Dalaroo Metals has expanded the footprint of its Watheroo copper-nickel-platinum group elements prospect in WA’s mid-north wheatbelt, with first-stage soil sampling extending a key copper anomaly by two square kilometres.
The 106-sample program returned solid peak values of 284 parts per million (ppm) copper and 176ppm nickel, in addition to encouraging hits of up to 10 parts per billion for platinum, palladium and gold.
The fresh results extend the copper-in-soil geochemical response south of a historical sampling area, with the area enclosed by the 40ppm copper contour now covering two square kilometres.
Dalaroo says the multi-element soil results shows a strong spatial association with both mapped mafic-ultramafic rocks and a significant underlying magnetic feature, strengthening its interpretation of a large-scale intrusive system. The company is pursuing a Julimar-style magmatic sulphide exploration model at Watheroo, which is centred on an impressive 7-km by 3km magnetic anomaly.
The project sits on the western margin of the Yilgarn Craton, a geological setting that was thrust into the spotlight following Chalice Mining’s world-class Gonneville nickel-copper-PGE discovery at its Julimar project 90km to the south. That discovery sparked a land rush along the craton margin, a region previously overlooked due to significant surface cover.
Dalaroo’s work at Watheroo is a textbook case of building a geological story from the ground up. The company has layered historical data with its own more recent magnetic surveys and is now overlaying that with surface geochemistry. The latest results look to have firmed up the eastern contact of the buried mafic-ultramafic intrusion as a priority hunting ground for potential sulphide accumulation.
Dalaroo Metals chief executive officer John Morgan said: “Stage 1 has extended the Watheroo copper and nickel soil response south of the historical sampling area. Peak results of 284 ppm copper and 176 ppm nickel are encouraging and, together with the broader multi-element response, provide a clear focus for follow-up work."
Whilst Watheroo is shaping up as a key local asset, Dalaroo is also advancing a diverse portfolio of projects across multiple jurisdictions. In Côte d’Ivoire, the company has cleared the final hurdles for a major maiden drilling campaign at its Bondoukou Gold Ridge project. Following a recent $2.5 million capital raise, Dalaroo has expanded its planned reverse circulation drilling program to 12,000m from 10,000m to systematically test three priority gold targets along a 7km-long anomalous trend with drilling set to kick off any day.
Further afield in southern Greenland, Dalaroo recently wrapped up the largest-ever field program at its Blue Lagoon rare earths project. The company says the work has already upgraded the project from an early-stage concept into a well-defined regional rare earths system with four new prospects identified. More than 200 samples from that program are in the lab with a steady stream of news flow expected.
Adding another string to its bow back in Western Australia, Dalaroo also holds the Lyons River project in the Gascoyne province where it was awarded a government co-funding grant for drilling after confirming the discovery of a gold system there in April.
The company is not resting on its laurels at Watheroo, with plans already underway for the next phase of work. A further 360 soil samples are planned for collection to extend the geochemical coverage northwards and to provide closer-spaced infill sampling over priority areas. The infill work will tighten the grid to a nominal 100m line spacing by 50m sample spacing.
Following the comprehensive soil program, Dalaroo plans to undertake ground-based induced polarisation geophysics to hunt for chargeable anomalies at depth that could represent disseminated sulphides. The combined datasets will then be used to rank and define potential targets for a maiden drilling campaign.
While the latest results from Watheroo build a compelling case for a Julimar-style prize in WA, Dalaroo is clearly not a one-trick pony. As the rods start to turn in West Africa, a pipeline of rare earths news from Greenland and multiple irons in the fire back home, the company is methodically assembling a diverse portfolio of exploration opportunities, with the hunt for WA’s next big nickel-copper-PGE prize just one chapter in a much larger story.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Murray Ward
