Galileo Mining Ltd (ASX: GAL) has identified a new zone of platinum group element (PGE) enrichment in exploration results from drilling 600m north of the Callisto palladium-nickel discovery at the Norseman project in Western Australia.
“Drilling an anomalous intersection over such a wide zone is a significant result from exploration drilling at our Norseman project,” Managing Director, Brad Underwood, said.
“In particular, the assays show we have found a new type of rock containing palladium and platinum that is separate and unique from the rock which hosts the Callisto discovery 600m to the south.
“These results confirm the PGE enrichment at Callisto is not restricted to one rock unit, or one mineralization style, and illustrates the opportunity for further discoveries within the five kilometres of ground along strike to the north.
“In addition to the ongoing work at Callisto, RC drilling is scheduled to begin at the end of June at the Mission Sill and Jimberlana prospects located six kilometres southeast of Callisto within very similar ultramafic geology. The Jimberlana and Mission Sill targets both contain numerous early stage aircore results with anomalous nickel, palladium, platinum, and copper.
“The company aims to repeat the Callisto success with new discoveries from our extensive 255 sq. km Norseman Project and, with multiple high-quality targets for testing, we are excited to be working within a newly discovered nickel-palladium district.”
NRC435 and NRC436 were drilled as pre-collars for diamond tails with the intention of intersecting the lower zones of the ultramafic sill complex where Ni-Pd sulphide mineralization within a host pyroxenite has been encountered at the Callisto discovery 600m to the south.
A PGE enriched high-magnesium unit has been identified while drilling the upper portion of the layered intrusion. This unit can also be differentiated from surrounding layers through chromium, titanium, and vanadium geochemistry. Copper levels are low and nickel levels are in line with background levels for ultramafic rocks.
The newly identified ultramafic unit is interpreted to have potential for “reef style” PGE mineralization where high grades of PGEs are found within thin layers of ultramafic sill complexes. Type examples of PGE reef style mineralization include the Stillwater Complex in the United States and the Bushveld Complex in South Africa.
Diamond tails on NRC435 and NRC436 are planned for drilling in July with further exploration work to the north of Callisto planned for later in the year, following the completion of the first round of RC drilling at the Jimberlana and Mission Sill prospects.
Jimberlana and Mission Sill Prospects
A 4,000m RC drill campaign is on track to commence at the Jimberlana and Mission Sill prospects in late June with drilling expected to take around one month to complete. The Mission Sill is a mafic-ultramafic intrusion with similar geology to the host rock at the Callisto discovery. The Mission Sill is located approximately six km to the southeast of Callisto and has multiple anomalous drilling results over a 10km strike length.
The Jimberlana Dyke is an extensive east-west trending mafic-ultramafic dyke with anomalous drill results on both the northern and southern margins. Of particular note is an intersection on the northern margin at the bottom of an Air Core drill hole where geochemically anomalous sulphides were intersected.
Strong EM conductors proximal to the anomalous drill intercept make this prospect a compelling target.
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