Great Boulder Resources extends Mt Venn copper-nickel-cobalt mineralisation
Diamond and RC drill rigs in operation at Mt Venn.
Great Boulder Resources (ASX: GBR) has extended known mineralisation at its Mt Venn copper-nickel-cobalt deposit across 2.5km of strike, after diamond drill cores revealed visible mineralisation.
The first three cores of the phase two diamond and reverse circulation (RC) drill program have shown visible pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite sulphide mineralisation across substantial widths.
Additional diamond and RC drilling will be undertaken to further define the strike length across a 9km strike target which was identified by electromagnetic and aircore geochemistry.
“The results so far clearly demonstrate the size potential of Mt Venn,” Great Boulder managing director Stefan Murphy said.
“We are still in the very early stages of this discovery but can more effectively target our drilling based on what we now understand about the mineralised system and using the electromagnetic and magnetic inversion modelling as an effective exploration tool,” Mr Murphy said.
He added the copper and nickel-cobalt sections occur together in the drill core. He said this was assisting the company with better-understanding the copper distribution throughout the mineralisation system.
Situated in Western Australia’s goldfields region and part of the Yamarna project, phase one reconnaissance drilling at Mt Venn in November returned up to 4.3% copper and 0.10% cobalt.
Better intersections from the initial reconnaissance were 48m grading 0.8% copper, 0.2% nickel and 0.07% cobalt, including a 6m interval grading 0.7% copper, 0.3% nickel and 0.10% cobalt, and 61m grading 0.5% copper, 0.15% nickel and 0.05% cobalt, which includes a 2m interval grading 1.12% copper.
Great Boulder has five exploration projects within the goldfields area in proximity to mines including the Kalgoorlie Super Pit, Jundee gold mine near Wiluna, King of the Hills and Gwalia gold mines near Leonora and the Thunderbox gold mine close to Leinster.
Nickel, cobalt and copper driven by lithium-ion battery market
As the electric vehicle, renewable energy and consumer electronics markets drive demand for lithium-ion batteries, consumption of nickel, cobalt and copper has also picked up, with these metals also necessary for manufacturing the battery.
The cobalt market has sky-rocketed in the last 12 months and many commodity analysts are predicting nickel and copper will follow its lead.
Great Boulder Resources’ stock is up almost 200% since its early September price of A$0.13, finishing Monday at A$0.38.