Corazon exercises option to purchase ‘highly prospective’ Miriam Nickel Sulphide Project

Corazon Mining (ASX: CZN) is set to acquire the ‘highly prospective’ Miriam Nickel Sulphide Project in Western Australia’s Goldfields region after exercising a purchase option announced earlier in July.

The company reports that following successful due diligence work, it has completed a stage 1 consideration payment of $125,000 for the project, which it describes as containing evidence of ‘high nickel tenor’ with massive and disseminated sulphides from historical drilling.

Corazon describes the project as bringing ‘excellent’ exploration potential along strike and at depth from previously explored prospects, which have been under-explored over the previous 20 years. Data from drilling programs carried out by Anaconda Australia Limited in the 1960’s and 1970’s has provided a number of priority targets for early drilling, with a defined core over 150m of strike and to 150m below surface. Further drilling extended mineralisation to 300m below surface in areas.

Results from initial definition drilling included the following grades:

• 9.6m @ 5.60% Ni
• 12.5m @ 0.56% Ni
• 3.2m @ 2.59% Ni
• 0.9m @ 5.57% Ni
• 6.1m @ 0.90% Ni

Further nickel exploration was carried out during the mid 1990’s by Crest Resources, and in the early-to-mid 2000’s by a JV including Berkeley Resources, MPI and Sipa Exploration, with further massive and disseminated nickel sulphides identified.

Importantly, much of the historic drilling along the ultramafic sequence to the north and south of Miriam used shallow percussion drilling, which was unable to penetrate through the oxide zone in many holes. The the company states that this provides an ‘extensive untested opportunity’ at depth in the footwall target.

Stage 2 consideration of $400,000 is payable to the vendor, due at either 6 months after the option exercise date or earlier if tenure is successfully granted. The vendor will also retain a 2% net smelter royalty, along with rights to mine mullock dumps and metal detect over several years.

Images: Corazon Mining Limited