Ardea (ASX:ARL) prove up prospectivity for Highway sulphides
December 15, 2023Already host to a globally significant nickel-cobalt laterite resource, Ardea Resources‘ EIS-funded drill hole into the Highway Deposit has confirmed prospectivity for nickel sulphides at a Kalgoorlie Nickel Project advancing to development.
And the WA-backed drilling also came home with lithium-caesium intrusives and very high levels of rubidium, confirming a fractionated LCT system and validating Ardea’s belief that its large property remained highly prospective for sulphides and critical minerals.
Review of historical drill holes and a recent mapping program further pointed toward the project’s lithium prospectivity, and sampling assays are now pending from numerous LCT intrusive outcrops.
Ardea Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Penkethman acknowledged the vision and support of the EIS and said that while focussed on concluding a strategic partner process for the project, it considered its broader tenements to have significant remaining exploration potential.
“The results from drilling the EIS core hole at Highway, have reiterated this prospectivity by confirming that the Walter Williams Formation (WWF) is prospective for hosting nickel sulphide mineralisation at depth, as well as the extensive surface nickel laterite development,” Mr Penkethman said.
“The identification of lithium-caesium-rubidium bearing intrusives occurring within the WWF has prompted a broader assessment of Ardea Goongarrie Hub tenure that meets the EIS hole exploration model and has demonstrated that lithium bearing LCT intrusives are present and can be ranked for future exploration.”
While there is a way to go before proving the nickel sulphides are economic, the allure is high, given it would open up a massive new stretch of sulphide exploration in a region with 146 tenements and 4271 square kilometres all under the Ardea banner.
The world’s big sulphide deposits are depleting and miners are increasingly turning to more arduously extracted, but abundant laterite deposits, making a fresh find significant beyond the benefit of Ardea and its shareholders.
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