Stocks fly as a ‘nearology’ rush gets underway near Julimar, WA’s newest discovery

A nearology rush is now emerging following Chalice Gold Mines’ (ASX:CHN) high-grade nickel-copper-palladium discovery in March at the greenfields Julimar project, about 60km from Perth in WA.

‘Nearology’ puts a spotlight on any explorer with ground close(ish) to a huge, company-making mineral discovery.

The wave of small caps now exploring the Lachlan Fold Belt of NSW – sparked by Alkane Resources’ (ASX:ALK) Boda porphyry copper-gold discovery — is a recent example of this phenomenon.

At Julimar, follow up drilling has since confirmed that Chalice could be onto something very significant in this previously overlooked mineral province. The stock is now up +670 per cent since late March with a market cap of almost $370 million.

Today, DevEx Resources (ASX:DEV) became the third listed explorer to either move into the area or announce work programs over the past few weeks.

DevEx has applied for four tenements totalling 564sqkm; three of which contain magnetic anomalies within the Julimar Complex “with the potential to host nickel-copper-PGE mineralisation”.

The explorers main focus remains on the Junee copper-gold project in the Lachlan Fold of NSW, where it has identified a number of large porphyry targets for drilling.

The stock was up +10 per cent in early trade.

Last week, advanced lithium player Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) said it had finished initial early exploration work at its Moora nickel project — located in the same geological terrain as Julimar discovery, 95 km to the south.

Liontown actually secured the 467sqkm project back in 2018 as part of its ‘generative’ exploration strategy. It says initial exploration concepts have been validated by Chalice’s discovery.

Experienced mining investor Tim Goyder is involved in Chalice, DevEx, and Liontown as board member and/or major shareholder.

On April 14 Mandrake Resources (ASX:MAN) also caught a rocket after announcing a move into the region, entering a deal to farm-in to the Jimperding project, about 30km east of Julimar.

The company – up +60 per cent over the past month — will be targeting nickel-copper-platinum group elements (PGEs) mineralisation hosted in intrusive complexes, the same mineralisation Chalice has identified at Julimar. Mandrake’s first priorities will be to confirm historical exploration and conduct geophysical work to help new targets for drilling.

Then there’s Cassini Resources (ASX:CZI), which was well established nearby and has just finished a maiden diamond drilling campaign of its own at the Yarawindah Brook project, 40km north of Julimar.

While not mind blowing, the results were encouraging. The explorer is now identifying new targets for drilling while adding a number of tenements to the now 400sqkm project.