Global Nickel Investment to commence drilling at Emmaville Bauxite project, NSW

Global Nickel Investments (ASX: GNI) is set to commence drilling its Emmaville Bauxite project in Inverell, NSW. The company has secured the services of a drilling company with the intention of commencing drilling within weeks.

The drilling contractor will move on to GNI’s Emmaville project following the completion of its current drilling campaign on a nearby tenement for an unrelated Company where more than 20 million tonnes of bauxite has been recently delineated.

GNI holds a 50% interest in two granted exploration licences, EL7287 and 7288, issued by the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries in the Emmaville area near Inverell in NSW, where a new bauxite province is currently being defined.

The Company is in the process of geological mapping and rock chip sampling and review
of historic data in the area with the aim of defining an exploration target size for the project. The bauxite occurrences near Emmaville are associated with a belt of Tertiary basaltic volcanic rocks which in places are gibbsite-rich.

This type of gibbsitic bauxite can upgrade to premium grades at high yields with simple screening, and a large proportion of the resources in the area surrounding GNI’s project are of Direct-Shipping Grade (DSO).

GNI’s Managing Director, Benjamin Heath Cooper states, “the discoveries made on neighbouring tenements of thick, high quality bauxite - incite us to immediately deploy similar styled exploration campaigns to unlock value on our ground."

"Our Emmaville licences contain the same geological setting as the surrounding tenements, it is our belief that GNI’s project will likewise deliver a bauxite resource to its shareholders.”

The volcanic terrains represent a very different and exciting style of alumina occurrence. GNI’s Emmaville bauxite project covers an area of 55 units or approximately 165 square kilometres.

Importantly, geological mapping by the Company has found that the small isolated historical bauxite occurrences near Emmaville appear to be within a much larger area with similar exploration potential.

The areas chosen by the Company for bauxite exploration in New South Wales are considered to be favourably located with respect to water and power supplies, as well as road and rail transport corridors.

Furthermore, the areas chosen for investigation by the Company are also close to the major regional centres of Inverell and Glen Innes, which can supply goods, services and possible future workforce requirements.

Bauxite is a rock composed mainly of aluminium oxide and aluminium hydroxide minerals. These might include: gibbsite, boehmite and diaspore. The rock usually includes other materials such as iron hydroxides, clay, silt and free silica.

It most often occurs as a residual soil material in tropical and subtropical areas. It is the primary source of aluminium. Bauxite does not require complex processing because most of the bauxite mined is of an acceptable grade or can be improved by a relatively simple and inexpensive process of removing the clay component.

The Company said it looks forward to providing further updates on the Emmaville project shortly, as well as some important advances currently being made at Jutson Rocks Gold/Nickel project in Western Australia.