Ardea Resources (ASX:ARL) has intersected shallow, ‘high-grade’ nickel-cobalt mineralisation during metallurgical diamond drilling at its Highway nickel-cobalt deposit in Western Australia.
The result at Highway, which provides satellite plant feed for the miner’s Kalgoorlie Nickel Project, is considered to be a validation of mineralisation models used to form the deposit’s Mineral Resource Estimate.
Key intercepts from the program include:
- Hole AHID0002
- 42m @ 0.77% nickel and 0.11% cobalt from 2m; including
- 12m @ 1.01% nickel and 0.22% cobalt from 16m
- 6m @ 1.00% nickel and 0.04% cobalt from 38m
- 42m @ 0.77% nickel and 0.11% cobalt from 2m; including
- Hole AHID0003
- 36m @ 0.95% nickel and 0.08% cobalt from 2m; including
- 24m @ 1.11% nickel and 0.10% cobalt from 4m
- 36m @ 0.95% nickel and 0.08% cobalt from 2m; including
- Hole AHID0004
- 40m @ 0.86% nickel and 0.10% cobalt from 10m; including
- 28m @ 0.96% nickel and 0.12% cobalt from 14m
- 40m @ 0.86% nickel and 0.10% cobalt from 10m; including
- Hole AHID0008
- 18m @ 1.08% nickel and 0.06% cobalt from 4m; including
- 14m @ 1.21% nickel and 0.06% cobalt from 6m
- 18m @ 1.08% nickel and 0.06% cobalt from 4m; including
- Hole AHID0010
- 28m @ 0.87% nickel and 0.04% cobalt from 14m; including
- 8m @ 1.23% nickel and 0.05% cobalt from 22m
- 28m @ 0.87% nickel and 0.04% cobalt from 14m; including
- Hole AHID0019
- 10m @ 1.18% nickel and 0.12% cobalt from 18m; including
- 8m @ 1.32% nickel and 0.15% cobalt from 18m
- 10m @ 1.18% nickel and 0.12% cobalt from 18m; including
- Hole AHID0020
- 28m @ 0.78% nickel and 0.04% cobalt from 26m; including
- 6m @ 1.08% nickel and 0.08% cobalt from 30m
- 2m @ 1.02% nickel and 0.04% cobalt from 46m
- 28m @ 0.78% nickel and 0.04% cobalt from 26m; including
- Hole AHID0022
- 34m @ 0.88% nickel and 0.04% cobalt from 8m; including
- 14m @ 1.14% nickel and 0.04% cobalt from 16m
- 2m @ 1.01% nickel and 0.03% cobalt from 38m
- 34m @ 0.88% nickel and 0.04% cobalt from 8m; including
Addressing the results, Ardea Resources Managing Director Andrew Penkethman said: “The core drilling at Highway was the first field test of the KNP low-carbon flowsheet model. It was important for confirming the expectation that high-magnesium mineralisation is suitable as an Atmospheric Leach (AL) feed and uniformly underlies the premium goethite High Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL) feed. The 2021 Diamond Drilling (DD) program supports Ardea’s modeling that Highway is particularly endowed with AL material.
“The 2021 Diamond Drilling program supports Ardea’s modeling that Highway is particularly endowed with AL material”
AL material is especially important to the low-carbon flowsheet as this helps enable the on-site acid plant to be expanded to generate excess steam which is used for off-grid power generation.
The Highway DD program tested well below the depth of historic RC drilling. In terms of Mineralised Neutraliser, from our detailed core logging, the neutraliser will be an extensive sheet below the AL feed at the base of conventional open pits. It appears to be of a cave-fill mineralisation style within saprock. In a production situation, this material would best be defined by grade control drilling from the base of pit floor, and mined as “goodbye cuts”.
With the Highway geological model now confirmed, we eagerly await the results of the ALS benchscale metallurgy, testing the Highway flowsheet model. These results will feed into ongoing DFS work flows and continue to enhance the KNP Goongarrie Hub as a globally significant source of sustainable and ethical minerals to fuel the battery revolution”.
Images: Ardea Resources Limited
