May 2016
The Merolia nickel and copper project consists of a major section of the Merolia greenstone belt southeast of Laverton in the Eastern Goldfield of WA covering 771 square kilometres that is prospective for magmatic nickel and copper sulphides.
The main prospective zones are the basal contact of the Diorite Hill ultramafic intrusion and three intrusive ultramafic complexes (Rotorua, Curara and Coglia) south of Diorite Hill (Figure 1).
Drilling in 2016 has identified a possible nickel sulphide discovery at the Coglia nickel prospect where drilling encountered a nickel intersection of 12 metres at 2.18% nickel including 4 metres at 3% nickel.
Figure 1 Map of the tenements at the Merolia Project near Laverton WA, with target areas highlighted.
Coglia Nickel Sulphide Prospect (100%)
Drilling in 2016 encountered a strongly enriched ultramafic regolith profile containing 12 metres at 2.18% nickel including 4 metres at 3% nickel. The mineralised intervals are summarised below:
The nickel and copper mineralisation has been concentrated as a result of weathering and supergene enrichment processes but is interpreted to be derived from magmatic nickel sulphides concentrated in the underlying ultramafic sequence due to crystal fractionation. The Company will collect the one metre samples shortly for further analysis to determine if the mineralisation is related to sulphide mineralisation.
Figure 2 The Coglia nickel sulphide prospect showing the large Ultramafic Unit (LUU) where drilling (MERC004) identified nickel mineralisation.
The drilling also revealed highly anomalous zones of platinum (Pt) and palladium (Pd) in the fresh ultramafic providing diagnostic evidence that the Coglia ultramafic unit is particularly prospective for nickel sulphide mineralisation. Platinum group elements partition strongly into the sulphide phase during the crystal fractionation process and the levels present in the Coglia ultramafic demonstrate that a sulphide phase is present. The results include:
The Company considers these sequences to be exceptionally prospective for nickel sulphide accumulations.
The Coglia ultramafic is 7 kilometres long and 1500 metres wide and consists of fractionated series of ultramafic intrusive units. There are potentially several prospective horizons and further petrological and compositional studies are required to determine the best exploration approach. The Company will engage specialist consultants to assist with this work.
Project Background
The Merolia project contains numerous magmatic nickel-copper targets that into two categories:
The above discoveries highlight the potential for the Merolia nickel-copper project to host similar mineralisation as the project contains both intrusive layered ultramafic and extrusive komatiitic type targets including: