Venture Minerals Limited (ASX:VMS) has confirmed that Chalice Mining Limited has completed the first stage of the JV with the company on the South West Nickel-Copper-PGE Project in Western Australia by spending the minimum A$300k on exploration by the November 30, 2021.
The majority of the expenditure was focused on Venture’s Thor Target, a 20km long, “Julimar lookalike” magnetic anomaly interpreted to be mafic-ultramafic intrusive complex, in which Chalice may earn up to 70% by spending A$3.7 million on exploration over four years.
Exploration activity during this first phase of the JV recently saw Chalice complete the ground EM program at Venture’s South West Nickel-Copper-PGE Project. Chalice’s geophysical survey focused on Venture’s highly prospective Thor Target.
Chalice’s EM programme is over the area where’s Venture’s previous airborne EM survey delineated 13 highly conductive anomalies within the southern 6.5km of the “Julimar lookalike” magnetic anomaly.
Results of this work will be announced once Chalice’s exploration team have received the final data and completed their interpretation of any resultant bedrock conductors, this is expected in early 2022.
Chalice will follow-up any resultant bedrock conductors from the EM program with soil geochemistry to define potential drill-ready targets. Should Chalice elect to drill the targets it will need to spend A$1.2 million by July 29, 2022 (including monies already spent) to earn 51% and a further A$2.5 million to earn 70%.
Venture’s Managing Director, Andrew Radonjic, said from the initial third of the planned EM Programne Chalice has already defined new EM anomalies of similar strength conductors to those that yielded wide and significant palladium intervals during the early drilling phase of the Julimar Ni-Cu-PGE discovery. In addition, one of the new EM anomalies is within 10 metres of a previously drilled hole TOR04 which intersected 86 metres of disseminated sulphides with anomalous levels of PGE mineralisation.
“With Venture’s JV partner Chalice Mining completing the first stage of the JV earn-in through the completion of a detailed EM survey, the Company now eagerly awaits the survey results,” Mr Radonjic said.
“The knowledge gained from Chalice’s Julimar discoveries will be a huge advantage in determining which conductors should be drilled first and this no doubt increases the probability of bringing a discovery forward. This is the main reason why Venture decided to partner with Chalice on this project as it clearly increases the chances of success which benefits all of the company’s shareholders.”
The South West Project (256 sq. km) is located ~240 km south of Perth hosted within the Balingup Gneiss Complex. The two main prospects within the Project are Thor and Odin and both contain areas of potential Nickel-Copper-PGE prospectivity.
Thor is a 20km long ‘Julimar lookalike’ (as defined by Chalice) magnetic anomaly associated with chromium rich rocks indicative of mafic-ultramafic intrusions. A recent airborne EM survey by Venture identified 13 highly conductive anomalies within the southern 6.5km of the regional magnetic feature, of which only two have been tested by single holes in Venture’s 2018 maiden drill programme, with the last drill hole (TOR05) intersecting 2.4m of Massive Sulfide averaging 0.5% Copper, 0.05% Nickel, 0.04% Cobalt and anomalous gold and palladium.
At Odin, in the only hole drilled, Nickel and Copper sulphides were intersected within a highly prospective mafic- ultramafic unit that extends over 10 strike kilometres. This was further supported by surface sampling returning significant nickel and copper geochemical anomalies.
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