Venture Minerals Limited (ASX: VMS)has confirmed that Chalice Mining Limited has decided to commit to the second stage of the JV which requires a further A$2.5 million of expenditure over the next two years to earn a further 19% interest (for a total of 70%) in Venture’s South West Project.
The next stage for the project would include following up the new targets with ground EM and infill geochemical sampling, to prepare the recently generated targets for potential drill testing.
Once the second stage of the earn-in is completed Venture can then elect to either contribute 30% or dilute to a minimum of 10% JV interest, in which case the interest automatically reverts to a 1.25% NSR royalty.
Chalice has received results from the recently completed Auger Soil Geochemistry program and has identified two new target areas having magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE sulphide potential, supported by underlying geology that is consistent with the presence of ultramafic rocks (shown by elevated Cr), and lie within areas of untested airborne EM anomalies and coincident with magnetic highs at Thor which warrant exploration follow-up.
These new targets were not part of Chalice’s ground EM program completed last year and the Auger Geochemical results in these new targets have stronger coincidental magmatic indicator metals, including Ni, Cu, Co, Pd, Pt & Au, than the area covered by the recent ground EM.
There remain several kilometres of strike on the prospective 20km long Thor magnetic trend that has not been the subject of any Surface Geochemical or EM work programmes.
In addition, there is another area in the Project that clearly has ultramafic rocks marked by historical mapping and talc occurrences (talc is typically a product of the metamorphism of ultramafic rocks) which are running parallel to the Thor target that remain unexplored.
“Chalice electing to proceed to Stage Two of the South West JV, is a strong endorsement of the Project and highlights the potential for Thor to deliver Chalice and Venture a magmatic Nickel-Copper-PGE discovery in the near future,” Venture’s Managing Director, Andrew Radonjic, said.
“The newly identified two Nickel-Copper-PGE targets associated with interpreted ultramafic rocks and coincidental with Magnetic and Airborne Electromagnetic highs, opens up the untapped potential of the northern part of the 20km long Thor Target.
“This, along with the recent recognition of a parallel unexplored ultramafic unit, suggests Nickel exploration on this project is still at its infancy and the second stage expenditure of $2.5 million should go a long way towards unlocking the project’s potential.”
Results returned from the recently completed Maiden Drill Programme (three diamond core holes drilled for a total of 1,167.6 metres) testing priority EM conductors associated with the Thor magnetic trend show the sulphide rich mineralisation intersected is of a VMS style with elevated values of Zinc, Copper, Silver and Gold within sulphide rich zones. This is consistent with the results from the Auger Soil Geochemistry programme and previous work by Venture which highlighted the drilled areas as having more potential for VMS style mineralisation rather than magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE sulphide mineralisation.
The South West Project (256 sq. km) is located ~240 km south of Perth hosted in the Balingup Metamorphic Belt, within the highly prospective West Yilgarn Ni-Cu-PGE Province discovered by Chalice that hosts their Julimar discovery, and which is one of the largest greenfield Ni-Cu-PGE sulfide discoveries in recent history.
The two main prospects within the Project are Thor and Odin, and both contain areas of potential Nickel- Copper-PGE prospectivity.
Thor is a 20km long magnetic anomaly associated with chromium rich rocks indicative of mafic- ultramafic intrusions. An airborne EM survey by Venture identified 13 highly conductive anomalies within the southern 6.5km of the regional magnetic feature, of which only two have been tested by single holes in Venture’s 2018 maiden drill program, with the last drill hole (TOR05) intersecting 2.4 metres of Massive Sulphide averaging 0.5% Copper, 0.05% Nickel, 0.04% Cobalt and anomalous gold and palladium.
At Odin, in the only hole drilled, Nickel and Copper sulphides were intersected within a highly prospective mafic- ultramafic unit that extends over 10 strike kilometres. This was further supported by surface sampling returning significant nickel and copper geochemical anomalies
South West Project Highlights:
- Thor has a 20km long magnetic anomaly associated with chromium rich rocks indicative of mafic- ultramafic intrusions;
- An airborne EM survey in 2018, identified 13 targets in the southern 6.5 km of the Thor magnetic anomaly, the northern half of the survey was heavily disrupted by electrical infrastructure;
- Maiden Drill Programme at Thor intersected 2.4m of Massive Sulphide in TOR05 averaging 0.5% Cu, 0.05% Ni, 0.04% Co and anomalous Au & Pd
- Maiden Drill Hole at Odin intersecting Ni and Cu sulpgides within a highly prospective mafic-ultramafic unit that extends over 10 strike kilometres.
For further information please visit: https://www.ventureminerals.com.au/
