NickelSearch Ltd (ASX:NIS)’s first quarter as a listed company has been busy, with the company finalising the acquisition of the Carlingup Nickel Project and kicking off a maiden reverse circulation (RC) drill program within days of listing in October.
NickelSearch has acquired the highly prospective tenements from Medallion Metals Ltd (ASX:MM8), including the historically productive RAV 8 deposit.
The project is located at the junction of the southern Yilgarn Craton margin and the Forrestania–Ravensthorpe nickel belt – an area known for rich nickel sulphide deposits.
Strong financials
The company listed on October 18 last year following an initial public offering (IPO) that raised $10 million to explore for nickel at Carlingup, located near Ravensthorpe in Western Australia.
The banked capital from 50 million issued shares, priced at $0.20 each, fully funded the exploration campaign, which wrapped up in December.
The company remains in a strong cash position, with roughly $7.45 million held in cash on the last day of the 2021 calendar year.
Immediate exploration
The company’s first exploration campaign commenced within days of the listing and was all done by December 5.
Thirty-two holes were drilled across 3,563 metres at RAV8, RAV5 and RAV4-West.
Results from the maiden drilling campaign included high-grade nickel at RAV8, including 2 metres at 4.5% nickel within an interval of 5 metres at 2.6% nickel in drill hole NIS003. This drilling has extended the historical mineralisation up plunge to the north.
There are also high hopes that the nickel sulphide mineralisation contains potentially significant platinum group metals (PGM), copper and cobalt credits with individual assays up to 1.3 g/t palladium, 0.35% copper and 0.1% cobalt.
The presence of visual sulphides in the designated holes at RAV5 demonstrates the potential to define a maiden resource at RAV5.
Remaining holes have been submitted for assay with results expected in the first quarter of 2022.
High-quality team
NickelSearch has assembled a high calibre team, including Nicole Duncan, formerly of BHP Group PLC (LSE:BHP) and South32 Ltd (LSE:S32, ASX:S32, OTC:SHTLF, JSE:S32), who has been appointed as managing director.
A lawyer by training, Duncan has more than 20 years in the mining, oil and gas sector under her belt, including on mineral exploration programs, project development and execution, operations, technology, governance and compliance.
She is known for maintaining a strong focus on safety, sustainability and ESG matters. Duncan assumes the role from February 1, 2022.
Other key appointments include Tamsin Senders, one of Australia’s leading scientists in the field of bacterial leaching, who will manage the company’s prospective ore processing pathway, and Andrew Weeks, a geologist with more than 30 years’ experience and a nickel focus, who will manage resources and provide support to the company’s senior technical adviser Leo Horn.
As part of the acquisition agreement, MM8 has the right to appoint a board member for as long as it holds an interest in at least 10% of the issued shares of the company.
MM8 managing director Paul Bennett was appointed a non-executive director of NickelSearch.
Field campaign
In late December, a high resolution, helicopter-borne, time domain, electromagnetic and magnetic survey took stock of the entire tenement package.
The company is keen to view the results of this comprehensive survey, expected in the first quarter of 2022.
NickelSearch intends to use the data derived from this extensive airborne survey (955 line kilometres flown) not only to detect nickel sulphide mineralisation but also to map undercover geology more accurately.
The company plans to add a further layer to the company’s multidisciplinary, integrated exploration targeting process, with data processing, modelling and targeting studies earmarked for 2022.
The aim, as ever, is to prioritise targets more effectively for drill testing early in the new year.