White Cliff Minerals Ltd (ASX:WCN) has identified cobalt mineralisation during a review of data from its Coronation Dam project in Western Australia’s north-eastern Goldfields.
Collation of mapping, sampling and drilling information has revealed extensive shallow cobalt and nickel mineralisation covering a strike length of 5 kilometres.
The company will further assess the review results and is undertaking three-dimensional modelling on the mineralisation in preparation for drilling and resource estimation.
Approval sought for drilling
A drilling application has been lodged and government approval is pending.
Todd Hibberd, managing director, said: “The discovery of high grade cobalt-nickel mineralisation over a large area at Coronation Dam is an exciting development.
“In an environment of rising cobalt prices, limited cobalt supply capacity and rapidly growing cobalt demand, there is an opportunity to substantially increase shareholder value through development of the project and other promising cobalt-nickel assets in our portfolio.”
READ: White Cliff Minerals boosts cash balance for cobalt and gold exploration
White Cliff acquired Coronation Dam via an exploration licence application, noting its cobalt and nickel exploration potential.
Among existing drilling results were 16 metres at 0.42% cobalt and 1% nickel from 20 metres, including 8 metres at 0.51% cobalt and 1.16% nickel, and 24 metres at 0.23% cobalt and 0.80% nickel from 20 metres.
Within cobalt-nickel mining area
The Coronation Dam project is 90 kilometres south of Glencore PLC’s (LON:GLEN) Murrin Murrin mining operation and 45 kilometres south of GME Resources Limited’s (ASX:GME) proposed Mt Kilkenny nickel-cobalt processing facility.
The 16 square kilometre project is surrounded by world-class mining infrastructure and multiple operating mines.
Glencore is mining cobalt and nickel from the Murrin East open pit which contained an initial resource of 66 million tonnes at 1.1% nickel and 0.09% cobalt.
Priority areas for drilling
There have been 126 holes drilled at Coronation Dam and the cobalt results assessed by White Cliff come from 66 reverse circulation holes.
The other 60 reverse air blast holes were not assayed for cobalt but contain significant nickel mineralisation including multiple intervals above 1.0%.
Due to the association of cobalt with nickel, these areas are a priority for drilling to determine the extent of cobalt mineralisation.
READ: White Cliff Minerals drills more gold, copper in the Kyrgyz Republic
The company’s primary focus remains development of the high-grade Aucu gold deposit in the Kyrgyz Republic.
After completing the 2017 drilling program, activity in the Kyrgyz Republic has wound down during winter.
This provides an opportunity for White Cliff to work on advancing Coronation Dam as well as the Ghan Well cobalt-nickel deposit, which is also in the Western Australian Goldfields.