Northern Cobalt grows contained cobalt at Stanton by 41%
Mineralised drill core from Northern Cobalt’s Stanton deposit.
Northern Cobalt (ASX: N27) has posted a 41% increase to contained cobalt for its flagship Stanton deposit, part of its Wollogorang cobalt project in the Northern Territory.
The much-anticipated resource upgrade has boosted contained cobalt from 850 tonnes to 1,200t, with the updated resource now sitting at 942,000t grading 0.13% cobalt, 0.06% nickel and 0.12% copper.
Most of the new resource has also been reclassified to indicated status. The updated resource was calculated using 61 reverse circulation holes from drilling late last year as well as 20 historical drill hole results from the 1990s.
Prior to the upgrade, the resource for Stanton was classified as inferred and stood at 500,000t grading 0.17% cobalt, 0.09% nickel and 0.17% copper.
In addition to the upgrade, Northern Cobalt noted the mineralisation is predominantly cobalt sulphide and non-refractory. Mineralisation also occurs from surface to 90m depths and is amenable to an open pit mining operation.
The shallow and non-refractory nature of the cobalt could result in lower capital expenditure – affording the company substantial financial benefits when its comes time to begin developing Stanton, compared to other types of cobalt deposits.
Potential for further resource upgrades
As part of the company’s strategy to rapidly delineate additional cobalt resources at Wollogorang, a Toyota air core rig drilling campaign has been planned.
The air core rig drilling campaign will test targets to depths of 40m. Being shallower, it will also enable Northern Cobalt to drill more ground and obtain a better understanding of mineralisation more rapidly.
Northern Cobalt also has a customised pXRF to accurately gauge cobalt grades within each hole – enabling the company to get results in less than a day compared to a six-week turnaround.
This campaign has been scheduled to begin next month once the wet season has subsided. To fund upcoming drilling program, Northern Cobalt recently topped up its cash reserves with a A$3 million raising, with a share purchase plan currently open to accept a further $1m.
Northern Cobalt has claim to almost 5,000 square kilometres of ground in the NT. These tenements have been incorporated into the Wollogorang project and are all believed prospective for cobalt.
Share purchase plan extended
Last week, Northern Cobalt extended its share purchase plan to give existing shareholders more time to participate with knowledge of the resource upgrade and imminent diamond core drill results.
The company hopes to raise up to A$1 million via the plan.
During last year’s exploration campaign, 10 diamond drill holes were carried out and Northern Cobalt anticipates shareholders will have the assay results prior to the share purchase plan closing.