Towards the end of October NickelSearch Limited commenced drilling at its Carlingup project near Ravensthorpe, Western Australia.
Seasoned investors will know that Ravensthorpe already looms prominent on the mining industry map, thanks to the presence of a well-known nickel mine and processing facility owned by First Quantum.
So, we’re deep in the heart of nickel country from the get-go with Carlingup, which is situated right in the heart of what’s known as the Ravensthorpe Nickel Mining Complex, and to the southern end of a mineralised trend that stretches back up towards the Forrestannia Nickel Mining Complex.
Between them, Ravensthorpe and Forrestannia have been responsible for more than 2.6mln tonnes of nickel production, and there should be more to come.
First Quantum continues to expand operations with the build-out at Shoemaker-Levy, while to the west NickelSearch is well underway with its search for new resources.
Unlike First Quantum, which is mining laterites, NickelSearch will be primarily focussed on sulphide targets on its licences in Western Australia, although it does have some laterite resources also.
“We are a nickel sulphide exploration company,” says Craig Moulton, the Company’s Managing Director.
“What we’re chasing here are typical Kambalda-style nickel sulphides, these high value lava channels can be narrow but often have a low grade halo around them.”
Carlingup contains five currently known sulphide deposits, RAV1, RAV4, RAV4 West, RAV5 and RAV8, all spread along more than 10 kilometres of strike length.
“We currently have over 5,000 tonnes of JORC sulphide resource across RAV1, RAV4 and RAV4 West at over 1% Nickel,” says Moulton, “and we have significant potential at RAV5.”
Meanwhile, at RAV8, which hosts a former mine, the company also boasts a formal resource amounting to just over 70,000 tonnes of nickel and counting. It’s here that the current efforts are focussed, as drilling aims to prove up further resources in the unmined haloes of the mined-out high grade zones.
There’s also the potential for the discovery of further as-yet unmined high grade shoots, which could add spice to the drilling newsflow, as and when it comes.
But NickelSearch isn’t just about working up established mineralised zones. There’s also significant greenfields potential across the wider portfolio, which amounts to 108 square kilometres, following the recent acquisition of ground from Medallion Metals Ltd (ASX:MM8).
On this ground, early stage magnetics have shown up several areas where similarities to RAV8 look pronounced. One of these lies under a known deposit called the John Ellis laterite, and will henceforth be known as the John Ellis sulphide. Another is towards the RAV5 deposit, and shows the potential to be a volcanic massive sulphide orebody.
All of which shows that there’s a huge amount to play for on NickelSearch ground, especially with the nickel price roaring up recently to the highest levels it’s been at since 2014.
The focus on sulphides is interesting, because there’s not much nickel sulphide left in the world, but sulphide material is famously far easier to treat than laterite. On that score, NickelSearch has already made significant progress investigating the viability of heap leaching and at this stage it looks as though processing won’t be too much of a challenge.
“We already have a significant low grade inventory that we hope to take through heap leach,” says Moulton.
Even so, that’s not where the real value is likely to lie.
“We are totally focussed on high-grade nickel exploration,” he says.
“If we were to make a high grade discovery on any of these deposits, you’d look at that operation on its own merits.”
Nevertheless, the low-grade material remains a serious option.
“We are very excited about the potential development of the low-grade material around RAV8,” says Moulton.