Oar Resources Ltd (ASX:OAR) continues to unlock the potential of its Crown Nickel-Copper-Platinum Group Element (PGE) Project with a rock chip and soil sampling program.
The multi-element explorer is focused on the precious and base metal mineralisation just 70 kilometres from Perth, Western Australia, where roughly 310 samples have been collected from a high-priority target to the east and submitted for P-XRF analysis.
In a bid to broaden its footprint at Crown, Oar has also inked a key land access agreement.
This will open up new target areas at the project, creating new stepping stones for the ongoing rock chip and soil sampling campaigns.
Notably, Crown is the closest exploration target to Chalice Mining Ltd (ASX:CHN, OTCQB:CGMLF)’s famed Julimar discovery, which was last week dubbed the largest PGE discovery in Australian history and the biggest nickel sulphide find in more than two decades.
Sampling underway
As it works to unlock Crown’s broader potential, OAR has compiled mapping and outcrop sampling data to build on its regional and project-scale geological setting.
This work has defined two broad geological domains — the Western and Eastern properties — and set up two camps for multi-element exploration.
Much of the sampling to date has focused on the Western domain, which is dominated by granitic lithologies.
All in all, 74 rock chip samples have been turned in for multi-element analysis.
Although the field observations were positive, assays for 60 of the samples released to date failed to unearth significant results.
Findings from the remaining 14 samples are pending and will be released when more information becomes available.
While the outstanding assays show less promise than originally thought, it’s all part of the process of elimination for Oar.
The findings across the Western domain mean it will now turn its attention to the east, where recent ground-based activities have uncovered ultramafic rocks.
Based on this work, OAR will now move to focus its ongoing exploration efforts on the more prospective Eastern domain”, where it historically mapped and sampled a package of north-south trending ultramafic rocks.
Ultramafic formations are the same rocks that host Chalice’s Julimar discovery.
Finding the jewel in Oar’s Crown
Crown is ust 8 kilometres west of Julimar’s Gonneville deposit, making Oar its closest neighbour in exploration.
The nickel-copper-PGE asset contains numerous magnetic features interpreted to represent mafic volcanic rocks, which are considered to be highly prospective for similar mineralisation to that found at the Gonneville deposit.
Oar is undertaking a technically driven, staged and systematic exploration approach at Crown in order to better understand the geological setting of the previously unexplored area. This systematic approach includes three stages of 'boots-on-ground' work, including:
- Stage 1: Detailed geological mapping and outcrop mapping, aimed at identifying basement geology which has historically been poorly understood and mismapped;
- Stage 2: Systematic soil/surface geochemical sampling, aimed at defining drilling targets. (This stage may include ground or airborne geophysical surveys); and
- Stage 3: Drill testing of identified anomalies.