Galileo Mining Ltd (ASX: GAL) has announced a promising discovery at its Lantern Prospect in Western Australia’s Fraser Range Nickel Belt following the receipt of significant nickel discovery and copper assay results.
Galileo Managing Director Brad Underwood said the positive assay returns is an excellent result from the first ever RC drilling programme at the Lantern Prospect.
“We have now discovered a fertile mineralised system containing nickel and copper sulphides.
“Our next step is to define the extent and quantity of the target metals and, given that we have over two kilometres of untested strike length at this one target alone, the potential for a large discovery is outstanding.”
The discovery was made when Galileo completed three Reverse Circulation (RC) drill holes around an existing geochemical anomaly generated from aircore drilling undertaken in 2019.
Mr Underwood said two drill holes (LARC001 and LARC002) confirmed the geochemical anomaly while the third drill hole (LARC003) identified the source of the anomaly by intersecting nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation in fresh rock.
Disseminated sulphide mineralisation in LARC003, with an estimated maximum of 12 % sulphide over a one metre interval, occurs at a contact zone between a mafic/ultramafic intrusion and the host country rock.
Results reported at a 0.1% copper cut-off grade for the three drill holes are as follows;
- 10m @ 0.21% nickel and 0.14% copper from 62m (weathered rock)
- 21m @ 0.19% nickel and 0.18% copper from 59m (weathered rock)
- 12m @ 0.38% nickel and 0.33% copper from 124m (sulphide)
- 5m @ 0.13% nickel and 0.13% copper from 150m (sulphide)
Mr Underwood said this result is particularly important as the disseminated sulphide intercept may be close to a zone of increased sulphide mineralisation (massive, semi-massive or net textured) with the capacity to contain higher grades of nickel and copper. The drill hole intersection occurs on the edge of a magnetic feature which is interpreted to represent the contact between the prospective intrusive rocks and the host country rock.
Over two kilometres of strike length remains to be tested for mineralisation and the intersection is open at depth.
Mr Underwood said the ultramafic target at Lantern is just one of a number of prospective intrusions within an area of approximately 10km by 8km. A separate EM conductor occurs two-and-a-half kilometres north of the previous RC drilling and is the current subject of RC drilling for the purpose of down hole EM surveying.
Additional intrusive targets within the area have been developed from detailed magnetic and gravity data sets, and aircore drilling programmes have been designed to look for geochemical anomalism using the same methodology as that which led to the initial discovery of sulphide mineralisation at Lantern.
The Lantern prospect is approximately 100km from the operating Nova nickel mine and 40 km along strike from Legend Mining’s Mawson Prospect.
