WA-focused BPM Minerals has mapped out exploration drilling at its Nepean project. Image: Getty
ASX newcomer BPM Minerals gears up for exploration drilling at WA nickel-gold project
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Gold and base metals exploration company BPM Minerals (ASX:BPM) saw its shares gain 6.25 per cent in Monday trading after it joined the ASX boards.
BPM Minerals listed on the ASX on December 30 after a capital raising for $4.5m via an IPO, just as the price of nickel reached a 14-month high in December.
Nickel’s price closed the 2020 year at $US16,540 per tonne ($21,440/tonne), up 48 per cent from its low of $US11,160 per tonne in early April, according to London Metal Exchange data.
The price of nickel had traded as high as $US17,650 per tonne in mid-December, then representing a 14-month high point.
The explorer has a collection of projects in WA’s greenstone belts that are prospective for nickel, gold and base metals.
“The company has assembled an impressive portfolio of WA projects which has attracted plenty of high calibre capital as demonstrated through our strongly supported IPO,” non-executive chairman, Paul Lloyd, said.
BPM Minerals’ three exploration projects in WA – Claw, Nepean and Santy — cover a combined area of 405sqkm.
The explorer has a schedule of exploration activity for both its Claw and Santy projects for the next two years, according to its IPO prospectus.
Nepean nickel-gold project is BPM’s focus
Some of its IPO funds are earmarked for 7,000m of air-core exploration drilling at its Nepean nickel-gold project in WA’s Goldfields region.
“We are now comprehensively funded to aggressively explore our landholdings with the full support of our board and shareholders,” he said.
Drilling at Nepean is set to begin in February, and BPM geologists have moved to the site to carry out initial drill planning.
Nepean’s project area has yet to be systematically explored, with only a limited amount of drilling carried out to confirm its nickel and gold mineralisation.
The project is located 2km south of the historic Nepean nickel mine that produced 32,300 tonnes of nickel at an average recovered grade of 2.99 per cent.
The Nepean mine was in production for 17 years until 1987, and the project’s area covers 39sqkm.
