite gneiss mapped over approximately 3.5 km strike. The targets are considered to represent potential strike extensions of the Pyrite Hill deposit, dislocated by a series of northwest – southeast trending faults.
Historical workings occur at the western extent of the outcrop where previous rock chip samples obtained from localised gossans returned anomalous assays to a maximum 1,100 ppm cobalt and 500 ppm nickel.
Geophysical modelling supports interpretation of a deep, steeply dipping conductor corresponding to the geological interpretation.
- Railway South
The Railway South targets comprise a series of conductivity anomalies (BH03, BH04 and BH18) corresponding to a zone of intermittently outcropping pyritic-quartz-albite gneiss with a combined strike length of approximately 1.5 km.
Previous rock chip samples obtained from localised gossans returned anomalous assays to a maximum 650 ppm cobalt and 410 ppm nickel.
Geophysical modelling of the Railway South targets supports the interpretation of strike extensive, steeply dipping conductors parallel to the Railway deposit.
Additional to the Pyrite Hill South and Railway South targets, COB is continuing to assess regional prospectivity through a targeted review of historical exploration activities. This includes assessment of prospects yet to be subject to any focussed exploration.
Of particular interest is the Ram Paddock prospect located approximately 3.5 km west of the Pyrite Hill deposit.
