Improving odds with the drill bit: Dalaroo hits copper-gold at Manning

Maiden diamond drilling program intersects copper sulphide mineralisation and gold
Drilling confirms mafic rocks prospective for magmatic intrusion hosted nickel-copper-PGE-gold mineralisation
Dalaroo plans to conduct further exploration at Manning with ground gravity surveys to commence in December quarter

A maiden diamond drilling program at the Manning prospect within the wider Namban Project has hit copper sulphide and gold mineralisation west of Minerals 260’s Moora project.

Dalaroo Metals’ (ASX:DAL) Namban Project is roughly 150km north of Perth in WA’s West Yilgarn Province, an emerging jurisdiction highly prospective for nickel-copper-PGE deposits.

The region is dominated by Chalice Mining’s (ASX:CHN) world-class Julimar nickel-copper-PGE project, roughly 90km south of Namban, and Minerals 260’s (ASX:MI6) Moora project, which neighbours the Namban Project to the east.

Greenfields exploration activity has increased significantly since the Goneville/Julimar magmatic PGE-Ni-Cu discovery in April 2020 leading to a rerating of the mineral prospectivity of the area.

There has been no previous drilling or any exploration completed at the Manning prospect and its surrounds to date.

DAL’s maiden drilling program, partly funded by the Government of Western Australia’s Exploration Incentive Scheme, has confirmed mafic rocks (gabbroic dolerites) prospective for magmatic intrusion hosted nickel-copper-PGE-gold mineralisation at Manning.

The four-hole program drilling was designed to test large nickel-copper-PGE and gold geochemical anomalies covering an area of 2km by 0.5km that are coincident with induced polarisation (IP) anomalies with high chargeability values of up to 40 mV/V.

More exploration warranted

Elevated copper, gold, and silver assays up to 0.11% copper, 0.61 g/t gold and 14.5 g/t silver were intersected in the drilling program in chalcopyrite-pyrite+/- pyrrhotite rich zones.

Dalaroo Metals ASX DAL — Contoured soil anomalies, diamond drill hole locations and bedrock anomalies at the Namban prospect. Pic via Dalaroo Metals

DAL managing director Harjinder Kehal says the company is excited by the intersection of visual and reportable copper sulphide (chalcopyrite) mineralisation as evidence of sulphur saturation in the Manning Prospect.

“We now intend to map out the extent of the interpreted larger mafic sill complex and plan further drill testing as warranted,” he said.

What’s next?

Given the significant size of the surface geochemical anomalism (Ni-Cu-PGE*+Au) outlined (measuring 2km X 0.5km) at Manning, and only four holes drilled, DAL says further exploration is warranted.

Future work at Manning will include ground gravity surveys, which are expected to complement and expand upon the existing geochemical and geophysical datasets which have helped to delineate encouraging sulphide copper and gold mineralisation.

This article was developed in collaboration with Dalaroo Metals, 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.