Neometals spinoff Widgie uncovers thick nickel sulphides, up 25pc on first day

Neometals (ASX:NMT) spin off Widgie Nickel (ASX:WIN) is up ~35% on its first day as a listed explorer after solid assay results were reported from ‘Munda’, part of the flagship Mt Edwards project in WA.

Widgie holds the nickel and lithium rights at Munda, while tenement holder Auric Mining (ASX:AWJ) has the gold rights.

Drilling by Auric was targeting gold but returned thick massive nickel sulphide intersections like:

24m at 3.22% nickel, 0.20% copper, 0.53 g/t palladium and 0.26 g/t platinum from 52m; including 16m at 4.58% nickel, 0.29% copper, 0.76 g/t palladium and 0.38 g/t platinum from 59m.

Both gold and nickel deposits do occur in the area, but Munda is unusual as gold and nickel occur within the same deposit – in adjacent areas not in the same rocks.

Widgie is confident the result illustrate potential to identify additional high-grade ‘pods’ nickel to add to the existing Munda mineral resource of around 162,000 tonnes of contained nickel over 11 separate deposits.

WIN a standalone nickel company

Widgie managing director Steve Norregaard said that it’s a significant first result for the company – particularly considering the purpose of the drilling was primarily targeting gold and undertaken by Auric.

“We are very happy with this great result, as it further reinforces the high-grade nature of Munda, the presence of potentially important by-product credits such as copper and platinum group elements, and clearly illustrates that the process of infill drilling at the Munda deposit has the potential to identify additional localised high grade pods,” he said.

“Now that Widgie has been established as a standalone nickel focused company in a great location, and with substantial cash in the bank, we are all very much looking forward to new exploration results from our planned drill programs.

“We kick off our maiden drilling program in the next month, which will be very much targeted towards nickel and associated by-products.”

The company plans to advance the Mt Edwards project through low capital cost development and ongoing exploration for more high-grade sulphide nickel in the region.

The company, which IPO’d for $24 million via the issue of 120 million shares at $0.20 per share, traded up to $0.25 on its first day.