Aldoro Resources out to join ‘Julimar Club’ as exploration begins at Narndee nickel-copper-PGE target
Venus Metals has planned ground surveys over a high-priority nickel-copper PGE target at its recently acquired WA project.
Aldoro Resources (ASX: ARN) has kicked off “major” exploration efforts at its Narndee project in Western Australia and is aiming to confirm a large nickel-copper-platinum group elements (PGE) deposit.
The company is hoping to emulate the large discoveries made this year by Chalice Gold Mines (ASX: CHN) at Julimar and Estrella Resources (ASX: ESR) at its Carr Boyd project.
However, this time the search is not close to Perth but 400km northwest of the city and located southeast of the historic gold mining centre of Mount Magnet
Aldoro, in a release headed “Narndee is Go!”, says its ground contains the largest layered igneous (solidified from lava or magma) complex in Australia.
While the project was acquired last November, Aldoro has so far not released any substantial information about it to the market.
That has now changed, with the company now laying out what it believes to be the potential at Narndee.
Discovery in 2008 had little follow-up
It regards the ground as having “Julimar-style” nickel-copper-PGE potential, with historic exploration establishing there is a working sulphide mineral system.
In recent months there has been a review of the project and all available historical data.
Exploration will begin in late November with an airborne electromagnetic (EM) survey.
A former holder of the ground, Maximus Resources (ASX: MXR), did the same type of survey in 2008, and at the time reported the ground was “highly prospective” for iron, vanadium, copper-zinc, nickel-copper, chromium, gold, PGE metals and uranium.
“Several new high-quality bedrock conductor anomalies suggestive of massive sulphide mineralisation have been identified,” Maximus noted 12 years ago.
Maximus had described the Narndee Igneous Complex as “a large layered mafic-ultramafic complex covering approximately 700 square kilometres”.
But that junior conducted only limited follow-up work, drilling only eight holes but intersecting evidence of nickel-copper-PGE mineralisation.
One hole returned 3m at 0.43% nickel, 0.5% copper and 0.19 grams per tonne platinum and palladium — “but with little or no follow-up,” as noted by Aldoro.
Former searches hobbled by wrong model
The complex was also explored by Canadian miner Inco in the 1970s, BHP (ASX: BHP) in the 1980s and by another Canadian, Falconbridge, in the early 2000s.
Aldoro’s managing director Caedmon Marriott says previous exploration, while demonstrating a working sulphide mineral system, was hampered by a “rigid-Bushveld” model (South Africa-style PGE reef).
“Aldoro will use modern thinking and exploration techniques,” he added.
This will focus on magmatic nickel-copper sulphides and attempt to locate geological hosts similar to that at Nova-Bollinger in the Fraser Range owned by IGO Ltd (ASX: IGO), Voisey’s Bay in Labrador owned by Brazil’s Vale, and Julimar.
“This is an incredible project for a small company like Aldoro to have ‘in the locker’,” Mr Marriott said.
The project was one of four acquired in September 2019 when Aldoro bought privately owned Altilium Metals, which also held the Penny South gold project, the Unaly Hill South gold project and the Windimurra igneous complex.