Galileo Mining (ASX:GAL) reports it has recorded the ‘highest’ rhodium grades to date from drilling at the Callisto Palladium-Platinum-Gold-Rhodium-Copper-Nickel Discovery within the Norseman Project in Western Australia.
The company says the rhodium assays are increasing at depth within ‘high-grade’ palladium-platinum seams, and significant intersections recorded include 30m @ 2.14g/t 4E (1.69g/t Pd, 0.30g/t Pt, 0.05g/t rh, 0.09g/t Au), 0.37% Cu and 0.34%% Ni from 149m in NRC299, and 30m @ 1.92g/t 4E (1.55g/t Pd, 0.25g/t Pt, 0.04g/t Rh, 0.08g/t Au), 0.32% Cu and 0.32% Ni from 152m in NCR300.
Drillhole NCRD279 intersected 1m @ 4.76g/t 4E (3.82g/t Pd, 0.66g/t Pt, 0.13g/t Rh, 0.15g/t Au), 0.70% Cu and 0.59% Ni from 267m including 5m @ 3.36g/t 4E (2.64g/t Pd, 0.46g/t Pt, 0.08g/t Rh, 0.18g/t Au), 0.54% Cu and 0.45% Ni from 265m.
Galileo Mining Managing Director Brad Underwood said rhodium assays received from the recently discovered lower zone of Callisto contains grades up to 0.13g/t, which is the highest the company has seen so far at the project.
“The high rhodium content in drillhole NRCD279 was intersected within a 5m seam with over 3g/t palladium plus platinum and 1m intervals grading up to 0.70% copper and 0.59% nickel.
“The high rhodium content in drillhole NRCD279 was intersected within a 5m seam with over 3g/t palladium plus platinum and 1m intervals grading up to 0.70% copper and 0.59% nickel”
New intersections with grades like these are very encouraging and show that we have only just started to explore the mineralisation at Callisto. Our understanding is limited to the small area we have drilled, and with mineralisation open both to the northwest and southeast, we believe that the potential for new zones of mineralisation is exceptional.
Our petrography results show that we have similar rock types to the Platreef palladium deposits in South Africa. Other similarities include the style of mineralisation and the metal distribution.
This tells us the prospectivity of our Norseman project area is much higher than previously recognised and the opportunity for ongoing discoveries is significant.”
Galileo reports petrographical samples were prepared and examined under the microscope to determine rock characteristics, and rock description included a partly serpentinised harzburgite above the mineralised zone.
This is interpreted to be part of the larger sill complex which was in turn intruded by the mineralised sill, described as a meta-pyroxenite.
The disseminated style of the sulphide mineralisation than contained palladium, platinum, rhodium, gold, nickel, and copper, the host rock and the mineralised rock units all show resemblance to the disseminated sulphide ore bodies of the Platreef deposits on the northern limb of the Bushveld Complex in South Africa.
The company reports much of the world’s platinum and palladium is produced from South Africa, and the similarities between Callisto and the Platreef deposits is ‘encouraging’ for the regional prospectivity of Galileo’s Norseman Project.
Galileo Mining is an ASX-listed exploration company focused on the discovery of base metals in Western Australia.
The company’s projects include the 602km-square Fraser Range Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Project and the 306km-square Norseman Nickel-Cobalt Project both located near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.
Images: Galileo Mining Ltd
