NickelSearch targets world-class discoveries with major Mt Isa asset acquisitions

NickelSearch (ASX: NIS) has made what it describes as “transformational” asset acquisitions in Queensland’s prime Mt Isa mining region.

The company has agreed to acquire a 100% interest in Capella Metals and its 100% legal interest in granted exploration permit EPM 28620, along with three other permit applications.

NickelSearch has also signed an acquisition deed with Bacchus Resources under which it has been granted an option to acquire a 100% interest in five granted exploration permits considered highly prospective for copper and uranium.

Historical copper mines

Collectively, the Capella and Bacchus assets are known as the Mt Isa North project, which contains multiple high-grade, historical copper mines and prospects as well as highly-prospective exploration permits covering roughly 2,000 square kilometres.

To fund the deal, NickelSearch has received binding commitments to raise approximately $560,000 by way of a single-tranche placement to strategic professional and sophisticated investors.

It has also confirmed its proposal to raise a further $2.14 million via a fully underwritten pro-rata non-renounceable entitlements offer.

NickelSearch aims to hit the ground running with its new asset and is planning to commence drilling as soon as possible.

Largely overlooked

Previous work by Capella suggested that world-class discoveries may be made in structurally-favourable sites within parts of its licence areas largely overlooked by previous explorers, as well as in various units of known prospectivity that have only been superficially explored within the company’s tenements.

The initial exploration targets include the Surprise Mine and Startle prospects that have been identified as examples of structurally-hosted, high-grade copper-gold targets in the iron-sulphide copper-gold style.

The 2.5km-long Surprise trend is centred on the abandoned high-grade copper-gold Surprise mine, while Startle is located 6km to its north-east.

Grab samples

Capella recorded recent high-grade grab samples from the Surprise mine ranging from 8.00% to 36.8% copper, with anomalous gold results ranging from 0.15 to to 0.39 grams per tonne and 244 to 844 parts per million total rare earth oxide.

NickelSearch’s exploration plans for Surprise and Startle include a 3D induced polarisation (IP) survey along the Surprise trend to map a versatile time domain electromagnetic (VTEM) anomaly identified by Glencore at depth and to identify additional copper sulphide targets.

It may also look to extend the existing IP survey at Startle to the south.

Drilling plans include work to confirm the historical drilling and contribute to a JORC-compliant resource estimate at Surprise, a drill test of Glencore’s VTEM anomalies and any anomalies generated by the Surprise and Startle IP surveys.