Taruga Minerals awaits nickel data from drilling at Target B within Green Rocks project
Peak Minerals has the option to acquire 80% of Target B from Taruga Minerals.
Perth-based junior Taruga Minerals (ASX: TAR) is expecting exploration at its Target B area within the Green Rocks nickel-copper project in Western Australia will confirm the presence of nickel intercepts reported last month.
Target B is part of an earn-in agreement where Peak Minerals (ASX: PUA) has the option to acquire 80% of the tenement.
Target B was initially interpreted by Peak’s geologists as an intrusion from magnetics, potentially part of the regional Lady Alma Igneous Complex.
A helicopter electromagnetic survey identified an isolated conductive feature of similar size to the intrusion and geophysical inversion provided a target measuring approximately 500m by 300m, at a depth of 250m.
Drilling campaign
Peak has commenced a reverse circulation and diamond drilling campaign at the Rixon, Lady Alma and Target B prospects within Green Rocks.
Rixon is a key target area where high-grade copper mineralisation has been sampled over the last year and previous rock chip programs returned 49 samples grading more than 1% copper.
Around 17 of these samples graded more than 5% copper and six graded more than 10%.
Four of the samples also identified nickel in sulphide, with best grades of 0.81%, 0.51%, 0.39% and 0.34%.
Drilling of two holes at Lady Alma last year resulted in the intersection of magmatic sulphides with best results of 0.13m at 4.95% copper and 0.70% nickel; 0.2m at 4.18% copper and 0.15% nickel; 0.2m at 1.86% copper and 0.12% nickel; and 0.3m at 0.17% copper and 0.46% nickel.
Shallow targets
In the current campaign, the first phase of drilling will involve 2,100m of reverse circulation work to intercept shallow targets between a depth of 300m to 375m, particularly at Target B.
The holes will also target prospective geology and geochemical anomalies found during aircore drilling and electromagnetic surveys at Rixon and Lady Alma.
The conductors will be further refined based on results from a moving-loop electromagnetic survey.
The second phase of the program is planned over 2,600m of diamond holes.
It is expected to finish by end August and will allow time between both phases of the program for further down hole electromagnetic surveying and assessment of shallow drilling.
Advancing Green Rocks
Peak chief executive officer Jennifer Neild said she was keen to advance the work at Green Rocks.
“There is a theory that there are mafic-ultramafic intrusions … we know there is associated sulphides from the Lady Alma core there is a sulphur-enriched magmatic source which fed the Rixon, Lady Alma and Copper Hills area based on drilling completed in 2021,” she said.
“We believe we are in a highly prospective area it is now time to drill, to get more information and to achieve the ultimate goal of hitting mineralisation.”