Chalice hits thick, high-grade PGE-copper-gold at Julimar

Chalice Gold Mines (ASX:CHN) has intersected extensive zones of platinum group element (PGE)-copper-gold mineralisation at the Gonneville Intrusion footwall contact within its Julimar project near Perth.

This includes a thick high-grade intersection of 50m at 1.8 grams per tonne (g/t) palladium, 0.5g/t platinum, 0.9g/t gold and 1.1 per cent copper from a depth of 112m that hosts a higher-grade interval of 17m at 2.5g/t palladium, 0.8g/t platinum, 2g/t gold and 1.8 per cent copper from 134m.

Other intersections that captured attention include a 7m interval grading 13.8g/t palladium and 0.5g/t gold from 83m and a 36.6m intersection at 2.7g/t palladium and 0.6g/t platinum.

Drilling has now extended the footwall contact zone to over 800m of strike and up to 500m of dip extent – with Chalice noting that it still remains open – while discovering two new internal high-grade zones at the southern end of the intrusion.

The high-grade PGE-gold oxide zone has also been extended over an area of 1,700m by 750m that remains open to the Julimar state forest where access is pending.

“The Gonneville PGE-Ni-Cu-Co-Au discovery continues to grow on multiple fronts, with another round of exceptional drill results extending the known high-grade zones, defining new zones and further reinforcing the numerous growth opportunities across the project,” managing director Alex Dorsch said.

“Given the width and grade of the drill results we are continuing to see over a very large area, the scale of the Gonneville Intrusion itself, and the significant growth potential beyond the limits of the current resource drilling, it is clear that Julimar is emerging as a globally significant deposit of critical metals in Western Australia.”

He added that the first hole into EM Conductor X about 800m northwest of the Gonneville footwall contact zone has improved the company’s geological understanding of the intrusion and delivered a proof-of-concept for its growth potential.

“The presence of PGE-copper-gold rich mineralisation at the bottom of JD018 is exciting, as it indicates that the entire footwall contact of the intrusion is prospective, providing a major target position going forward,” Dorsch explained.

“The intrusion is now interpreted to be a ~500m thick ‘sill’ style of mafic-ultramafic intrusion, with a consistent westerly dip and northerly plunge. This again reinforces the prospectivity of the recently announced Hartog EM Anomaly, located immediately north of Gonneville, in the Julimar State Forest.

“Given that this very strong EM anomaly sits just 1.5km north of the very wide mineralised intercepts encountered in JD018, it’s not hard to see why we are so excited about the district-scale potential at Julimar.”

Julimar nickel-copper-PGE project

Chalice’s wholly-owned Julimar nickel-copper-PGE project is just 70km northeast of Perth with direct access to major highway, rail, power and port infrastructure.

It was first staked in 2018 as part of the company’s search for high-potential nickel sulphide exploration opportunities.

Julimar is interpreted to extend over ~26km of strike and exploration conducted by the company since mid-2019 has confirmed that it is highly prospective for nickel, copper and platinum group elements.

The company had noted last month that drilling had made a significant new PGE-copper-gold discovery with results such as 33m at 2.1g/t palladium, 0.5g/t platinum, 0.2g/t gold and 0.5 per cent copper from a depth of 81m.

Future work

Chalice is continuing its approach of simultaneously exploring and evaluating the zones of high-grade mineralisation and the extensive mineralised zones associated with disseminated sulphides within the Gonneville PGE-copper-gold intrusion.

The company plans to carry out an extensive 70,000m resource drilling program using three reverse circulation and two diamond rigs.

This will initially be carried out an 80m by 80m spaced grid over the high-grade area before it is infilled to a 40m by 40m grid that is expected to be sufficient for the definition of a higher confidence indicated resource.

Indicated resources have sufficient information on geology and grade continuity to support mine planning.

Downhole electromagnetic work will also be completed on selected holes to help identify potential high-grade targets for follow-up drilling.

Further sulphide floatation and oxide leach test work is underway on a 200kg composite metallurgical sample while the Geological Survey of Western Australia and a consultant specialist has been engaged to conduct initial geochemical analysis and metallogenesis studies.

The geochemistry work is aimed at improving Chalice’s geological and mineralogical understanding of the discovery and enhance its internal targeting capability as it searches for similar discoveries across its land holding.