The first hole drilled at the Taipan prospect at Polar Bear intersected a zone of high-grade nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum-palladium mineralisation.
 
Results were 4.1m at 3.8% nickel, 2.45% copper, 0.08% cobalt, 0.9 grams per tonne platinum and 1.6gpt palladium from 104.4m, including 2.15m at 5.84% nickel, 3.73% copper, 0.12% cobalt, 1.1gpt platinum and 1.65gpt palladium.
 
Sirius said the contact was the same as that at Halls Knoll, about 3km to the southeast, where previous drilling had intersected nickel sulphides.
 
The company said the result was outstanding given it was the first test of an otherwise unexplored contact of stratigraphy known to host nickel sulphide deposits like Miitel and Mariners.
 
“We are very pleased and somewhat surprised to have drilled high-grade nickel in what was a stratigraphic reconnaissance hole without any guidance from [electromagnetics],” Sirius managing director Mark Bennett said.
 
“To get a result like this with the first hole into a 10km-long target horizon has exceeded all our expectations and bodes very well for the nickel potential at Polar Bear.”
 
A follow-up EM program, as well as drilling, is planned for the coming weeks.
 
The company said the location of Polar Bear was well within the range of trucking to the future plant at Nova.
 
Sirius also reported encouraging signs near and below its Nova deposit, where a large conductor was identified from Samson deep-penetration EM, the same system used by BHP Billiton to discover its Venus deposit at Leinster.
 
A distinct deep EM conductor was identified 650m north of and beneath Nova, with the modelled position of the conductor supported by an off-end-of-hole response from downhole EM of a previous hole drilled that ended at a vertical depth of 415m, about 100m above the conductor’s modelled position.
 
Several pre-collars for deep diamond holes to test the target are set to begin in the next fortnight in preparation for 800-1000m diamond holes.
 
Bennett described it as a “compelling target” in a location that could be accessed from planned underground development.
 
Results from first-pass drilling at the Crux target, also in the Fraser Range, replicated the same levels of nickel-copper-cobalt enrichment as seen at Centauri and in original reconnaissance drilling above Nova.
 
Highlights included 60m at 0.24% nickel and 0.04% copper from 4m and 52m at 0.27% nickel and 0.01% copper from surface, including 4m at 0.66% nickel and 0.02% copper.
 
Like at Centauri, poor ground conditions prevented drilling to the targeted footwall contact, estimated to be at 300-500m depth.
 
Sirius shares jumped more than 19% this morning to an intraday high of $4.10.
 
Shares were last trading 17% higher at $4.03, still a 15-month high.