Golden Mile Resources (ASX:G88) reports that an 8-hole (~540m) larger size PQ (85mm) diamond drill program has started at its flagship Quicksilver Nickel-Cobalt Project as part of stage three metallurgical test work.
The 100% owned Quicksilver Nickel-Cobalt Project has an Indicated and Inferred Resource of 26.3 million tonnes @ 0.64% Nickel (Ni) and 0.04% Cobalt (Co) (cut-off grade >0.5% Ni or >0.05% Co) which contains some 168,500 tonnes of nickel metal and 11,300 tonnes of cobalt metal.
Wood PLC has been tasked to design and manage the metallurgical testwork program, which will be completed at Bureau Veritas in Canning Vale, and have requested diamond core intervals sufficient to provide 100kg per bulk sample, totalling 1600kg of sample.
It was also recently announced that Quicksilver has significant Rare Earth Element (REE) potential.
It is anticipated that there will be sufficient sample remaining from the larger diameter PQ diamond core to also commence investigations into the metallurgical properties of the REE mineralisation
It is anticipated that there will be sufficient sample remaining from the larger diameter PQ diamond core to also commence investigations into the metallurgical properties of the REE mineralisation.
Golden Mile Resources reports that during the previous 12 months the company has been working on a potential pathway to unlock the value of this large resource. Stage two metallurgical testwork completed last year significantly developed the understanding of the unique saprolitic mineralisation at Quicksilver resulting in the identification of a customised multi-products flowsheet to produce nickel-cobalt and iron-nickel-cobalt-chromium concentrates as well as industrial products.
The process would be low energy using the physical attributes of the free digging ore.
Golden Mile is continuing to develop the metallurgical flowsheet and is gaining more confidence in the process with results to date encouraging the company to continue this work. The company has now commenced stage three metallurgical diamond drilling and test work to further de-risk the process flowsheet and provide confidence to proceed to a Scoping Study.
The company will also incorporate additional studies to explore downstream options to produce secondary nickel products suitable for electric vehicle (EV) batteries as well as high value industrial products which may add further value but is not required for the current business model. The holes have been planned in areas of the orebody with the thickest part of the block model, to optimise the amount of sample that can be used in the Met Test Program.
Quicksilver is about 50km-square in area and covers a belt of mafic-ultramafic rocks (greenstones) prospective for nickel sulphide and nickel laterite mineralisation. The Project is located near the town of Lake Grace on privately owned farmland in an area with ‘excellent’ local infrastructure, including easy access to grid power, sealed roads, and a railway line connected to key ports.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: Golden Mile Resources Ltd
