Estrella Resources says it remains on target to kick off full-scale mining of the company’s 5A resource in early 2023 after further high-grade assays at its Spargoville nickel project near Kambalda in WA.
With drilling coming to an end, Estrella will now move to extract between 2000 and 4000 tonnes of material for metallurgical testing.
The company says plans to calculate a revised mineral resource estimate will feed into ore reserve and pit optimisation modelling.
Highlights from the latest diamond drill assay results include a 1.55m section that intersected transitional mineralisation reading 5.06 per cent nickel, 0.21 per cent copper and 1100 parts per million cobalt from 90.95m including 0.6m at an impressive 11 per cent nickel, 0.44 per cent copper and 2280ppm cobalt from 90.95m.
A second diamond drill hole intersected both oxide and transitional mineralisation with a 7.45m hit going 1.32 per cent nickel, 0.02 per cent copper and 326 ppm cobalt from 56.3m.
The 7.45m intercept included a 2.2m section of oxide-transitional mineralisation going 2.42 per cent nickel. 0.02 per cent copper and 656 ppm cobalt from 60.58m.
Estrella Resources Managing Director, Chris Daws said: “These latest high-grade assays show visual estimate widths are consistent with historical results and further supports our view that the 5A ore body has the potential to be brought into production in the near-term.”
X-ray fluorescence testing on select samples will be used to identify the quantity and type of nickel mineralisation before metallurgical testing is conducted.
Estrella picked up the Spargoville project in late 2017 when it purchased WA Nickel, with planning ongoing for an open pit cutback at 5A.
Management says the expansion of the 5A nickel mine is envisaged as an 80m deep cutback of the existing open pit that is currently 30m deep.
In June, assays from a hole drilled at 5A returned a 3.4m intersection recording 8.2 per cent nickel, 0.6 per cent copper, 0.2 per cent cobalt and 21.5 per cent sulphur from 65.16m.
The intersection contains a 2.66m section going 10.34 per cent nickel, 0.79 per cent copper, 2195 parts-per-million cobalt and 27.1 per cent sulphur from 65.64m.
A 2018 drill campaign at the 5A deposit highlighted remarkable results including a 15m section at 10.45 per cent nickel, 0.78 per cent copper, 0.20 per cent cobalt and 1.15 grams per tonne palladium from 20m.
Another hole delivered a 5m interval running 11.32 per cent nickel, 0.54 per cent copper, 0.21 per cent cobalt, 0.42 grams per tonne palladium and 0.22 g/t palladium from 61m.
Estrella has also seen significant results 80km north-east of Kalgoorlie at its Carr Boyd project that includes the company’s Broonhill and Gossan Hill targets.
The project takes in the historical Carr Boyd Rocks mine that produced about 200,000 tonnes of ore at 1.43 per cent nickel and 0.46 per cent copper in the 1970s.
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