Australian Vanadium Ltd (ASX:AVL)'s soil survey has highlighted a prospective sequence of nickel, copper and platinum group elements (PGE)-bearing rock untested by recent exploration over the AVL tenure at the Coates Mafic Intrusive Complex.
The company is exploring nickel, base metals, gold, and PGEs at its Coates Project situated near Wundowie 80 kilometres northeast of Perth in Western Australia.
Notably, AVL’s Coates Project hosts a vanadium-titanium magnetite deposit and was previously explored only for vanadium-titanium mineralisation, with no other metal assays recorded.
“Additional value for AVL shareholders”
AVL managing director Vincent Algar said: “The Coates Project provides an opportunity to generate additional value for AVL shareholders.
“The strong interest in the recently discovered PGE-Ni-Cu mineralisation in the West Yilgarn in rich fragments of the ancient Earth’s crust, such as Julimar, is justified.
“Other sizeable fragments with compelling geology such as Coates need to be explored with new eyes, as AVL is now doing.
“Many new discoveries will occur and AVL has the knowledge and capacity to move the project forward, while maintaining its focus on the development of the Company’s flagship Australian Vanadium Project at Gabanintha.”
Significant recent discoveries
AVL’s Coates project covers a southern extension of similar mafic-ultramafic rocks to the sequence that is host to Chalice Mining Ltd’s nickel-copper-PGE Julimar Project, 29 kilometres north-northwest of Coates.
Historical exploration at Coates has exclusively focused on vanadium mineralisation, which is the reason AVL pegged the project in 2017.
Subsequently, significant recent nickel-copper-PGE discoveries in the region have supported AVL’s expansion of exploration for nickel, base metals, gold and PGEs at the Coates Project.
Soil survey results
AVL’s soil survey results cover 137 soil samples collected from the Coates Project on a 200-metre by 40-metre grid over the Coates Mafic Complex.
A multi-element suite was assayed, with results supporting the continuation of mafic-ultramafic rocks north of the main magnetite gabbro ridge.
The results from the sampling campaign demonstrate that the highest platinum, chrome, and nickel in soils are located to the north of the main magnetite ridge.
Supported by magnetic survey data, this could represent a serpentinised ultramafic sequence, analogous to the rocks that host Chalice Gold Mines Ltd’s Julimar Project.
SkyTEM airborne electromagnetic survey
AVL is participating in a SkyTEM airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey over the Coates Mafic Complex, planned for August 2021, to define potential massive sulphide conductors.
An application for the approval of soil sampling, ground geophysics and further soil surveys are to be completed pending approvals.
In addition, AVL has planned an environmental impact study and co-funded reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling, which is planned for the fourth quarter of 2021.
Further, the company recently finalised the procurement of 200 metres of historical diamond drill core from Coates Project secured for PGE and base metals analysis.
- Ephrems Joseph