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Great Boulder Resources confirms copper-nickel-cobalt discovery and will expedite development

Published: 10:55 05 Feb 2018 AEDT

Drilling at Mt Venn
The company is targeting supply of materials for the battery market

Great Boulder Resources Ltd (ASX:GBR) is accelerating its development strategy after confirming that its Mt Venn project in Western Australia is a major copper-nickel-cobalt discovery.

The company has received strong assay results from drilling completed late last year.

It now intends to bring forward infill drilling and metallurgical test work to begin in the next two weeks.

Results confirm extensive mineralisation within the Central zone at Mt Venn and confirm the presence of multiple, steeply dipping lenses over a 500 metre x 200 metre area.

This increases the contained metal per vertical metre and development potential of the Central zone.

READ: Great Boulder Resources extends mineralisation at copper-nickel-cobalt project

Stefan Murphy, managing director, said: “It is only four months since we drilled our first hole at Mt Venn and it is already clear that we have a project of substantial size and potential.

“The significant widths and combined grades contained in these assays, the extensive area over which we have delineated mineralisation and the fact it remains open gives us every reason to be extremely confident about the future of Mt Venn.

“The outlook is particularly favourable in light of the cobalt and high-grade copper we are seeing and the huge scope to grow the known mineralisation.

Accelerating infill drilling

“In light of these positive results, we are accelerating the infill drilling program.

“The drilling will focus on the Central zone where the majority of mineralisation has been defined, with the aim of establishing a maiden resource as soon as possible.

“We will shortly commence metallurgical test work, assessing conventional sulphide flotation for a copper concentrate and an additional leach process for the pyrrhotite to ultimately produce a cobalt and nickel sulphate product for the fast-growing battery market.”

Drilling results include 33 metres at 0.5% copper, 0.1% nickel and 0.05% cobalt from 76 metres; 22 metres at 0.5% copper, 0.2% nickel and 0.05% cobalt from 129 metres; and 8 metres at 0.3% copper, 0.43% nickel and 0.09% cobalt from 25 metres.

Program aimed at defining lenses

Great Boulder will start a 2,500 metre drilling program in two weeks with the aim of better defining the multiple mineralised lenses.

Given the combined strong results, metallurgical test work will begin next week along with a Downhole EM survey on all available holes from the recent drilling.

Results will be used to define extensional targets at the margin of the Central zone and further along the western magnetic trend north and south of the Central zone.

Gravity survey also planned

A gravity survey is scheduled to commence in the next two weeks, covering the Mt Venn intrusion and the Eastern Mafic complex.

The survey will provide better definition of the size and geometry and also help identify different intrusions within each complex.

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