Miramar zeros in on Norilsk-style targets in WA

Miramar says drilling and rock chips highlight potential for Norilsk-style mineralisation
New Exploration Licences granted over additional targets
Company plans to sign up to the CSIRO’s ‘Indicator minerals for magmatic mafic-ultramafic ore systems’ project

Special Report: Miramar Resources notes that assays from maiden RC drilling at the Mount Vernon project, part of its wider Bangemall project tenements in the Gascoyne region of WA, have pointed to the potential for nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), cobalt (Co) and platinum group element (PGE) sulphide mineralisation similar to the super giant Norilsk-Talnakh deposits in Russia.

The Mount Vernon project is part of a geological province in WA’s Gascoyne region that is the same age as the Giles Complex, which hosts the large Nebo and Babel Ni-Cu deposits in the West Musgraves.

And the region has been identified by the Geological Survey of Western Australia, Geoscience Australia and the CSIRO as having high prospectivity for mineralisation associated with the Kulkatharra Dolerite sills – a feature that reads like the giant Norilsk Ni-Cu-PGE deposits in Russia.

The company also completed further rock chip sampling aimed at identifying potential vectors of the mineralisation and says both the drilling and rock chip sampling has provided positive indications of the potential for Norilsk-style mineralisation.

In the Norilsk-style ballpark

“We didn’t intersect nickel sulphide mineralisation this time but the new data, when compared with known Ni-Cu-Co-PGE deposits both within and outside Australia, shows that we are in the ballpark,” Miramar Resources (ASX:M2R) executive chairman Allan Kelly said.

“All the key ingredients for Norilsk-style mineralisation are present at Mt Vernon: the right aged mafic intrusive rocks, deep crustal-scale structures which could act as potential plumbing systems and sulphur-rich sediments in the form of pyritic siltstones and evaporite-rich dolomites.

“The new data from our recent drilling and rock chip sampling has provided evidence of differentiation and mafic cumulate rocks which are a key component of this style of deposit.”

Two new exploration licences

In addition, the company has recently been granted two exploration licence applications (E52/4380 and E52/4387) adjacent to the Mount Vernon and Trouble Bore projects.

These tenements cover interpreted Kulkatharra Dolerite and areas that have been highlighted by both Geoscience Australia and the CSIRO as being highly prospective for mafic intrusion-hosted Ni-Cu-Co-PGE mineralisation.

Regional gravity data also suggests potential for a buried magma chamber beneath E52/4380.

The company plans to sign up to the CSIRO’s ‘Indicator minerals for magmatic mafic-ultramafic ore systems (Ni, Cu, Co, PGEs, V, Ti)’ project and provide selected samples from the recent drilling program for further petrographic and geochemical analysis.

Mapping and systematic rock chip sampling across the wider Bangemall project tenements will also continue.

This article was developed in collaboration with Miramar Resources, 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.