Australian Vanadium receives grant support to drill Coates Nickel-Copper-PGE-Gold Project

Australian Vanadium Ltd’s (ASX:AVL) (OTCMKTS:ATVVF) (FRA:JT71) has succeeded in its application for Round 23 of the Government of Western Australia’s Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS) which will fund up to $112,500 of drilling at Coates Project during the 2021/22 financial year. The drilling program is designed to test for nickel-copper-platinum group elements-gold mineralisation at Coates, which is southeast of Chalice Mining’s Julimar discovery and just 35 kilometres from Perth. The grant funding will be from the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) as a contribution towards drilling costs. Scheme to assist with drilling Australian Vanadium’s managing director Vincent Algar said: “While AVL’s main focus remains on the development of the Australian Vanadium Project, our geological data review of the Coates Mafic Complex identified its significant similarity and potential to the nickel-copper-PGE-gold discoveries such as those at Julimar and Yarrawindah and the associated discovery opportunity. “The excellent exploration incentive scheme run by the WA Government will assist with drilling work in this exciting region.” Co-funded drilling Under the co-funded drilling program, the company plant to drill 11 drill holes across the intrusion with reverse circulation (RC) holes to 60-75 metres depth followed by diamond drilling of NQ core to maximum total hole depths of between 120 and 300 metres. Holes are planned to achieve full stratigraphic coverage of the gabbro sequence. The co-funded drilling program will obtain multi-element data from these geochemical and mineralogical holes, including downhole geophysics. Downhole Electromagnetics (EM) will be used to evaluate the rocks around the holes for conductors. The company has extended its tenement holding in the area, with the grant of E70/5588 along strike to the north of the main Coates intrusion and the drilling program approval is in place for EIS work to start. Soil sampling Recent soil sampling has been undertaken at the Coates Project as part of an ongoing program of evaluation. Soil sampling programs are expected to continue to outline geochemical targets in tandem with the EIS program. AVL has drilling locations approved for the proposed program and the EIS drilling will start when internal resources are available. The program, which must be concluded in one year, will include downhole EM surveys to identify nearby conductors. This technique has been highly successful in the identification of mineralised bodies in recent exploration in this region. Airborne or ground-based EM surveys are also planned for the project but are not part of the EIS project funding.