Legend fires up drill again in quest for Fraser Range nickel

Legend Mining has stepped up its hunt for nickel at the Rockford Project in Western Australia’s Fraser Range. An aggressive 10,000 metres diamond drilling campaign marks the start of the 2021 field season with one rig already feeling the dirt at Legend’s Mawson project in the revered Fraser Range. A second rig is due next week as the company begins to smash out the metres at Mawson.

Located some 250 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie, Rockford’s 3,088 square kilometres of tenure entirely lies within the celebrated Fraser Zone.

The region came to prominence in 2012 with ASX-listed Sirius Resources’ discovery of the Nova-Bollinger nickel-copper-PGM deposit 120kms from Rockford. Today operated by mining powerhouse IGO Limited, the deposit contains an impressive 14.3 million tonnes grading 2.3 per cent nickel and 0.9 per cent copper.

Legend made a breakthrough at Rockford in late 2019 with drilling revealing nickel-copper massive sulphides at the Mawson prospect. The market also noticed as the company’s share price surged from around 4c to as high as 12c overnight.

Since then, a combination of reverse circulation and diamond drilling has returned a plethora of nickel-copper sulphide hits away from the discovery hole. Legend has defined a 2.4km by 1.1km mineralised intrusion that is open in all directions, according to the management. More notable intercepts include 31.1 metres grading 2.8 per cent nickel and 2.04 per cent copper, in addition to 14.45m at 2.63 per cent nickel and 2.09 per cent copper.

Three interesting looking targets have been defined for testing as part of the latest campaign.

The highly anticipated campaign has been given a further boost courtesy of a newly signed agreement for water supply to the prospect. Legend can now operate multiple rigs unabated with water to be delivered to tank farms at Mawson and then distributed through pipelines to the drill sites. This represents a massive logistical improvement in terms of cost and time for the company. In prior campaigns water was delivered to site from Kalgoorlie.

According to the company, the continued discovery of nickel-copper sulphides at Mawson and within its vicinity confirms the potential of not only Mawson but the 16km by 6km cluster of intrusions identified across the Rockford project.

Legend has already generated over thirty new regional targets at the project and in April it is planning to begin moving and fixed loop electromagnetic surveys to pin-point targets for drilling. Aircore drilling is anticipated to follow with reverse circulation and diamond drilling for more targeted testing after that. As previously reported, the exploration works are part of a $4 million regional campaign planned for 2021.

The Crean nickel-copper prospect is also set to feel the drill bit once statutory approvals are finalised for an aircore campaign in that area.

With a 10,000m drilling campaign at Mawson and the ever-growing pipeline of prospects at Rockford, Legend is well placed to take advantage of the burgeoning nickel price and with its best in town address when it comes to nickel exploration all eyes will be on this ASX-listed company as it puts its geological theories into practice.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au