Nickel exploration company, Estrella Resources has dished out numerous sulphide intercepts at its exciting T5 nickel discovery near the historical Carr Boyd Rocks mine north of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, where a discovery hole returned 13.9 metres at 1.07 per cent nickel late last year. The company is now set to launch a 7,500-metre drilling blitz that will look to grow the mineralised zone and test 3.5 kilometres of strike to the north.
Estrella says 10 recent drill holes located between T5 and the historical Carr Boyd mine have now intersected nickel sulphides, with one hole hitting 4m of semi-massive sulphides above the discovery hole.
The new intercepts mark the end of the phase-three drilling campaign at T5 where multiple wedge holes were used to test for mineralisation above and below previous nickel-copper hits at Estrella’s Carr Boyd project tenure.
Previous drilling at T5 delivered multiple solid nickel and copper hits including 13.4m at 1.3 per cent nickel and 0.4 per cent copper from 392m, with a richer 6.26m interval going 2.08 per cent nickel and 0.63 per cent copper from 395m.
Recent drilling also returned 14.14m at 1.05 per cent nickel and 0.58 per copper from 408.34m, 24.32m grading 0.82 per cent nickel and 0.44 per cent copper from 348.32m and 25.32m at 0.79 per cent nickel and 0.58 per cent copper from 357m.
Estrella theorises that the sulphide mineralisation may be thickening at depth.
The company has also completed a diamond hole to more than 800m below surface targeting a previously identified seismic anomaly at T5.
Management says the anomaly could have been generated by massive sulphide mineralisation similar to the nearby historical Carr Boyd Rocks mine where some 200,000 tonnes of ore at 1.43 per cent nickel and 0.46 per cent copper was mined in the 1970s.
The company says the 800m hole intercepted remobilised nickel sulphide clasts.
A down-hole electromagnetic survey conducted in the hole has also identified off-hole anomalies related to the old mine, including a hefty 300m-by-300m target that will now be drill-tested.
Assays from the remaining phase-three holes remain pending with Estrella now turning its attention to a phase-four drilling program that will seek to grow the T5 mineralised zone and test some 3.5km of strike to the north.
Estrella Resources’ Managing Director, Chris Daws commented:“I along with the board and management are pleased that the highly successful Phase 3 drilling has now been completed. This program was instrumental not only in intersecting further nickel sulphides but also in providing the Company valuable knowledge about the controls on the mineralised zone.”
“Phase 4 is set to commence shortly with the objective of conducting step-out drilling to improve Estrella’s understanding of the project’s potential scale as well as identify additional areas of interest which may contain further Carr Boyd style opportunities.”
Management says the phase-four campaign will consist of step-out drilling to the north and south of the existing T5 mineralised zone.
The campaign will also target the northern extensions of the T5 basal contact and will seek to uncover additional mineralised lodes along the 3.5km strike. Estrella says the basal contact plays host to most of the economic intrusive-style nickel at Carr Boyd.
The phase-four campaign will focus on the basal contact at between 100m and 250m depth, with down-hole electromagnetic surveys looking to pin-point further drill targets to be conducted on all holes.
With nickel sulphide hits at T5 continuing to flow in and another 7,500m of drilling now on the cards, Estrella will no doubt be looking to finish off the year with a head of steam and a bag full of nickel-rich drill holes.
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By Matt Birney
