Lunnon Metals starts deep drilling at Kenilworth nickel-gold target
Drilling results are firming up Lunnon Metals’ Baker Shoot prospect as a high-grade, near-surface nickel discovery.
Lunnon Metals (ASX: LM8) has commenced deep diamond drilling at the Kenilworth conceptual nickel-gold target within the Kambalda nickel project.
Drilling will be co-funded by a grant from the Western Australian government under its exploration incentive scheme.
The first hole will be drilled in a portion of the St Ives stratigraphy in the state’s Yilgarn Craton to a planned depth of 1,450m to test conceptual nickel and gold targets.
The hole will aim to resolve an unexplained 800m-long geophysical magnetic anomaly located within and parallel to the Jan-East Cooee Corridor.
It will test for magnetic differentiated dolerite within the structural corridor and is expected to resolve the unknown depth of the potentially-nickeliferous basement contact.
An additional diamond rig has been provided by Blue Spec Drilling to ensure that exploration can continue at the Warren and Baker discoveries while Kenilworth drilling is underway.
A reverse circulation rig is being mobilised to Baker to commence work once the maiden mineral resource is finalised, with this model providing the basis for infill and extensional targets.
Drilling a new area
Lunnon managing director Ed Ainscough said the company was excited to be drilling in a new area.
“It is always exciting to start drilling in an area, which has never been drilled at depth before … while is a conceptual target for nickel and gold, our program is located in a richly-endowed corridor and this will be the first time the stratigraphy and structures have ever been tested at these depths,” he said.
“As we saw at Baker, drilling in fertile, mineralised belts always leaves the door open to discovery.”
Jan-East nickel
The 3km long Jan-East Cooee Corridor contains significant nickel mineralisation – such as the Jan nickel mine and Baker nickel shoot – and a major unresolved geophysical magnetic anomaly.
It has interpreted structural and stratigraphic complexity similar to Gold Fields’ multi-million ounce Victory-Leviathan gold complex, which is nearby but does not intersect Lunnon’s tenements.
The trend is parallel and proximal to the Boulder-Lefroy fault zone.
Since the closure of the Jan Nickel Mine in 1986 and until Lunnon’s discovery of Baker last year, there had been no exploration for nickel along the corridor.
Previous gold exploration had been limited to predominantly shallow aircore drilling targeting near surface open pitable mineralisation.
The corridor is believed to be highly prospective for nickel and gold mineralisation, particularly at depth.