Aldoro Resources Ltd (ASX:ARN) has received first assay results from drilling at VC11 target of the Narndee Igneous Complex (NIC) in Western Australia with some nickel-copper sulphides intersected.
The company has received results for holes NDD0010 and NDD0011 with the disseminated sulphides returned providing some encouragement of the prospectivity of the NIC.
VC11 results
Hole NDD0010 was drilled to a depth of 225.8 metres and intersected a thick package of variably mineralised high magnesium oxide (MgO) ultramafics to 139.6 metres downhole.
A zone of disseminated, semi-massive and breccia nickel-copper sulphide was intersected from 139.6 to 140.2 metres downhole and the hole then passed back into high MgO ultramafics with disseminated sulphides and troctolites before intersecting a basal contact with metabasalt at 175.34 metres.
The best intercept from this hole was 0.8 metres at 0.21% nickel and 0.07% copper from 149 metres downhole.
Although the tenor of the sulphide intercept is lower than desired and the VC11 target downgraded, the demonstrated prospectivity of the NIC between VC1 and VC11 remains.
NDD0011 was drilled to a depth of 291.7 metres and intersected a thick package of high MgO ultramafics to a basal contact at 226 metres downhole.
A disseminated and veined nickel-copper sulphide zone was intersected from 211.5 to 226 metres downhole. Felsic volcanics dominate the basal sequence at NDD0011 instead of the mafic volcanics observed in NDD0010.
The best intercept from NDD0011 was 1-metre at 0.21% nickel and 0.02% copper from 215 metres downhole.
Long assay turnaround times
There has been a considerable increase in wet chemistry assay turnaround times during 2021. This is an industry-wide concern outside of the company's control.
Six early laboratory submissions from VC1 drilling, which were submitted between two and three months ago, are still awaiting results. The delay on the VC1 results is due to the slightly different analytical suite on those submissions.
The results from VC1 are expected to be received over the next two weeks and will be reported as they come to hand.
VTEM survey brought forward
Meanwhile, Aldoro has brought forward the timing of the VTEM extension survey with deliverables expected early in 2022.
This survey is designed to screen the remaining areas of highly prospective stratigraphy and geochemistry results in the NIC.
The proposed extensions are divided into Priority 1 over nickel-copper-PGE magmatic sulphide style targets and Priority 2 over copper-gold VHMS style targets. The initial survey will cover the Priority 1 area.
HPFLTEM work
Aldoro has a program of large loop High Power Fixed Loop Electromagnetics (HPFLTEM) underway and this is now well advanced.
HPFTLEM in NDD0005, targeting VC3, ended in highly prospective, variably mineralised ultramafic rocks at 654.9 metres.
The VC1 target is getting deeper to the north as indicated by the nickel-copper sulphides intersected at VC11, which appear to be deepening to the south.
The observations indicate the potential for deeper, highly conductive bodies in the area between VC1 and VC11, located on the edge of a regional gravity high, with a coincident aeromagnetic high.
These types of targets would have been difficult to detect using the VTEM system.