Red Mountain Mining confirms potential for nickel-cobalt-copper-PGE at Cow Creek target
Red Mountain plans to drill test several anomalies towards the end of 2021.
A technical review of Red Mountain Mining’s (ASX: RMX) wholly-owned Mt Mansbridge project in Western Australia’s east Kimberley region has highlighted potential for the Cow Creek target to host mafic-ultramafic, intrusive-related nickel-cobalt-copper-platinum group elements (PGE) mineralisation.
The prospect is believed to consist of several regionally-distinctive, north-northwest trending, elongated, magnetic features sitting within a broader ovoid area ringed by less intensive anomalies.
The area has been interpreted as a mafic-ultramafic intrusive complex, similar to that which hosts the Sally Malay-Savannah deposit owned by Panoramic Resources (ASX: PAN), Nova-Bollinger (IGO ASX: IGO) and the Julimar discovery (Chalice Mining, ASX: CHN).
The intrusive complex is concealed below overlying sedimentary sequences of the Birrindudu Group and is considered underexplored.
Red Mountain expects to drill test several of the anomalies towards year end and has begun the permitting process with the regulator and traditional owners.
Déjà Vu intrusion
The regional intrusive complex has been influenced by the presence of the Déjà Vu ultramafic intrusion within Mt Mansbridge, approximately 12km to the south-east of Cow Creek and first discovered by Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) in 1993.
Rio’s drilling encountered serpentinised meta-peridotite with trace amounts of disseminated pentlandite (nickel) and chalcopyrite (copper) with sporadic assaying returning values up to 0.129% nickel and 0.34% cobalt.
Red Mountain believes Déjà Vu has potential to host accumulations of massive sulphides and has scheduled a fixed-loop electromagnetic survey over the area.
“Although the intrusion is fairly limited in size compared to the magnetic anomalies at Cow Creek, its intensity within magnetic imagery does allude to the Cow Creek magnetic anomalies being of a similar rock type to those found at Déjà Vu,” the company said.
As part of the technical review, an inversion of the magnetic data was undertaken by Southern Geoscience Consultants to assist with visualising the geophysical feature in 3D.
The exercise identified the presence of four prominent magnetic features and confirmed that the top of the features are approximately 150m below the surface and within testable range by conventional reverse circulation drilling.