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Galileo Mining well-placed for another big nickel discovery in Fraser Range

Last updated: 23:40 19 May 2020 BST, First published: 23:33 19 May 2020 BST

Snapshot

The company is accelerating exploration at its Fraser Range Project Joint Venture with prominent regional player the Creasy Group.

Galileo Mining Ltd - Galileo Mining ready to find next big nickel discovery in the Fraser Range

Galileo Mining Ltd (ASX:GAL) is confident its tenements in WA’s prospective Fraser Range could hold another big deposit in the region ... and it's well-funded to continue exploration.

The company completed a $5 million placement on April 23 with a cornerstone investment made by Fraser Range producer IGO Ltd (ASX:IGO), which now has a 8.9% substantial holding in Galileo.

Managing director Brad Underwood said the placement closed oversubscribed, which shows that investors recognise the value of the company’s experience and relationship with the Creasy Group.

He said: “We’ve got a joint venture with the Creasy Group, we know we’ve got quality ground, we’ve worked there a long time and that certainly helps when it comes to raising capital.

“There haven’t been any discoveries in the Fraser Range that aren’t on Creasy joint venture ground.

“I think investors recognise the history of Creasy Group in the Fraser Range and that the best quality ground [in the region] is in joint venture or 100% owned by the Creasy Group.”

Managing director Brad Underwood.

“Depth of experience”

Underwood previously worked for Mark Creasy in 2010 and said that the majority of the Galileo team also had extensive experience in the Fraser Range.

He said: “I’ve personally had a lot of experience in the Fraser Range, when I was working for the Creasy Group we made a discovery called Silver Knight, which is along strike from Nova, and we were able to take some good quality tenements into the IPO when we listed in 2018.

“We’ve brought over the exploration team that found the Silver Knight deposit and we continue to explore the Fraser Range.

“There’s a huge amount of depth in terms of experience in the region, successful experience as well, we’ve made discoveries there in the past and we’re hoping to do it again.”

Galileo prospect locations in the Fraser Range

Fraser Range prospectivity

The company believes the Fraser Range has real value creation potential, with high-value nickel deposits, as well as the geometry and shape of the ore body lending itself to profitable mining.

Underwood said there were comparable deposits in Canada within a similar jurisdiction, such as the Thompson nickel belt which contains around 140 million tonnes of resources.

He said: “The difference between the Thompson nickel belt and the nickel belt in Fraser Range is the level of exploration and mining that has occurred.

“We’ve just haven’t had enough time in the Fraser Range to fully develop all the resources that almost certainly exists there but need to be discovered.

“That’s why we’re in the Fraser Range – there’s a huge amount of potential there."

Accelerating exploration

The company recently completed three RC drill holes at the Lantern nickel target, which sits around 50 kilometres along strike from Legend Mining Limited's (ASX:LEG) Mawson discovery.

The best result was 12 metres at 0.38% nickel and 0.33% copper from 124 metres downhole, including 5 metres at 0.49% nickel and 0.46% copper and maximum 1-metre values of 0.66% nickel and 0.75% copper.

The successful capital raising, along with existing cash reserves, has led to the company doubling its planned 4000-metre follow-up drilling program to 8,000 metres.

Underwood said: “We were doing some large-scale good quality exploration before the capital raise, but we knew that to do the entire area justice that we’ve got, we would need some additional funds.

“And we’re putting it to good use straight away, we’re increasing the amount of drilling and ongoing activity in the shorter term.”

Rather than spacing out the drilling over years, the company is bringing everything forward.

Underwood said: “We’re compressing the exploration programs and just getting the job done because we truly believe that there’s a good chance of discovery there and we just want to make it.

“If we can make that happen in the next 6-12 months that’s the plan."

The three new prospects in the Fraser Range Lantern area. 

Nickel targets

The company has recently released petrography results from reconnaissance drilling that identified nickel prospective intrusions.

The three intrusions identified have been named Think Big, Backwood and Green Moon and have the potential to host magmatic nickel mineralisation under shallow cover rock ranging from 17 metres to 92 metres below surface.

Underwood said: “Our Fraser Range ground has never before been explored for nickel and the significant chance of a high-value discovery makes this an exciting time to be investing in the area.”

Galileo will use a similar exploration methodology to Nova, including EM surveying of prospective zones aiming to define conductors for drill testing as well as RC and diamond drill testing of targets defined by EM surveying and shallow drilling.

Professional explorers

Underwood said that while many other junior companies were struggling due to the current economic environment, Galileo had the funds and the experience to keep exploring, find that next discovery and create value.

He said: “We are professional explorers, and we’re well funded to do that.

“Regardless of what the state of the market is in, we are going to be exploring.”

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