Lunnon Metals Limited (ASX: LM8) has unveiled a significant update its nickel JORC (2012) Mineral Resource estimate (MRE) for the Warren deposit in Western Australia.
The updated Warren MRE now stands at 445,000t at 2.5% nickel for 11,200 contained nickel tonnes, comprising:
– 345,000t @2.6% Ni for 8,800 nickel tonnes in Indicated Resource; and
– 100,000t @2.4% Ni for 2,400 nickel tonnes in Inferred Resource.
This result increases Lunnon Metals’ global MRE across its Kambalda Nickel Project (KNP) to 2.9Mt @3.1% nickel for 87,800 contained nickel tonnes, a 125% increase in contained metal since Lunnon Metals listed in June 2021. Key implications of the updated Warren MRE include:
• Diamond drilling has increased the length of continuous nickel mineralization at Warren to a plunge length of 1,200m;
• Nickel mineralization has been proven across a significantly enlarged footprint compared to the narrow and limited channel width interpreted based solely on WMC Resources Ltd’s (WMC) historical drilling at the time of the company’s IPO; and
• The quantity and grade of nickel mineralization in the updated MRE confirms Warren as an important expansion to the scope of any potential future restart at Foster.
The ability for a significantly increased surface area able to play host to possible nickel sulphide mineralization is a key enhancement of the Warren channel’s potential to continue to host extensions over and above the JORC (2012) MRE reported today and the current MRE should be considered as an interim, not final, MRE in that light.
The updated MRE allows the company to now consider a Pre-Feasibility study (PFS) covering the 1.95Mt @2.9% Ni for 57,000t of nickel metal in MRE JORC (2012) which will be accessible from the Foster mine decline and workings once dewatering and portal re-entry has been completed.
In addition to mine design and production scheduling, the PFS will address the necessary metallurgical and geotechnical considerations of a Foster re-start.
Permitting of Foster for the purposes of dewatering and re-entering the mine decline has been progressed in parallel to the same regulatory activities at Baker and is therefore significantly advanced.
An Exploration Target of between approximately 0.1Mt and 0.5Mt grading between 1.0% Ni and 3.0% Ni has been estimated in areas of the Warren channel and flanking environment that the company has drilled and successfully intersected nickel mineralization, but where the drill spacing is insufficient to estimate at least an Inferred Mineral Resource.
The company highlights that the potential quantity and grade of the Exploration Target is conceptual in nature, that there is insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource.
Subject to analysis during a future PFS exercise for the Foster mine complex, further definition at Warren to infill and upgrade the MRE and test the Exploration Target is most likely to be conducted from underground.
The Foster PFS will consider the merits of extending the existing Warren (NW Foster) decline with development of a new cross-cut at the approximate 6 or 7 level (~250m below surface) commencing from the Foster workings, mirroring the present decline. This potential future cross-cut would serve multiple purposes, including:
1. Underground diamond drill platform to infill and upgrade the MRE and test the Exploration Target;
2. Drill position to test the unexplored but prospective northern leading edge and down dip flank of the Foster main channel area; and
3. Double as a necessary second means of egress from any future stoping/production at Warren upon a potential re-start (i.e. such an access/cross-cut would be required anyway assuming successful integration of Warren into any future Foster restart).
“The drill programmes at Warren have delivered steady growth to the MRE but importantly, have achieved other, just as significant, outcomes,” Managing Director, Ed Ainscough, said.
“We have hit nickel in host positions not previously considered prospective in this area, opening up an exciting new exploration search space. This discovery has dramatically increased the footprint of nickel mineralization at Warren, now captured in the increased MRE and the Exploration Target we reported today.
“To test this potential properly, we will likely need to get underground and this MRE provides confidence that Warren will form an important part of the PFS studies for a possible re-start of the Foster nickel mine, from which Warren would be accessed”.
For further information please visit: https://www.lunnonmetals.com.au/
