Core Exploration (ASX: CXO) has identified copper, nickel and platinum group elements mineralisation at key prospects of its wholly-owned Mordor Project in the Northern Territory.
Work undertaken by Core – combined with results of the considerable body of work assembled by Rio Tinto over a 20 year period - has proven that the Mordor Complex is prospective for ‘reef’ type copper nickel PGE sulphide mineralisation associated with ultramafic cumulates.
“Walk-up” drill targets include the Orodruin and Braveheart prospects within the Mordor Project which is part of Core’s larger Albarta Project that covers over 2,000 square kilometres.
The mineralisation identified at the Orodruin and Braveheart prospects is similar to deposits including the world-class Merensky Reef, Bushveld Complex in South Africa and the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe.
As well as the various walk-up, copper, nickel and PGE drill targets already identified by Core, results from soil sampling have identified a number of copper and nickel (+/- platinum & chrome) anomalies that have not yet been drill tested.
The Braveheart mineralisation was discovered by Rio where drilling beneath a malachite stained ironstone returned 30.4 metres at 0.25% copper which included 1 metre at 1.4% copper, 0.3% nickel, 0.1 grams per tonne gold and 0.4g/t platinum and palladium.
The mineralised zone was only tested to a vertical depth of 80 metres and is open at depth and along strike.
The Orodruin prospect (formerly named Mithril Prospect) was discovered by Tanami Gold and is characterised by a strong copper, nickel and PGE anomaly in soils.
Follow-up rock chip sampling was done over one of the strongest soil anomalies and returned numerous highly anomalous values for copper, nickel and PGEs.
Diamond drilling of this area intersected zones of disseminated sulphides with anomalous copper, nickel and PGE values.
Future work will involve infill soil sampling to prove up any untested soil anomalies and more detailed soil sampling around the contacts of the intrusion to identify contact style mineralisation followed by diamond drilling.
The immediate”walk-up” drill targets include the untested depth potential of the Braveheart Prospect.
“Reef”-style PGE deposits are not always uniform along the mineralised horizon and often suffer from a “nugget effect” during analysis. This allows for significant improvements in grade within the vicinity of the previously identified mineralisation at Braveheart.
Deeper drilling is warranted on the project as the orientation of the “reefs” is currently unknown and it is quite likely that they are flat-lying and may be present at depth in the magma chamber.
Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX “Small and Mid-cap” stocks with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China.