Terrain Minerals is poised to drill test a previously unrecognised occurrence of ultramafic rocks that could represent an exciting new nickel-cobalt target for the ASX listed junior.
The gold and base metals explorer told the ASX this week that it had submitted a program of works for about 1000 metres of RC drilling at the Red Mulga project, 170km north-northeast of Geraldton in the Murchison region.
Red Mulga is an innovative exploration project based on a review of open file data that identified a structural corridor along an under-explored margin of the Yilgarn Craton.
The company’s geoligists thought this looked like an ideal setting for ultramafic rocks, which was quickly backed up by the discovery of highly-weathered outcrops and anomalous nickel and cobalt values from surface sampling.
Whilst Terrain is not making any comparisons with the Fraser Range,
It is not impossible to see some parallels between Red Mulga and the Nova nickel-copper discovery, which was also a bold greenfields exploration strategy on the margin of the Yilgarn Craton.
Terrain has already undertaken sampling on the ground to develop five drill-ready targets. These will be tested as soon as drilling approvals are in place and a rig can be sent into the field.
The objective of the RC holes is to drill through the shallow cover and obtain samples of fresh basement rock, allowing the company’s field team to obtain a much clearer picture of the prospectivity at Red Mulga.
None of the five targets have previously been drilled, which means high risk but also considerable upside for investors if it comes off.
At the top of the list of drill targets are the MG1 & MG2 ultramafic anomalies. These pipe-like ultramafic intrusions, about 200m in diameter, located in the southwest of the project, have shown anomalous cobalt, nickel and chrome geochemistry.
Red Mulga also has a number of epithermal targets, which is a deposit style not familiar in WA but well-known around the Pacific Rim of Fire for bonanza grades of gold and silver.
One of the drill targets is the Thumbo epithermal vein, which extends for over 2km through the central part of the project and ranges in width from 0.5 to 2m. A 300m section of this vein has returned impressive base metal and precious metal rock chip sample assays, peaking at 812ppm copper, 636ppm lead, 105ppb gold and 0.94 g/t silver.
There are also drill targets in the Northeast epithermal veins, where sampling has shown anomalous antimony (up to 228ppm) with minor silver (over 0.5g/t).
Given the frontier nature of Terrain’s exploration program, investors and other explorers will no doubt be eager to peer over the wall when the results start flowing in.
By Matt Birney
