Ardea Resources Limited (Ardea or the Company) is pleased to report drilling of the strong (8,000S) downhole EM conductor at Emu Lake has intersected a 1.75m zone of basal nickel sulphide at the base of a previously poorly tested upper ultramafic horizon at Emu Lake within the Kalpini Project area.
The Emu Lake Prospect, 70km north-east of Kalgoorlie, contains a sequence of ultramafic flows with proven Silver Swan/Kambalda-style nickel sulphide endowment. The AELD0002 intercept extends the nickel sulphide endowment to a previously untested sequence of ultramafic lava flows, significantly upgrading the prospectivity of a belt in which Ardea has full tenement coverage.
Ardea's Managing Director, Andrew Penkethman, said: 'The discovery of a new basal contact nickel sulphide zone at Emu Lake is an important and exciting development. Many of the previous drilling intercepts at Emu Lake have been of thin remobilised stringer nickel sulphides which confirmed nickel sulphide endowment. This new basal contact provides a platform to test along this stratigraphic horizon for channel positions where the sulphides are insitu and expected to be thicker. The available geophysics is showing there is potential for such a channel to exist below the hole which could extend for a considerable length in a similar fashion to the Silver Swan channel located 35km west, on a parallel ultramafic belt.
The Kalpini Project extends over 240km2, with the leading nickel sulphide target, Emu Lake, located 70km north-east of Kalgoorlie. This strategic tenement package contains 20km of strike of prospective ultramafic stratigraphy held 100% by Ardea and mostly within granted mining leases. The project is 35km east of the Black Swan Nickel Project, operated by Poseidon Nickel Ltd, within a parallel komatiite volcanic belt.
Ardea completed drilling its first Emu Lake core hole, AELD0001, targeting an interpreted legacy DHEM plate within the Binti target zone in late December 2020. The drill hole intersected a zone of remobilised stringer nickel sulphides with pentlandite and chalcopyrite over 0.65m from 336.7m within a highly sheared intermediate volcanic unit.
The stringer interval returned: AELD0001: 0.65m at 2.95% Ni and 755ppm Cu from 336.7m (ASX Release 2 March 2021). DHEM surveying of AELD0001 defined an off hole conductor, modelled by Newexco geophysical consultants to be 50m to the north of AELD0001. The modelled plate was 100m long and 50m high with a conductance of 8,000 siemens, which is similar to typical Kambalda-style ore zones modelled in the past by Newexco. AELD0002 was recently completed to 430m to test the DHEM conductor. It intersected 0.65m of visible massive and semi-massive nickel sulphides from 367.2m depth and 1.1m of matrix and disseminated nickel sulphides. The presence of massive and semi-massive nickel sulphides have also been confirmed by handheld XRF Niton readings, with laboratory assays pending to confirm results.
Geological contacts intersected in the AELD0002 drilling are all intact original volcanic flow contacts, with no evidence at all of shearing or re-mobilisation. The intersected nickel sulphides are on the overturned basal contact between a porphyritic intermediate volcanic unit and a serpentinised ultramafic flow unit. This is particularly encouraging as it represents a new mineralised basal-contact position on a previously poorly tested upper ultramafic unit on the far west of the Binti Gossan zone.
DHEM has been completed with a strong in-hole and off-hole response being generated. Potential exists for a nickel sulphide channel to extend down-dip and plunging slightly to the south from the AELD0002 intercept. Future work will focus on refining the geophysical model for the mineralisation and target the down dip extension of this zone targeting increased nickel sulphide volumes.
Kalpini Nickel Laterite
The ultramafic belts at Kalpini are divided into the Eastern Belt, which hosts Ardea's Kalpini nickel laterite resource and the Western Belt where the focus of the nickel sulphide exploration has been to date. Each belt has a 20km strike for an aggregate 40km of target nickel sulphide ultramafic, with only desultory historic assaying of copper, platinum group elements and sulphur. The minimal assays available confirm favourable nickel sulphide prospectivity indices. The nickel laterite Mineral Resource has been reported as 75Mt at 0.73% Ni and 0.04% Co, for 549.7kt Ni and 32.6kt Co1. The nickel laterite drilling database provides an invaluable geochemical and geological database for the exploration of nickel sulphides. On the Eastern Belt ultramafic this drilling database has been used to target moving loop EM surveys that are currently being completed with a number of field anomalies currently being assessed for RC drill follow up.
Exploration Strategy
With Ardea's Kalgoorlie Nickel Project tenement package covering one of the largest areas of ultramafic stratigraphy in Australia, the Company is well positioned to make nickel sulphide and Critical Mineral discoveries. Ardea will continue to rank and prioritise fit-for-purpose exploration for nickel sulphides on its high-quality portfolio of Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia tenements. Any drilling as part of the nickel sulphide programs will also assess nickelcobalt laterite, Critical Minerals and gold mineralisation, but the over-riding priority continues to be nickel.
Background and Company Strategy
Ardea's key focus continues to be the development of the Kalgoorlie Nickel Project (KNP), commencing with the Goongarrie Nickel Cobalt Project (GNCP), to ensure sustainable and ethical nickel-cobalt and scandium production for the rapidly expanding lithium-ion battery supply chain. However, Ardea's strategic tenure in the heart of the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia is also highly prospective for both nickel sulphide and Critical Minerals with active exploration complementing the development of the KNP.
It is important to note that any nickel sulphide discovery, as well as processing as a conventional sulphide flotation concentrate, has the potential to be processed through the High Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL) autoclave planned for Ardea's GNCP. As well as adding nickel and sulphur units to the autoclave, sulphides have the added benefit of helping control autoclave oxidising potential and typically improving recoveries. As such, the nickel sulphide exploration strategy complements Ardea's nickel laterite development plans.
Contact:
Andrew Penkethman
Tel: +61 8 6244 5136
About Ardea Resources
Ardea Resources Limited (ASX: ARL) is an ASX-listed resources company, with a portfolio of 100% controlled West Australian-based projects, focussed on: Development of the Kalgoorlie Nickel Project (KNP) and its sub-set the Goongarrie Nickel Cobalt Project (GNCP), a globally significant series of nickel-cobalt and Critical Mineral deposits which host the largest nickelcobalt resource in the developed world and Advanced-stage exploration at compelling nickel sulphide, Critical Minerals and gold targets within the KNP Eastern Goldfields world-class nickel-gold province.
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