Kingsrose Mining scores final approval to drill project in Norway

Kingsrose’s Porsanger drilling approved by Norway Government and King in Council
Project to be explored under Alliance Agreement with BHP for up to US$20m
The company is chasing massive sulphide nickel-copper-PGE mineralisation

Special Report: Kingsrose Mining has welcomed the granting of approval by the Ministry of Trade and Fisheries of Norway for the drilling of the Karenhaugen prospect within its Porsanger project – upheld by the King in Council.

The Porsanger project sits at the northern end of two ~100km long converging greenstone belts (the Karasjok and the Kautokeino Belts) that are considered prospective for ultramafic hosted massive sulphide nickel-copper-PGE mineralisation.

The company will drill seven pad locations at the prospect, called ‘Kárenašvárri’ in the indigenous Sámi language, where notable outcropping magmatic sulphide PGE-copper intersections include:

Up to 43.2m at 0.9g/t palladium, 0.4g/t platinum, and 0.1% copper from 67m at Karenhaugen; and
53m at 0.8g/t palladium, 0.3g/t platinum, and 0.1% copper from 2.85m at the Porsvann prospect.

The prospect is also within the area of interest under the Alliance Agreement for Finnmark

between Kingsrose Mining (ASX:KRM) and BHP (ASX:BHP) announced earlier this year, where the mining giant is sole funding up to US$20 million in exploration costs over four years.

BHP can then earn-in up to 75% in two stages by sole funding up to another US$36 million (A$56 million) over 7 years and potentially progress to a joint venture.

This follows KRM’s successful participation in the BHP Xplor program in 2023 – a unique, six-month venture capital accelerator program which provides juniors funding, tools, expertise and a global network to transform budding mineral exploration ideas into reality.

KRM has already staked exploration permits along the belts during participation in the BHP Xplor program and completed a fixed-loop electromagnetic survey over the two ultramafic intrusions which indicate a strong conductor down dip of the Karenhaugen intrusion.

The company believes this could represent massive sulphide nickel-copper-PGE mineralisation, with the approved drilling program to test this hypothesis.

A best-in-class drill program

Under Norwegian law, the Ministry is required to balance interests in minerals exploration and development whilst ensuring the interests of Indigenous people are safeguarded, with the company required to cooperate with Spierttagáisá and local communities to design a best-in-class responsible drill program.

“We recognise the thorough process conducted by the Ministry in bringing this decision. Kingsrose has worked diligently to design a drilling program that protects local values, through dialogue with the local reindeer herding district and carrying out Sámi archaeological and field and biodiversity surveys,” KRM head of sustainability Graham Farrer said.

“We consider this a major step in unlocking other prospects across the Finnmark area of interest.

“We look forward to demonstrating our responsible approach to exploration through our actions and collaborating with local communities to explore the mineral potential of the Finnmark region.”

While the drilling permit has no exploration date, work can only be carried out between December 1and February 15, unless otherwise agreed with Spierttagáisá (due to the expected absence of reindeer and reduced environmental impact due to snow cover) with two members of Spierttagáisá to be present during drilling operations.

This article was developed in collaboration with Kingsrose Mining, 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.