Lunnon Metals reports more nickel hits at Warren
Lunnon Metals believes the Warren channel in WA could hold more nickel than estimated.
Drilling by Kambalda district explorer Lunnon Metals (ASX: LM8) at its Warren target has extended mineralisation and returned nickel grades up to 5.28%.
The company is progressing a discovery program in the Warren channel, part of the historical Foster nickel mine, within Lunnon’s Kambalda nickel project.
Lunnon, which listed on the ASX in June 2021, is focused on the Kambalda nickel district of Western Australia, the mineral belt running 70km south from Kambalda township.
The district has produced 1.6 million tonnes of nickel since the first discovery in 1966 by the former major, Western Mining Corporation.
Warren channel expected to hold more nickel than estimated
Hole 005 has now returned assays of 1.06m at 5.28% nickel, 0.43% copper, 0.13% cobalt., 1.27 grams per tonne palladium and 0.82g/t platinum.
Results have also come in from Hole 004W1 showing an intersection of 5.6m at 1.06% nickel, 0.14% copper and 0.03% cobalt.
The company says its program is designed to demonstrate that the separate Warren channel has the potential to host “substantially” more than the current figure of 6,400 tonnes of contained nickel metal.
The Foster channel, 1.5km to the southeast, had an original resource of 103,000t at 2.92%, of which 61,000t was mined up until 1994, leaving 42,100t in Lunnon’s resource estimate.
Targeting areas with only broad-spaced historical drilling
Lunnon is targeting the area where the former WMC Resources undertook only very broad-spaced drilling.
Success at Warren may allow the company to link up areas already reported in the mineral resource estimate.
Lunnon managing director Ed Ainscough says the company is continuing to gain “significant” insight into the mineralised shoots.
“We are nearing the finish line with this program at Warren,” he add.
Focus will now turn to the recent drilling adjacent to Hole 001 which intersected the Warren channel approximately 300m further down plunge.
The company says drilling will be planned to test the channel position between the drilling completed to date and the existing mineral resource up plunge.
A revised mineral estimate is expected in the December quarter.
Once complete, a mineral resource update will be undertaken for all Warren drilling completed since the company’s initial listing. It is planned to complete and report this update in the December 2022 quarter.