Aldoro Resources buoyed by Narndee project’s proximity to historic nickel-copper zones

Confidence is building around a June drilling campaign at Aldoro Resources’ (ASX: ARN) Narndee nickel-platinum group elements project in Western Australia after refined geophysical work revealed the proximity of priority targets to historic results.

Electromagnetic modelling and 3D interrogation of Aldoro’s VC1 and VC11 targets located in the Narndee Igneous Complex have demonstrated how close the prospects are to previous drilling undertaken by Maximus Resources (ASX: MXR) in 2012 which encountered high-grade nickel-copper sulphide zones.

That drilling showed a strong nickel-copper geochemical signature, immediately west of a VC1 FLTEM (fixed-loop time domain electromagnetic) bedrock conductor model identified in March.

FLTEM methodology establishes true conductance levels, indicating the strong likelihood of sulphides and reducing the chances of an explorer selecting false positive anomalies as drilling targets.

The VC1 target is believed to be located in a highly-prospective geological setting for magmatic nickel-copper sulphides, close to a mafic-ultramafic contact.

Aldoro said this latest development makes VC1 a compelling drill target in conjunction with a favourable geological position, anomalous geochemistry and elevated levels of the nickel-copper supporting the presence of magmatic sulphides.

Maiden campaign

Narndee’s high-impact maiden campaign will kick off this month, with local contractor Frontline Drilling set to complete an initial 5,000m at the VC1, VC11 and VC8 anomalies.

Drill holes will be assessed to determine their suitability for DHTEM (downhole transient electromagnetic) surveys, which will be used to evaluate the size and nature of in-hole and adjacent off-hole bedrock conductors at depth.

The Frontline contract provides Aldoro with the flexibility to increase the campaign beyond 5,000m.

Meanwhile, the company is in the process of finalising a gradient array survey with the aim of identifying disseminated sulphide mineralisation.

The same survey is being considered for use over all 11 high-interest anomalies (VC1-VC11) identified in the March FLTEM work to further de-risk the project and refine target orientation.

Narndee is located 400km northwest of Perth and southeast of the historic Mount Magnet gold mining centre.

Aldoro is hoping to uncover a nickel-copper-PGE discovery similar to Chalice Mining’s (ASX: CHN) Julimar deposit.

Gold assets spin-off

Aldoro’s high expectations of success at Narndee combined with its highly-prospective Windimurra Igneous Complex lithium project has resulted in a spin-out of the junior’s gold assets.

Last week, the company announced it would divest its Penny South, Ryans Find and Unaly Hill South projects through the public listing of its wholly-owned subsidiary Aurum Resources.

Aurum will focus on fast-tracking the exploration and possible development of the gold projects while Aldoro puts its resources into capitalising on growing demand for raw materials for the electric vehicle industry.

Aldoro will retain a significant shareholding in Aurum with the option to distribute its equity to its own shareholders in the future.

Recognising the value

Executive chairman Joshua Letcher said the board considered ways to recognise the value of its gold exploration portfolio following a number of unsolicited approaches.

“We resolved that the most value-accretive way to recognise the inherent value in our gold portfolio was via a priority IPO spin-off into what is arguably the most leveraged WA gold exploration play to be listed on the ASX, particularly given the absence of seed and pre-IPO dilution normally found in similar offerings,” he said.

“Aldoro will benefit from a sharpened focus on Narndee where drilling is expected to commence next month [and] on Windimurra … we will be well-positioned to benefit from the continued groundswell of the EV thematic.”

Aurum is expected to make its ASX debut in the third quarter of this year.