CGN Resources launches ambitious exploration program in WA’s West Arunta region

CGN Resources (ASX: CGR) believes it is on the threshold of opening up a new exploration frontier for base and critical metals at its large Webb project in the remote West Arunta region of Western Australia.

A cashed-up CGN has commenced a significant program testing six main targets with geophysics, in concert with diamond drilling (DD) and reverse circulation (RC) drilling.

The program is to get underway with the mobilisation of geophysical crews to the site to conduct ground gravity, passive seismic and induced polarisation (IP) surveys at the Surus, Tantor, Snorky and Horton targets as well as an electromagnetic (EM) survey at the Shep prospect.

The geophysics surveys will be immediately followed-up with a 700m-deep DD hole – funded by the WA government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme – to test the Surus gravity target in late March.

CGN will then bring in an RC rig during the second quarter to drill the Shep and Hathi targets and prepare pre-collars for Snorky and Horton.

The work will wrap up with a DD program at Snorky and Horton later in the year.

Permits and funding in place

Managing director Stan Wholley said CGN is fully funded with all the necessary permits in place to work immediately.

“With our highly successful IPO in October raising $10 million, we are now strongly positioned to push hard on the exploration front and try and emulate the success of some of our neighbours in the West Arunta,” Mr Wholley said.

“The company has a suite of high-quality targets to test in this initial exploration campaign targeting iron oxide / copper / gold (IOCG), rare earth elements (REE) and nickel targets.”

“Given the proximity to WA1 Resources (ASX: WA1) and Encounter Resources (ASX: ENR) to the north, there is also the possibility of niobium-rich carbonatites to exist which makes this exploration campaign incredibly exciting.”

Flexible program

CGN is planning to add to the initial exploration plan by strategically updating the program to take advantage of new information as it becomes available.

“This will allow the CGN team to be flexible and dynamic in our response to new information from geophysics and drilling as it unfolds, Mr Wholley said.

“We are in the fortunate position to have substantial clearance programs in place so, if we make a discovery, we can expand our programs and deploy our resources quickly to assess [its] scale.”

The initial geophysical program of passive seismic, IP and EM surveys is expected to take 3-4 weeks to complete, with results available in real time to assist with planning the next phase of drilling.

Drilling plans

The Surus target, a large regionally-significant gravity anomaly adjacent to a major crustal feature, is expected to be the first drilling test.

CGN has contracted DDH1 to complete the drilling which is expected to commence at the end of March 2024.

An RC drill rig is expected to arrive on-site towards the end of April, with work initially focused on the significant nickel mineralisation intersected in previous drilling that graded up to 1.18% nickel.

RC drilling will also be used to follow up previous REE mineralisation intersections at Hathi.