Chalice Gold Mines Limited (ASX: CHN | OTCQB: CGMLF) has announced a significant new platinum group element (PGE)-copper-gold discovery from the ongoing exploration activities at its Julimar Nickel-Copper-PGE Project in Western Australia.
The company said that new growth opportunities have emerged at the Gonneville discovery, with several wide PGE-Cu +/-Au drill intersections over a ~1.2km strike length along the eastern contact, plus evidence of sulphide mineralisation in initial ~800m step-out hole into EM Conductor ‘X’.
Significant PGE-Cu +/-Au intersections at the eastern contact of the intrusion include 33m @ 2.1g/t Pd, 0.5g/t Pt, 0.2g/t Au, 0.2% Ni, 0.5% Cu, 0.02% Co from 81m.
Highlights from the initial wide-spaced drill holes at EM Conductor ‘F’ at the southern end of the intrusion include 33m @ 2.0g/t Pd, 0.4g/t Pt, 0.5g/t Au, 0.3% Ni, 0.8% Cu, 0.02% Co from 236m.
The company said that all new mineralised zones remain open and further infill drilling is currently underway.
CHN said that significant high-grade PGE-Ni confirmed in the G1-G2 Zones include 45.1m @ 2.9g/t Pd, 0.8g/t Pt, 0.4% Ni, 0.3% Cu, 0.03% Co from 223.9m; and 8.0m @ 5.1g/t Pd, 0.8g/t Pt, 0.3% Ni, 0.1% Cu, 0.02% Co from 98m.
Chalice said that four westerly dipping, stacked zones have now been interpreted in this area – G1, G2, G3, and G5. The company reported that zones now extended over ~550m of strike extent and up to ~340m of dip extent and remain open along strike and down-dip.
CHN said that assay results are pending for a further 32 completed drill holes.
Chalice reported that it is fully-funded to continue its 4-rig resource drill-out at Julimar with ~$50 million in cash and investments – a 5th rig expected to arrive in the coming weeks.
Julimar project
The Julimar Nickel-Copper-PGE project is located 70km north-east of Perth in Western Australia. The 100%-owned Julimar Project covers the entire >26km long Julimar Intrusive Complex (~26km x ~7km mafic-ultramafic layered complex) and ~24km of the highly prospective complex is yet to be explored.
Chalice had commenced a systematic, greenfield exploration program in mid-2019 targeting high-grade Ni-Cu-PGEs. Two MLEM conductors were shown to be associated with anomalous nickel-in-soils and preferentially located along the margins of a discrete magnetic anomaly (the potential southern feeder zone, subsequently named the Gonneville Intrusion).
Exploration activities at Julimar
The company had recently commenced exploration activities at the Julimar Nickel-Copper-PGE Project. CHN said that a total of 19 diamond drill holes (including RC pre-collars with diamond tails) and 88 RC drill holes have been completed to date at the project.
Chalice has now reported the assay results for 13 diamond and 59 RC holes from the step-out and resource definition drilling. CHN said that assay results are pending for a further 32 completed drill holes (5 diamond and 27 RC).
RC drilling intersects new wide PGE-Cu +/-Au
CHN said that the recent RC drilling on a nominal ~100-200m x 80m grid has tested the eastern margin of the Gonneville intrusion and intersected wide intervals of disseminated sulphides containing higher grade mineralised sub-intervals over a ~1.2km strike length.
This Eastern Contact position of the intrusion is 200-500m to the north-east, east, and south-east of the previously identified high-grade G1-G4 Zones.
Significant intersections at the eastern contact of the intrusion include 33m @ 2.1g/t Pd, 0.5g/t Pt, 0.2g/t Au, 0.2% Ni, 0.5% Cu, 0.02% Co from 81m (JRC048); 15.0m @ 2.5g/t Pd, 0.5g/t Pt, 0.2g/t Au, 0.3% Ni, 0.3% Cu, 0.02% Co from 139m (JRC052); and 13.0m @ 2.3g/t Pd, 0.6g/t Pt, 0.2g/t Au, 0.2% Ni, 0.5% Cu, 0.02% Co from 170m (JRC049).
The company said that RC drill hole JRC011 was extended with a diamond tail (JRC011D) to test the continuation of this zone at depth and intersected a narrow mineralised interval 2m @ 1.5g/t Pd, 0.9g/t Pt, 0.1g/t Au, 0.2% Ni, 0.1% Cu, 0.02% Co from 256m.
The company reported that the RC drilling at the north-east margin of the intrusion intersected several broad intervals of disseminated sulphides, enveloping zones of more abundant. CHN said that JRC039 tested an off-hole EM anomaly at JRC003D, located ~100m to the south, and intersected a zone of high-grade Ni-Cu rich massive sulphides. Intersects included 4m @ 3.2g/t Pd, 0.6g/t Pt, 0.05g/t Au, 2.1% Ni, 0.8% Cu, 0.15% Co from 122m.
Diamond drilling identifies five zones
The company said that the recent diamond drilling and subsequent geological interpretation has confirmed the presence of at least five high-grade (defined as >1.0g/t Pd cut-off grade) zones of mineralisation (G1-G5) around the discovery zone, which now extend over an area of ~550m x ~350m.
Significant high-grade PGE-Ni confirmed in the G1-G2 Zones (visual results reported previously) include 45.1m @ 2.9g/t Pd, 0.8g/t Pt, 0.4% Ni, 0.3% Cu, 0.03% Co from 223.9m (JD013), including 10.1m @ 3.2g/t Pd, 1.2g/t Pt, 0.4% Ni, 0.4% Cu, 0.03% Co from 223.9m; 10.6m @ 3.7g/t Pd, 1.2g/t Pt, 0.6% Ni, 0.3% Cu, 0.04% Co from 238.5m; 11.0m @ 4.8g/t Pd, 0.8g/t Pt, 0.8% Ni, 0.4% Cu, 0.05% Co from 256m; and 8.0m @ 5.1g/t Pd, 0.8g/t Pt, 0.3% Ni, 0.1% Cu, 0.02% Co from 98m (JD011).
The company said that four westerly dipping, stacked zones are now interpreted in this area – G1, G2, G3 and G5. The zones now extended over ~550m of strike extent and up to ~340m of dip extent and remain open along strike and down-dip.
CHN said that the drilling to the west (down-dip of G1-G3) has so far been restricted by pending permitting approvals.
Drilling results in oxide zones
Chalice reported that significant shallow, high-grade Pd-Pt-Au mineralisation continues to be intersected in the oxide zone above the high-grade G1-G5 and Eastern Contact areas.
New significant intersections include 31m @ 1.4g/t Pd, 0.4g/t Pt, 0.07g/t Au from 4m (JRC060); 17m @ 1.6g/t Pd, 0.7g/t Pt, 0.04g/t Au from 7m (JRC056); 14m @ 1.6g/t Pd, 0.5g/t Pt, 0.03g/t Au from 6m (JRC049); and 14.1m @ 1.5g/t Pd, 0.3g/t Pt, 0.02g/t Au from 14m (JD012).
Drill test of EM conductor ‘X’
The company announced that the initial drill test of EM Conductor ‘X’ is currently underway, with diamond hole JD018 currently at a depth of 690m.
CHN said that the hole has successfully intersected the Gonneville Intrusion from 428m, some 800m to the north-west of the G1-G5 Zones, which confirms that the intrusion extends beyond the limits of the ~1.6km x ~0.8km magnetic anomaly.
Chalice reported that JD018 intersected disseminated sulphide mineralisation from 631m to 646m, based on visual logging, a highly encouraging result. CHN said that all assay results are pending.
EM conductor ‘F’ target
CHN announced that an initial program of 20 drill holes (18 RC and 2 diamond drill holes) recently tested the EM Conductor ‘F’ Target, located at the southern end of the Gonneville Intrusion. The company said that the drilling was completed on a nominal 100m x 80m spaced grid, with some holes oriented at sub-optimal azimuths due to surface restrictions.
Chalice said that assay results have been received for 7 drill holes. Significant results include 18.6m @ 2.1g/t Pd, 0.8g/t Pt, 0.2% Ni, 0.1% Cu, 0.02% Co from 240.4m (JD010); 33m @ 2.0g/t Pd, 0.4g/t Pt, 0.5g/t Au, 0.3% Ni, 0.8% Cu, 0.02% Co from 236m (JRC060); and 6.0m @ 8.8g/t Pd, 0.2g/t Pt, 0.2% Ni, 0.1% Cu, 0.02% Co from 196m (JRC040).
The company noted that mineralisation is hosted within serpentinite and locally along contacts with late granite intrusions. The new mineralised intervals are open in all directions.
CHN said that the southern end of the Gonneville Intrusion is cut by numerous post-mineralisation granitic and dolerite dykes and more infill drilling is required to better understand the continuity of mineralised zones.
Next steps
CHN said that diamond and RC drilling will continue to test high-priority targets including EM conductors. The company said that further drilling along strike and down dip may occur at these and other targets depending on results.
Chalice said that a down-hole EM surveying will be carried out on the majority of diamond and selective RC drill holes to test for off-hole conductors, and subsequent holes will undergo down-hole EM if required.
Ongoing and planned activities at Julimar include the ~70,000m RC/diamond drill program currently underway with 2 RC and 2 diamond rigs, with a third RC rig is expected to mobilise to site in the coming weeks; EM Geophysics (DHEM and ground EM); metallurgical testwork; and Geochemistry and Geochronology.
Management comments
Chalice Managing Director Alex Dorsch said: “The Gonneville PGE-Ni-Cu-Co-Au discovery continues to grow and recent drilling has delivered exciting new target horizons. Several new mineralised zones are emerging on the eastern contact with initial wide-spaced PGE and associated copper+/-gold drill intersections.
The discovery of more extensive mineralisation along the eastern contact and at Conductor ‘F’ is another exciting step-change in our understanding of this large mineralised system, opening up an exciting new growth opportunity some 200-500m from of the high-grade discovery area.
In addition, assay results have confirmed a wide PGE-nickel intersection down-dip of the G2 Zone, which was originally interpreted as the G1 Zone but has now been re-interpreted based on new results. At least five high-grade zones around the discovery area are now defined over ~550m of strike and up to ~340m of dip extent. Our geological understanding of the high-grade zones continues to be improved as we start to infill in parallel to step-out drilling.
We are currently drilling the first hole into the new EM Conductor ‘X’, an initial ~800m step-out from the limit of high-grade mineralised zones. Interestingly, the Gonneville Intrusion appears to be much larger than originally envisaged with the magnetics and has significant room to grow towards the north-west.
Evidence of sulphide mineralisation in the hole also further highlights the potential of the recently defined ~6.5km long Hartog EM Anomaly directly north of Gonneville.The flow of drill results will continue as we step-up activity again with a 5th rig arriving shortly.
We are on track to meet the mid-2021 guidance for a maiden Mineral Resource and continue to prioritise growth of high-grade mineralised zones.”