Centaurus Metals unveils thick high-grade nickel-cobalt at Itapitanga
Initial drill results from Centaurus Metals’ maiden reverse circulation drilling campaign at Itapitanga have returned high-grade nickel and cobalt as well as thick near surface intersections.
Centaurus Metals (ASX: CTM) has revealed initial assays from its maiden drill program at its Brazilian Itapitanga nickel-cobalt project with multiple near surface thick intersections returned containing nickel grading up to 1.73% and cobalt as high as 0.23%.
Centaurus managing director Darren Gordon said it was “exactly the start” the company had hoped for, with results revealing the presence of shallow mineralisation “over an extensive area”.
The results are from the first 14 reverse circulation holes drilled across the Northern target with the majority hitting nickel and cobalt from surface.
Notable results were 24m grading 0.94% nickel and 0.08% cobalt from surface, 18m grading 1.05% nickel and 0.11% cobalt from surface and 14m grading 1.73% nickel and 0.05% cobalt from 4m.
The intersections contained multiple higher-grade cobalt intervals including 9m grading 0.77% nickel and 0.23% cobalt from 2m, and 11m grading 0.96% nickel and 0.21% cobalt from 2m.
“We have seen high quality mineralisation in all of the holes, with several holes also outlining a high-grade cobalt zone grading above 0.20% cobalt,” Mr Gordon said.
He added the company has identified 5km of strike with mineralisation “over 500m wide in places”.
“The shallow nature, consistency and grade of the mineralisation also bodes well, both for our ability to calculate a maiden JORC resource quite quickly and for the future economic potential of the deposit,” Mr Gordon said.
More assay results are anticipated in the coming weeks and months.
Drilling is ongoing at the Northern target with 17 holes completed to-date and more than 3.3km of strike identified in this region.
Over at the South target, 2km of strike has been noted. According to Centaurus, it will start reverse circulation drilling this area once the campaign at the Northern target has wound up mid next month.
Meanwhile, soil sampling and mapping has delineated the Western target and extensions to the Southern zone, which Centaurus will include in the current drilling program.
Itapitanga nickel-cobalt mineralisation
Metallurgical testing has been undertaken on Itapitanga mineralisation and found it amenable to atmospheric acid leach and high-pressure acid leach processing.
Itapitanga encompasses 50 square kilometres in northern Brazil and is close to Anglo American’s Jacare nickel-cobalt deposit which has a defined resource of 307 million tonnes grading 1.3% nickel and 0.13% cobalt.
By mid-morning trade, shares in Centaurus were steady at A$0.015.