NickelX defines nickel targets two months after acquiring Cosmos South project
NickelX’s new Cosmos South licence is 20km north of BHP’s Leinster nickel operation and only 10km south of IGO’s recently acquired Cosmos nickel mine.
West Australian base metals explorer NickelX (ASX: NKL) last November signed a binding term sheet for an option over 100% of the Cosmos South nickel project located on the Wiluna Greenstone Belt.
Now the company has completed geophysical data re-processing and has defined high priority nickel targets just 10km south of the major Cosmos nickel mine to be operated by IGO Limited (ASX: IGO) after completing its takeover of Western Areas (ASX:WSA).
The ground is also 20km north of the Leinster nickel operation controlled by BHP’s (ASX: BHP) Nickel West division.
Large conductor-like feature just 100m from surface
NickelX says electromagnetic data has revealed a large, highly conductive feature lying less that 100m from surface.
The EM data suggests the conductive feature may extend south and beyond the limits of the area over which was subject to the geophysical survey.
Managing director Matt Gauci said NickelX is now moving on obtaining shareholder approval to approve the acquisition as well as drill this target, and further magnetic surveys to refine the target and letting of drilling contracts.
NickelX intends to drill four diamond holes in the current quarter.
The company has previously said that, despite being surrounded by major nickel miners, its M36/580 Cosmos South licence area has undergone “very limited” exploration and represents one of the very few independently owned projects on the Wiluna belt now dominated by BHP and Western Areas.
The majority of the ground is covered by alluvium draining into Lake Miranda, a 10,000-hectare sized lake (when full) located near Leinster.
Finds made north and south of project
However, exploration has taken place and discoveries made directly north and south of the project where the bedrock outcrops.
NickelX is a nickel and copper exploration company targeting sulphide deposits, initially in the Albany Fraser Orogen (AFO).
It is also aiming to generate additional projects in the Eastern Goldfields and South West Yilgarn, all located in Western Australia.
The company owns 100% interest in its six granted exploration licenses at the Biranup project in the AFO, including numerous high priority targets at Fire Dragon, Silver Dragon, Black Dragon and Red Dragon.
The Wiluna Greenstone Belt hosts the large Leinster nickel operations, Mt Keith, Yakabindie, Honeymoon Well and Cosmos.