After a recent high-profile multi-metal discovery only 200m from its boundary, Conico Limited has quickly seized the bit by booking a multi-purpose diamond and reverse circulation drill rig for a maiden, 5000m program on its Mt Thirsty project in search of platinum group metals 16km north-northwest of Norseman in WA.
The company will also kick off a geological review after the adjacent Callisto discovery by Galileo Mining.
The early May announcement by Galileo sent its shares rocketing from about 20c to $1.80 for the rest of the month. The nearologists in the market then piled in, pushing neighbouring Conico up 400 per cent from 1.1c to 4.4c.
Galileo reported 33m going 2.0 grams per tonne 3E – meaning palladium, platinum and gold – with assays showing 1.64g/t palladium, 0.28g/t platinum, 0.09g/t gold along with 0.32 per cent copper and 0.30 per cent nickel from 144m.
The Mt Thirsty Joint Venture, or “MTJV” is an equal share project between Conico and operator Greenstone Resources. The pair says its existing geophysics and lithology supported the extension of the prospective mineralised horizon onto its permits, noting the eastern margin in question remains largely untested with less than 4 per cent of all holes drilled at Mt Thirsty deeper than 100m, whereas Galileo’s discovery hole was from 144 metres.
The Mt Thirsty partners say an early review now indicates that a further 1.5km of the prospective orebody may extend across the boundary.
Pending the regulatory approvals and drill rig availability, the maiden 2000m reverse circulation drill campaign is expected to begin in the next six to eight weeks and take about a month to complete.
The results should provide an interesting update to MTJV’s 2019 JORC resource of 26.9Mt at 0.126 per cent cobalt and 0.54 per cent and bulk out the pre-feasibility study announced in February 2020.
Notably, management says the studies were generated during a period of subdued commodity prices. With current spot prices, Mt Thirsty would generate a pre-tax NPV of $712 million at an 8 per cent discount factor.
All players in the area have been excited by the geological similarities between the Callisto discovery and the world-famous Platreef deposits on the northern limb of the Bushveld Complex in South Africa. The South African deposits are very large and have combined indicated resources exceeding 700Mt at a 1 g/t palladium, platinum and gold cut-off.
Conico has also looked to beef up its Greenland operations, pulling on board UK-based geologist and 25-year veteran Thomas Sant as exploration manager of wholly owned subsidiary Longland Resources, tasked with driving exploration at its Ryberg and Mestersvig projects in Greenland.
A Conico field crew has departed Iceland by vessel bound for the Ryberg project to kick off helicopter-borne site visits, reconnaissance mapping and sampling to newly mapped targets from the 2021 regional magnetic survey that identified a number of targets.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Matt Birney
