The Western Australian Government awarded Macarthur Minerals (TSX-V: MMS, ASX: MIO) an $85,000-grant to help finance a diamond drill hole at its Moonshine North nickel prospect, located within its Lake Giles iron ore project.
The grant was provided under the Exploration Incentive Scheme administered by the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety and offers up to 50% contribution to drilling costs.
The prospect is located 150 kilometres northwest of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia
According to Macarthur, deep drilling is planned, targeting two prospective nickel targets, namely, a ~20,000 Siemens plate conductor geophysical anomaly, and an anomalous nickel horizon found in a nearby drill hole close to surface. This hole intersected 19m @ 1% Ni from 8 metres to 27 metres, including 1m @ 1.42% Ni from 13 metres.
“This is uniquely high in nickel concentration in comparison to subsequent drill hole data,” the miner said in a media statement. “The elevated nickel values are within the weathered zone and may be classified through different theoretical explanations. One being that the mineralised zone is related to a stratabound magmatic sulphide source (secondary dispersion from a primary massive sulphide source), the other being a lateritic supergene deposit i.e., a secondary by-product of chemical weathering producing a concentration of nickel within the saprolite regolith zone.”
The Moonshine North nickel prospect covers part of the Yerilgee Archean Greenstone belt within the Yilgarn craton. The geology consists of volcanic sequences mainly consisting of high-magnesium basalts, komatiitic and ultramafic flows with numerous interflow banded iron formations.
The ultramafic rocks at Lake Giles are considered of Kambalda komatiite type. The extensive komatiite sequences of thick olivine cumulate flow units and felsic-intermediate volcanism indicates that the area fits a regional geological criterion for hosting komatiite nickel sulphide deposits such as those existing nickel mines within the Kalgoorlie Terrane.
