Subiaco-based Global Nickel Investments Ltd will acquire a 75 per cent stake in a New Zealand platinum and nickel project for $65,000 and the issue of 2 million shares, the company has announced.
Subiaco-based Global Nickel Investments Ltd will acquire a 75 per cent stake in a New Zealand platinum and nickel project for $65,000 and the issue of 2 million shares, the company has announced.
The full text of a company announcement is pasted below
Global Nickel Investments Limited ("Global Nickel","the Company") announces that it has entered into a Heads of Agreement for the acquisition of a 75% interest in Exploration Permit 40538 in the South Island of New Zealand.
This Exploration Permit covers the Longwoods layered ultramafic intrusion that is prospective for platinum group metals (PGM) and nickel sulphide mineralization. The area is well known historically for its alluvial platinum and gold deposits that are interpreted to have been sourced from the upper parts of the Longwood Range where the ultramafic body outcrops.
The Longwoods ultramafic contains prospective troctolite phases coincident with an untested three km long soil anomaly containing elevated platinum and palladium. Two earlier diamond drillholes returned several anomalous platinum and palladium intersections, clearly indicating the existence of primary PGM mineralization.
The Longwoods ultramafic has marked geological similarities to other prolific platinum bearing layered intrusions, such as the Bushveld Complex of South Africa, Great Dyke of Zimbabwe and the Stillwater Complex of Montana.
Within these layered bodies, the PGM typically occur in very thin layers that may be difficult to detect initially, but once discovered can often be traced for many kilometers. Given the minimal exploration at Longwoods and the abundant PGM indicators, there is high potential for discovery of similar hitherto unknown PGM reefs.
Global Nickel has acquired a 75% initial interest in the project with the aim to advance it to a decision to mine stage. Thereafter, Global Nickel may move to a 100% interest if its partner elects to convert its 25% contributing interest to a net smelter royalty. The consideration for the project is $65,000 paid to cover past tenement rentals and two million shares in the Company, to be restricted from sale for 12 months.
Commenting on the Heads of Agreement, Global Nickel's Managing Director, Mr Andrew Mortimer, said that acquisition of an interest in the Longwoods project represented an important step forward for the Company, which will now have a dual focus on platinum and nickel.
"The acquisition gives us control of an area that has demonstrable PGM mineralization in a very favourable geological setting, yet which has had limited modern exploration. This means we have a good chance of discovering a new PGM reef, with plenty of upside potential given the length of the target zone defined by the untested PGM soil anomaly," he said.
