Chalice Mining has started low-impact drilling at the exciting Hartog target, along strike from its world-class Gonneville platinum group element-nickel-copper discovery at the Julimar project, 70km northeast of Perth in Western Australia.
The Hartog, and nearby Baudin targets, were first identified in 2020, but required approval from the Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) and the WA Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) given they sit within the Julimar State Forest.
Chalice recently received approval for its stage two conservation management plan, designed to minimise environmental impact. The company's exploration approach will use low-impact drilling to better understand the potential of the Julimar project - positioned to be a globally significant and strategic source of battery and hydrogen metals for WA.
The proposal doesn't require any vegetation to be cleared and will utilise track-mounted diamond drill rigs with a small footprint using existing recreational tracks.
The drill rigs have fully contained above-ground drilling fluids systems, which means that no excavation of drilling sumps is required and all waste will be disposed of outside the forest.
The highest priority target is Hartog, immediately north of the Gonneville deposit, which is a circa 6.5km-long gravity-airborne electromagnetic anomaly with multiple late-time ground EM conductors, some with coincident nickel-copper-palladium anomalism in soils.
Gonneville covers just ~7% of the 26km long Julimar Complex, with the much-anticipated drilling program providing the first indication of the mineral potential of the area.
"We believe recent drilling success outside of the State Forest has confirmed that the Hartog prospect is likely to be mineralised," Macquarie analysts said.
"Confirmation that mineralisation extents into the State Forest area presents a key near-term catalyst for Chalice.
"Chalice discovered a new zone of mineralisation in December 2021 with an intersection of 3m at 1.7% nickel equivalent, which lies above the Gonneville hanging wall. The new discovery is just 170m away from the large EM footprint of the Hartog prospect, which we believe enhances the potential of this target."
In November, Chalice reported a globally significant maiden indicated and inferred pit-constrained resource for the Gonneville deposit, on adjacent private farm land, of 330 million tonnes at 0.94 grams per tonne palladium, platinum and gold (3E), 0.16% nickel, 0.1% copper and 0.016% cobalt, or 0.58% nickel equivalent or 1.6gpt palladium equivalent.
The deposit contains 10 million ounces of 3E, 530,000 tonnes of nickel, 330,000t of copper and 53,000t of cobalt, or 1.9Mt of nickel equivalent or 17Moz of palladium equivalent.
The resource includes a higher-grade sulphide component on 74Mt at 1.8gpt 3E, 0.22% nickel, 0.21% copper and 0.021% cobalt (1% nickel equivalent or 2.8gpt palladium equivalent), above a 0.6% nickel equivalent cut-off, for 4.2Moz of 3E, 160,000t of nickel, 150,000t of copper and 15,000t of cobalt, equating to 760,000t of nickel equivalent or 6.6Moz of palladium equivalent.
Infill and depth extension drilling is continuing at Gonneville with multiple rigs on site.
A scoping study on Gonneville is underway for completion in the June 2022 quarter.
Chalice holds more than 8000sq.km, or a 1200km-long by 100km-wide area of the new West Yilgarn nickel-copper-PGE province.
Macquarie has an outperform rating for Chalice and a A$10.55 price target. The company has traded at $8-9 so far this year.
