Chalice Mining (ASX:CHN) will launch formal process to secure a strategic partnership following continued unsolicited third party interest in the company’s 100% owned Julimar Nickel-Copper-Platinum Group Element Project.
The company continues to progress development studies for the Gonneville deposit in parallel to initial exploration activities across the 30km long Julimar Complex. Chalice reports that the size of Gonneville has increased about 50% to 3 million tonnes of nickel equivalent and 30 million ounces of palladium equivalent. This is an increase from July 2022 when 2Mt Ni-Eq and 20Moz Pd-Eq was reported.
Chalice reports that given the growing scale of the resource and in response to continued strategic interest, Chalice intends to start a formal strategic partnership process.
Chalice anticipates that a strategic partner (or partners) with complementary technical, marketing, and financial capability may assist with the development of Gonneville and influence the optimal development strategy to maximise shareholder value. The company has been engaging with a range of downstream, trading and end-user parties in relation to a potential minority joint venture partner (or partners) and will now broaden the engagement to include potential mining/operating partners.
The partnering process will explore a broad range of transactions according to Chalice and partner preference, with the ultimate aim of maximising shareholder value. It is expected that the optimal development pathway for the project may be influenced by the nature of the partner(s) and transaction(s) and, in light of this, the partnering process will continue in parallel with ongoing development studies.
Development studies for the Julimar Project are advancing, with prefeasibility level work already starting on metallurgy and waste management. Given the significant increase in the resource and ongoing metallurgical testwork assessing geo-metallurgical domains, these will be incorporated into the current studies and Chalice will determine an expected completion timing in the next few months.
Chalice has released an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the Gonneville Deposit, the first discovery at Julimar, located 70km north-east of Perth in Western Australia.
The large-scale Gonneville magmatic PGE-Ni-Cu-Co-Au sulphide deposit, which was initially discovered in early 2020, is located on Chalice-owned farmland. Over the past 3 years, more than 1,000 drillholes for 275,000m have been completed to define the deposit which, remarkably, still remains open to the north-west and down-dip.
Chalice engaged Cube Consulting to prepare an updated MRE for Gonneville. The resource has been reported in accordance with the 2012 JORC Code and effective 28 March. The resource is reported within a pit shell using long term metal price assumptions of US$1,800/oz Pd, US$1,200/oz Pt, US$1,800/oz Au, US$24,000/t Ni, US$10,500/t Cu, US$72,000/t Co and is reported above a 0.35% Ni-Eq cut-off grade in-pit. Resources outside the pit shell are reported above a sub-level cave underground cut-off grade of 0.4% Ni-Eq.
drilling and re-modelling have resulted in a 50% increase in the contained nickel equivalent metal relative to the July 2022 estimate
Since the previous resource update in July 2022, drilling at Gonneville has largely been focused on infill and extensional drilling at the northern end of the deposit, as well as extending ‘high-grade’ shoots at depth. A total of 260 new drill holes have been incorporated into this resource update.
Chalice says drilling and re-modelling have resulted in a 50% increase in the contained nickel equivalent metal relative to the July 2022 estimate. This increase is due to, among other aspects, extensional drilling defining new mineralisation along strike and down-dip of the previous resource pit shell; the resource pit shell increasing in size in the northern portion of the deposit as a result of infill and extensional drilling defining additional mineralisation; and pit optimisation parameters being updated to incorporate revised long term metal prices.
The company reports the robust nature of the resource is demonstrated by the grade tonnage curve, which highlights the significant quantity of pit-constrained sulphide mineralisation at higher cut-off grades. The grade-tonnage curve for the resource includes material classified as inferred, where data is insufficient to allow the geological grade and continuity to be confidently interpreted. The grade-tonnage curve excludes oxide and underground resource domains.
The significant higher grade component of the resource provides ‘excellent optionality’ for any future development and could potentially materially improve project economics in the initial years of the operation. This remains a focus of the ongoing development studies.
Drilling is continuing at Gonneville outside the resource, with assays currently pending for 52 drillholes.
Future works at the project include exploration drilling at the Hartog-Dampier Targets, resource definition and exploration diamond drilling at the Gonneville deposit, metallurgical testwork, and baseline surveys of ground water, surface water, flora, fauna, and dieback.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: Chalice Mining Ltd
