Great Southern Mining Ltd (ASX:GSN) has outlined exploration activities at its 100%-owned East Laverton Nickel Project in Western Australia, which is spread over 400 square kilometres area and has potential to host massive nickel-sulphide deposits of both the magmatic and komatiitic types.
Plans include a 45-day modern ground-based moving-loop electro-magnetic survey (MLEM) with the objective of finding Nova scale conductors.
The company applied for the ground in 2018 with one tenement granted last year and the other two expected to be granted shortly following progress on negotiations of a Heritage Protection agreement with the Nyalpa Pirniku Traditional Owners.
According to GSN, there is a new level of understanding in WA on the formation of nickel-copper sulphides within magmatic rocks, leading to a wave of new discoveries such as the Nova-Bollinger deposit in 2012 and more recently, Legend Mining Ltd’s (ASX:LEG) Rockford Project and Chalice Mining Ltd’s (ASX:CHN) (OTCMKTS:CGMLF) Julimar Project.
Highly prospective for nickel-sulphide
GSN’s chief executive officer Sean Gregory said: “GSN’s exploration portfolio is characterised by large prospective landholdings with more than 1,000 square kilometres at Edinburgh Park in North Queensland, more than 450 square kilometres in the Duketon Belt, Laverton and an additional over 400 square kilometres at East Laverton.
“East Laverton is highly prospective for nickel-sulphide discoveries, including of the Nova magmatic style which was overlooked by previous explorers who were focused on other commodities and deposit types.
“We look forward to the results of the planned ground MLEM survey, which will be the first modern EM over this target and will be aided by an alternative geological interpretation that places the prospective basal contact in the northeast, rather than the southwest.
“GSN now has exposure to gold at all of its projects and the added benefit of copper and other metals in North Queensland and also nickel-sulphide at East Laverton.”
Planned ground electromagnetic survey
Recent work by leading exploration and geophysical consultants Newexco contends that the basal part of the Diorite Hill ultramafic sequence is in the northeast rather than the southwest as previously thought.
Newexco suggests the next steps to explore the project for massive nickel-sulphide accumulations using a MLEM survey.
Diorite Hill will be tested using 43 400-metre loops at a broad 1,200 x 1,200-metre spacing with four high sensitivity sounds taken 400 metres from the loop centres.
This is designed to detect any conductive sources of a Nova style and scale.