Special Report: The diamond drill programme at the Horn has confirmed there is at least 500m of continuous thick, shallow high-grade nickel-copper sulphides at Auroch Minerals’ (ASX:AOU) Horn prospect, part of the Leinster project in WA.

Drilling kicked off late October at the Horn nickel sulphide deposit – part of the Leinster project in WA – aiming to upgrade the historic resource estimate to JORC (2012), a must-have for ASX-listed miners and explorers.

The 6-hole diamond drill programme at the Horn has been successfully completed, with 5 holes intersecting nickeliferous sulphides and 3 of those holes intersecting massive nickel sulphides.

Assay results received for the first hole (HNDD001) logged 4.09m of massive sulphides grading 2.40 per cent nickel, 0.61 per cent copper, 0.55 g/t palladium and 0.22 g/t platinum, 119.91m from surface within a mineralised interval of 5.09m @ 2.06% nickel, 0.60% copper, 0.49 g/t palladium & 0.25 g/t platinum from 119.91m.

Assays are pending for the remaining holes, including the second drill-hole (HNDD002) which successfully intersected ~7.2m of nickel and copper bearing massive sulphides from a depth of 143m, while hole three — testing a historic DHEM conductor outside of the known mineralisation — successfully intersected 1.9m of nickel-copper sulphides mineralisation from 134.55m.

DHEM surveying involves sending a probe attached to a wire cable down a completed drill-hole. The probe is able to detect conductive sulphide mineralisation off-hole, with the potential to “see” mineralisation up to 75m away.

The technique is widely used in base metal exploration, and has played a pivotal role in some of the share market’s most famous discoveries – like Sandfire Resources’ (ASX:SFR)  DeGrussa and Monty discoveries and Sirius Resources’ Nova-Bollinger discoveries.

Lower grade nickel sulphides were intersected in holes five and six at Horn “indicative that both holes may have been drilled very close to massive sulphide mineralisation”, Auroch says.

This thing could get a lot bigger, in other words.

DHEM surveys are currently underway to test this interpretation and to vector in on possible extensions to the massive nickel sulphide mineralisation.

This program has already confirmed thick high-grade nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation with good continuity over 500m of strike at relatively shallow depths, says Auroch managing director Aiden Platel.

“The first assay results have confirmed our observations that mineralisation at the Horn comprises thick lenses of high-grade massive nickel sulphides which are also rich in copper and PGE’s (platinum and palladium),” he says.

“The sulphide mineralisation is relatively homogenous and consistent, which bodes well for our pending assays as well as for future exploration programs.

“Our new understanding of the structural control on the Horn Prospect has opened up exciting potential for further nickel sulphide mineralisation along strike, and we eagerly await the results of the DHEM surveys and pending assays to finalise our geological model and complete the hole planning for our next drill program at the Horn scheduled for early next year.”

 

A nickel drilling blitz

Auroch is a cashed-up (~$5.4M), hard-drilling explorer. For investors, this means news flow will be strong over the coming months.

A 6,000m shallow, early stage drilling program is underway across the wider Saints and Leinster nickel projects.

Meanwhile, a reverse-circulation (RC) drill-hole has been completed at the ‘T1 Target’ at Saints, and a DHEM survey will be completed this week.

DHEM surveys are underway on all completed diamond drill-holes at the Horn and Valdez.

Auroch is also preparing for a 3,000m drilling program at the high-grade Nepean nickel project, which is scheduled to kick off early in January.

 

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Auroch Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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