Corazon Mining looks to add to nickel sulphide assets through Miriam Project acquisition in Western Australia

Corazon Mining Ltd is set to enhance its portfolio of nickel sulphide assets by way of an exclusive option to acquire the “high nickel tenor” Miriam Nickel Project in Western Australia’s Goldfields. The resource company is aiming to absorb 100% of the exploration asset through an option agreement with vendor Limelight Industries Pty Ltd. Under this deal, Corazon can conduct exclusive due diligence at the nickel play for three months before electing to exercise an option and wholly acquire the project. If it chooses to proceed, consideration for the project will total around A$600,000 in capital, while Limelight will retain a 2% net smelter return royalty on Miriam’s future output. Strategic portfolio addition Corazon chairman Terry Streeter said: “The Miriam Project presents an opportunity to strategically add to our nickel project portfolio and provide a new exploration asset to complement our quality nickel sulphide project at Lynn Lake in Canada. “What attracted us to Miriam is the amount of sulphide that has been identified on that trend from the historical, widely spaced exploration drilling. “There is a lot of smoke and we believe, that with modern high-powered geophysics, there is a good opportunity to better define nickel sulphide concentrations along strike or down-dip from the defined prospects. “The Miriam Project exhibits a high-nickel content in the nickel sulphides intersected in previous drilling. There are multiple channel sequences that have the potential to host nickel sulphide, along with broad zones of cloud sulphide within the ultramafics drilled along strike to the north and south. “We are currently undertaking project due diligence and once it's completed, we will advise of the outcome.” Finalising the buy Before Corazon acquires the Miriam nickel play from Limelight, it has elected to conduct exclusive due diligence over the exploration asset. The resources company has three months to carry out this activity and will pay the vendor A$75,000 to cover this exclusive right. From there, if Corazon opts to push ahead with the purchase, it will exercise its option and pay Limelight A$125,000 within five business days. After that, the ASX-lister will pay the vendor a further A$400,000 either six months after it exercises its option or on the day its tenure is granted, whichever comes first. Beyond the transaction’s financials, Limelight will retain the right to mine mullock dumps for gold mineralisation and metal detect for three years, subsequent to the grant of tenure. The Miriam Project Corazon’s latest acquisition, situated near Coolgardie in Western Australia, covers a 6-kilometre by 1.5-kilometre region and includes five prospecting licence applications. Anaconda Australia Limited discovered the Miriam Deposit, located within the project, in 1969, and conducted most of the known nickel exploration in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This work defined the core of the Miriam Deposit over a strike of about 150 meters and to a depth of at least 150 metres below surface, while subsequent drilling extended the drilled depth in places up to about 300 metres below surface. Since the 1960s, drilling at the base metal exploration asset has turned up “high nickel tenor” massive and disseminated sulphides. Some of the initial drilling intersections include: 9.6 metres at 5.60% nickel; 12.5 metres at 0.56% nickel; 3.2 metres at 2.59% nickel; 0.9 metres at 5.57% nickel; and 6.1 metres at 0.90% nickel. Ultimately, much of the historical drilling, which tested the ultramafic sequence north and south of the Miriam Deposit, was shallow percussion drilling that did not substantially penetrate the overlying oxidized zone. Many of these holes have not reached the ultramafic footwall target, meaning there is extensive untested opportunity to target nickel sulphide mineralisation at depth and also along strike from previous drilling. More recent nickel exploration campaigns were undertaken during the mid-1990s and early-mid 2000s, with work continuing to identify massive and disseminated nickel sulphides, located within or close to a well-defined channel sequence. The existence of this defined target trend will allow Corazon to undertake focused and detailed exploration programs, utilising modern higher-powered electromagnetic (EM) geophysics. The most recent geophysical testwork for nickel sulphide exploration was completed in the early 2000s, where EM proved successful in identifying drill defined mineralisation at the Miriam Deposit. Corazon is currently undertaking due diligence at Miriam and has promised to advise the market on its findings and the outcome.