Auric Mining Ltd (ASX:AWJ) has set the drills turning at its Chalice West Project near Higginsville-Widgiemooltha in Western Australia in the search for gold, nickel, lithium and rare earths.
The drilling program involves about 240 aircore holes for around 10,700 metres and will take five to seven weeks to complete.
Kalgoorlie-based Kennedy Drilling started work yesterday and samples will be processed by Intertek Genalysis, with results expected four to six weeks from delivery.
The gold explorer also plans to conduct onsite pXRF testing for nickel, lithium, rare earths and other minerals, and will update accordingly with the results.
Outstanding opportunity
“The Chalice West Project is an outstanding new exploration opportunity,” said Auric managing director Mark English.
“We see from magnetic imaging that the geology of Chalice West Project appears to be a mirror to that of the Chalice gold mine and on that basis, warrants a substantial drilling program.
“We are drilling just a few kilometres from the Chalice gold mine which produced nearly 700,000 ounces of gold less than a decade ago, which would be worth more than $1.5 billion at today’s value.
“The Chalice West Project is also highly prospective for nickel, lithium and rare earths. Large lithium and nickel deposits occur in the vicinity. We will be exploring and testing data for a range of elements to give us further information on the likelihood of a commercial deposit.”
Long mining history
Auric's three projects in the Widgiemooltha area.
Auric controls three projects in the Widgiemooltha area of Western Australia: the Widgiemooltha Gold Project including Auric’s flagship Munda gold deposit, the Jeffreys Find Gold Project and the Spargoville Gold Project. The projects combine 16 granted tenements, including six mining leases, and nine applications for a total area of 91 square kilometres.
The Widgiemooltha area is 630 kilometres east of Perth and has a long and distinguished mining history with numerous gold, nickel and rare metal mines. Although the area has been mined extensively in the past, it still has considerable exploration prospects.
The Chalice West Project, meanwhile, covers 15,000 hectares of greenstone terrane that has had limited exploration and defined nickel targets together with strong potential for lithium and rare earths.