White Cliff Minerals Ltd (ASX:WCN) has identified thick cobalt and nickel intervals while logging core from drilling at the Coronation Dam Cobalt-Nickel Project in Western Australia.
Mineralisation was identified on multiple drill lines, from surface and extends to a depth of up to 80 metres.
Initial assay results from the reverse circulation (RC) program, which was expanded to 5,000 metres from 3,000 metres based on observed geology, are expected within two weeks.
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White Cliff managing director Todd Hibberd said: “We are very encouraged by the drilling completed at the Coronation Dam project.
“Geological logging of the drilling identified wide intervals of cobalt-nickel mineralisation that supports historical drilling results.
“On receipt of the final drilling results the company will undertake metallurgical testing to further advance the development of this project.”
Historical drill results
The drilling targeted extensive shallow cobalt and nickel mineralisation identified by historical drilling.
This returned best results of 6 metres at 0.42% cobalt and 1% nickel from 20 metres, and 24 metres at 0.23% cobalt and 0.80% nickel from 20 metres.
Expansion of the program allowed a 1,200-metre long zone to be tested rather than the originally planned 800-metre long zone.
Zone extends further
The mineralised zone extends a further 4,500 metres and remains to be tested by RC drilling.
Hibberd said: “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.
“This would come through development of the project and other promising cobalt-nickel assets in our portfolio.”
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The company is awaiting further assay results from drilling at the Coglia Well Cobalt Project, also in Western Australia’s north-eastern goldfields.
Coronation Dam is 90 kilometres south of Glencore PLC’s (LON:GLEN) Murrin Murrin operation and 45 kilometres southeast of GME Resources Limited’s (ASX:GME) proposed Mt Kilkenny nickel-cobalt processing facility.
Multiple operating mines
The 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.
Coronation Dam covers 16 square kilometres and contains an outcropping ultramafic unit that is about 1 kilometre wide and 5.7 kilometres long.
The proximity of this project to the Murrin Murrin nickel refinery is likely to have a strong, positive impact on the possibility of economic development of the cobalt and nickel mineralisation.