Poseidon Nickel (ASX:POS) reports it has intersected nickel from a recent drilling program that focused on testing the majority of the newly identified Western Ultramafic Unit (WUU) at Lake Johnston.
The company says the results provide increased confidence in the geological setting and prospectivity of the WUU, located 190km south-west of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. Further sampling of the anomalous zones to one metre re-splits have been taken to delineate the anomalous intervals and will include analysis for PGEs.
This will aid in the planning for infill and follow up drilling at the identified prospects, along with testing along the further southern 4km extension of the WUU.
The Lake Johnston Project is located 190km south-west of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia and contains 2 historical underground nickel sulphide mines, Emily Ann, and Maggie Hays, along with a 1.5Mtpa processing plant, 200-person village and associated infrastructure. The existing deposits are hosted within the Central Ultramafic Unit (CUU), which has been the focus of extensive exploration by previous owners.
Addressing the recent results, Managing Director and CEO Peter Harold says: “The initial results from the drilling program are extremely positive for a reconnaissance program and confirmed several areas of coincident nickel copper anomalism at several prospects along the Western Ultramafic Unit basal contact.
The results indicate the possibility of a mineralised, open ended channel target at Maggie Hays West that is up to 400m wide and corresponds to a discrete magnetic feature. This interpretation presents a compelling high priority target that warrants further drilling.
The Western Ultramafic Unit opens up new opportunities for further discoveries and is an exciting development for Lake Johnston. The Company looks forward to progressing exploration on the Western Ultramafic Unit.”
“The Western Ultramafic Unit opens up new opportunities for further discoveries and is an exciting development for Lake Johnston”
The WUU structure has been identified along 17km of strike. An initial program of shallow aircore (AC) and reverse circulation (RC) drilling to delineate 14km of the interpreted overturned basal contact of the WUU was completed in May 2023.
A total of 157 AC holes for 5,081m were drilled on 32m x 400m spaced lines. Initial sampling was conducted based on 4m composites. A further 17 RC holes for 1,556m were drilled.
The aim of the drill program was to both map the interpreted WUU basal contact and the channelised embayed features that are prospective for the accumulations of nickel sulphide mineralisation at its base and against the basal contact position as observed in Kambalda-style nickel sulphide deposits.
The deeper RC holes provide critical geochemical information about the host rock fertility beneath the weathering profile and about the mineralisation of the basal contact.
Assay results from the reconnaissance drilling along the WUU has returned coincident nickel sulphide pathfinder (Ni:Co:Cu) anomalous zones within the weathering profile at 7 separate prospects, including Roundtop, Raggedy Ann, Johnny Turk, Maggie Hays North, Maggie Hays West, Windy Hill, and Jaymee Ruth.
The company says verification of several positive attributes in the latest drilling phases have upgraded the prospectivity at the Maggie Hays West prospect.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: Poseidon Nickel Ltd
