Green energy metals explorer and developer Octava Minerals and its JV partner Future Metals have received an early boost from their freshly minted joint venture in the Kimberley after identifying a large potential nickel-copper sulphide zone that crosses the tenement they share.
Future Metals identified broad zones of disseminated magmatic nickel-copper and platinum group elements sulphides at its Panton project.
Panton adjoins Octava’s Panton North project – the subject of last month’s farm-in and JV agreement. That agreement saw Future Metals granted the farm-in rights to earn up to 70 per cent in Octava’s Panton North and Copernicus North nickel-copper and platinum-group metals projects.
Both projects are located in the Halls Creek Orogen, a Tier 1 nickel sulphide-PGM province in the East Kimberley.
Future Metals interpretation of its drilling has identified a large embayment feature crossing on to the Panton North tenement area. An embayment can act as a sulphide “trap” by providing a confined terminal point for sulphide-rich magma to settle.
The area identified by Future Metals sits across the tenement boundary between Panton and Panton North and represents a strike of approximately 1km.
The untested feature was identified in multiple datasets including magnetics and short wave infra-red imagery. It is complemented by a distinct weathering surface not present elsewhere around the Panton Intrusion.
Increased weathering can be an indicator of gossanous material that can potentially be related to sulphide mineralisation. Historic stream sediments have identified two highly anomalous coincident nickel-copper values on the margin of the newly discovered interpreted embayment feature.
Octava Managing Director, Bevan Wakelam said: “This is a great early development in the JV exploration. We certainly look forward to the drill testing of this newly identified target zone.”
Future Metals plans to complete initial ground truthing during this quarter of 2023 to determine the optimal drilling strategy to test the target in Q2 once the Kimberley wet season ends.
Octava is a WA-based and focused green energy metals exploration and development company that listed on the ASX in September 2022.
The company has three strategically located projects in geographically proven discovery areas, with its flagship being the Talga lithium project in the East Pilbara.
Talga lies 10km north-east of Global Lithium Resources’ Archer deposit of 10.5 million tonnes going 1 per cent lithium oxide. Previous sampling of pegmatites within the southern area of Octava’s project have returned 0.22 per cent lithium oxide.
When the Octava-Future Metals JV and farm-in were announced, Wakelam said the agreement would allow his company to benefit from Future Metals’ expertise in nickel-copper PGE exploration and news of Future Metals’ discovery is no doubt an early example of exactly what he was hoping for.
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By Matt Birney
