Horizonte Minerals (LON:HZM) this morning revealed that inflill drilling at Pequizeiro and Baião on the company’s Araguaia Project in northern Brazil had returned some encouraging nickel grades.
It also said it is working to appoint a lead consulting group to oversee scoping and pre-feasibility work in April.
Araguaia is being fast-tracked, and there will shortly be five rigs on site. “We are actively sourcing a further drill contractor to increase the number of rigs,” chief executive Jeremy Martin said.
“This will allow us to fast track the resource drilling programme with the aim of delineating a resource target of 100 million tonnes by the end of the fourth quarter.”
The latest batch of drill results will help in the quest. The infill programme uncovered some high grade zones, including 10.4 metres at 2.08 per cent nickel and 14.3 metres at 1.93 per cent nickel.
Additionally, Horizonte identified a 23 metre section at 1.78 per cent nickel and 22.3 metres at 1.76 per cent of the metal.
In total Horizonte drilled 116 holes for 3,159 metres. It is currently identifying and evaluation new targets.
CEO Jeremy Martin added: "These latest drill results from the main Pequizeiro and Baião targets located in the southern part of the Araguaia project area demonstrate encouraging nickel grades and good widths of mineralisation.
“A number of high grade zones were intercepted through drilling which included….which clearly highlights the potential for a high grade resource within the larger resource envelope, which could enhance the overall economics of the project.
"We anticipate appointing a principle consulting group during April 2011 to oversee the scoping and prefeasibility study at Araguaia.
“We are also evaluating new target areas within the project, with the aim of developing additional drill targets.”