Auroch Minerals reaches 3-year high on hitting massive nickel sulphides in first diamond hole at Horn prospect

Auroch Minerals Ltd (ASX:AOU) has hit massive nickel sulphides in its first diamond hole drilled at the Horn prospect within the Leinster Nickel Project in Western Australia. Drill-hole HNDD001 intersected around 5 metres of nickel-bearing semi-massive to massive sulphides at the Horn prospect at a depth of 120 metres. Investors have responded positively to the news along with an agreement to acquire the Nepean Nickel Project near Coolgardie in WA with shares up as much as 29% to 27 cents intra-day, a new three-year high. At the Horn, the sulphide assemblage has been logged as pyrrhotite–pentlandite– chalcopyrite, with pentlandite being the principal nickel-bearing sulphide mineral present. First diamond hole HNDD001 was the first of a six-hole diamond drill program planned for Horn and was targeting massive nickel sulphide mineralisation intercepted in historic drilling. Stepping out 20 metres along strike from an historic intercept of 7 metres at 2.58% nickel and 0.63% copper, HNDD001 has confirmed the thickness, continuity and depth of the massive nickel sulphide mineralisation. The hole is being geologically logged, and sampling and assaying will be fast-tracked with the aim to return laboratory assay results as soon as possible. “Thrilled” to have intersected thick zone Managing director Aidan Platel said: “We are thrilled to have successfully intersected a thick zone of nickeliferous semi-massive to massive sulphides in our first diamond drill-hole at the Horn prospect. “The intersection has confirmed the thickness and continuity of nickel sulphide mineralisation at a relatively shallow depth, which is a significant and attractive attribute of Horn. “The second hole of six drill-holes planned to validate and potentially extend the strike of the nickel sulphide mineralisation at the Horn is now underway. “We intend to fast-track processing of the drill core so that results can be on-hand as soon as possible to help develop our geological model of the Horn prospect as the program progresses, and we look forward to updating the market as these results are received.” The remainder of the drill program at the Horn will further test the possible continuity of the massive nickel sulphide mineralisation along the known strike, as well as test potential extensions to the known sulphide mineralisation by drilling structural positions and existing DHEM plates. Semi-massive to massive nickel sulphide. At the Valdez Prospect, a single diamond drill-hole was completed to a depth of 400 metres targeting a strong DHEM conductor defined by deep RC drilling in October. A DHEM survey of the completed hole is underway, and logging and sampling of the drill core is pending, however, no massive nickel sulphides were observed in the core. Auroch will use the results from the logging and sampling of this drill hole along with the pending assay results from the RC drill holes to update the litho-geochemical model of Valdez, and this will be utilised together with the results from the current DHEM survey to generate further drill targets. Binding agreement to acquire high-grade Nepean Nickel Project Auroch has entered into a binding agreement to acquire 80% of the shares in Eastern Coolgardie Goldfields Pty Ltd (ECG), the company which will hold the Nepean Nickel Project, comprising a package of 13 tenements south of Coolgardie in Western Australia. Goldfellas Pty Ltd (Goldfellas) will acquire the remaining 20%. Following completion of the acquisition, Auroch and Goldfellas will operate the Nepean project as a joint venture with Auroch holding an 80% participating interest and Goldfellas the remaining 20%. “Perfect complement” Platel added: “We are thrilled to be adding the Nepean Nickel Project to our existing portfolio of high-grade, high potential nickel sulphide projects in Western Australia. “The high-grade Nepean nickel mine is an integral part of the history of nickel mining in Australia and with the remnant resources and strong near-mine potential to find further massive nickel sulphide mineralisation, we believe that it still has a big role to play. “We are very excited by the enormous potential of the Nepean Nickel Project and are eager to commence our initial exploration programs. “It is the perfect complement to our existing Leinster and Saints nickel projects and we look forward to progressing all three projects in parallel. Enormous potential Goldfellas is a recently incorporated private company of gold prospectors, resource industry executives, stockbrokers, lawyers and investor relation consultants. The Nepean Nickel Project contains the historic high-grade Nepean nickel sulphide mine, which was the second producing nickel mine in Australia, producing 1,108,457 tons of ore between 1970 and 1987 for 32,202 tons of nickel metal at an average recovered grade of 2.99% nickel. This ore was treated by Western Mining Corporation (WMC), now BHP Group Ltd, at their Kambalda processing facilities. In addition to the near-mine prospectivity, Auroch believes Nepean has enormous potential to host further significant nickel sulphide mineralisation, with the 3,128 hectares tenement package hosting over 10 kilometres of underexplored strike of the Nepean mafic-ultramafic mine stratigraphy and aeromagnetic anomalies. The company has identified several high-priority areas, and drill planning and permitting applications are already underway.