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Legend Mining to restart nickel drilling in prolific Fraser Range alongside Creasy and Independence interests

Last updated: 03:51 17 Oct 2019 BST, First published: 12:15 16 Oct 2019 BST

Snapshot

The nickel prospector’s share price has gained 39% in the past month and 64% in the past six months.

Legend Mining Limited - Legend Mining to restart nickel drilling at Creasy-Independence project Rockford on Fraser Range
  • Rockford project is prospective for magmatic nickel-copper, VMS zinc-copper-silver and structurally-controlled gold. 
  • It extends over the Fraser Zone, which also hosts the world-class Nova-Bollinger nickel-copper mine. 
  • Thirteen exploration licences cover Legend’s Rockford tenements, with the majority of the licences housed in JVs. 
  • The JVs include significant shareholders Independence Group and Creasy Group as partners. 
  • Legend and its respected Rockford partners hold considerable expertise on Fraser Range district mineralisation styles. 

We are very pleased to be back diamond drilling at Rockford after a period of extensive preparatory field and desktop activities (and) should commence (next) week with the first hole into the D5 target.

Legend Mining managing director Mark Wilson

What does Legend Mining do?

Legend Mining Limited (ASX:LEG) is a Western Australian Fraser Range nickel explorer with two high-profile partners, minerals explorer Mark Creasy and his Creasy Group Pty Ltd and nickel-copper-gold-zinc-silver producer Independence Group NL (ASX:IGO) (FRA:IDZ) (OTCMKTS:IPGDF).

The partners have a series of joint ventures and have varying stakes in tenements that make up the flagship Rockford Nickel-Copper-Zinc-Silver-Gold Project in the prolific Fraser Range.

Who leads Legend Mining?

The company is led by managing director Mark Wilson, a major investor and engineer with more than 30 years' executive experience, including 20 years in mining leadership.

Legend draws on the expertise of its partner Creasy Group’s exploration team and the skillset of its principal, legendary prospector Mark Creasy, who is an indirect shareholder in the company through his group’s investment management company Yandal Investments Pty Ltd.

Creasy is well known for his gold finds and lucrative company exits, making the Guinness World Records in 1994 for pocketing $130 million in a gold deposits exit, the largest ever payout received by a prospector.

The prospector was behind Sirius Resources NL (ASX:SIR) when it struck the jackpot at the now Independence Group-run Nova-Bollinger deposit.

Creasy’s discovery helped start what is known as the Great Nickel Rush on Fraser Range.

The explorer’s investment group is Legend’s largest shareholder, holding 26.8% of the company by October 15, 2019.

Independence Group is the second-largest shareholder in the company, holding 14.18%.

Bailey Group is another major shareholder, holding 5.5%, with MD Wilson’s group having 5.4%.

What does Legend Mining own?

Legend’s key asset is the Rockford Nickel-Copper-Zinc-Silver-Gold Project in the Fraser Range district.

The project extends over 3,088 square kilometres of land prospective for an ore body similar to the Nova-Bollinger nickel-copper deposit.

Rockford is considered prospective for magmatic nickel-copper, VMS zinc-copper-silver and structurally-controlled gold.

The project’s 14 granted contiguous exploration licences are about 120 kilometres northeast of the Nova-Bollinger nickel-copper underground mine.

Legend directly holds 238 square kilometres of the package while a further 634 square kilometres is in an Independence Group-managed JV with IGO, Creasy and Legend as partners, and 24 square kilometres in an IGO-Legend JV with IGO as manager.

Legend’s interests in the JVs are free carried after Independence Group became a major investor in the company with a $9.8 million new share subscription endorsed by Legend shareholders.

Legend now has $13.4 million in cash and an interest-producing receivable that it can use to promote newsflow as the partners advance their project.

The partners’ Rockford package covers a strike length of at least 100-kilometres over a high regional gravity “ridge” associated with the dense mafic/ultramafic intrusive rocks of the Fraser Zone, within the larger Albany-Fraser Orogen.

Nova-Bollinger is also in Fraser Zone, on a gravity ridge of similar tenor to Rockford project.

Area D is one of the prospective areas at Rockford and drilling is due to start there from next week, with a drill rig booked from Monday.

Other prospects at the project are the Octagonal and Magnus nickel-copper-cobalt prospects, Crean nickel-copper-cobalt prospect, Worsely VMS-style prospect and Shackleton VMS-style prospect.

What are Legend Mining’s next steps?

Drilling will restart at Area D from next week and test the LF-MLTEM conductors D5 and D1.

The project team also plans to:

  • Undertake an MLTEM survey over Magnus prospect targeting conductors
  • Produce 3D inversion modelling from Audio Magnetotelluric (AMT) data at Magnus
  • Produce an MLTEM survey for Crean, looking at anomalous aircore geochemistry targeting conductors
  • Conduct an infill MLTEM survey for Worsley to help put together a diamond drill-hole design
  • Continue to conduct regional aircore drilling at targets that have similar aeromagnetic and gravity features to Area D.

Legend has reported diamond drill campaigns are planned for Octagonal-Magnus, Crean, Worsely and Shackleton prospects in 2020.

Reverse circulation (RC) drilling at Shackleton is also on the cards for next year.

Inflection points

  • Further diamond drilling success at Rockford project’s Area D.
  • Successful exploration efforts at Rockford’s various prospects.
  • Continued major investor interest in Legend’s share registry.
  • Project success at other projects on the range.
  • Further nickel-copper company M&A activity in the region and beyond.
  • Continued positive commodity pricing trends over the coming years.

Legend Mining's Mark Wilson: 'Assays on Hole 8 at Mawson exceeded our...

Legend Mining Limited's (ASX:LEG) Mark Wilson speaks to Proactive's Andrew Scott after confirming economic grades of nickel-copper-cobalt in assay results from diamond drill hole 8 at the Mawson prospect within the Rockford Project in WA’s Fraser Range. The assays are from two zones of heavy...

on 23/4/20