Chalice Mining (ASX:CHN) shares soar on Gonneville mineral resource, WA

• Shares in Chalice Mining (CHN) spike after the company releases a maiden mineral resource estimate for the Gonneville deposit at its flagship Julimar Project in WA
• Chalice outlines a 330-million-tonne resource at 0.94 grams palladium, platinum, and gold (3E), 0.16 per cent nickel, 0.1 per cent copper, and 0.016 per cent cobalt
• According to the company, this confirms the deposit is the largest nickel sulphide discovery globally in over 20 years and the largest PGE discovery in Australian history
• Chalice now plans to continue to take on some step-our drilling down-plunge as it works to complete a scoping study for the Gonneville deposit
• Shares in Chalice Mining are up 16.99 per cent and trading at $7.89 each at 11:01 am AEDT

Shares in Chalice Mining (CHN) have spiked this morning after the company released a maiden mineral resource estimate for the Gonneville deposit at its flagship Julimar Project in WA.

The company said the deposit, which is prospective for nickel, copper, cobalt, gold, and platinum group elements (PGEs), was already the largest nickel sulphide discovery across the globe in over 20 years and the largest PGE discovery in Australian history.

Now, the company has outlined a 330-million-tonne resource at 0.94 grams palladium, platinum, and gold (3E), 0.16 per cent nickel, 0.1 per cent copper, and 0.016 per cent cobalt.

At these grades, this means Gonneville contains 10 million ounces of 3E, 530,000 tonnes of nickel, 330,000 tonnes of copper, and 53,000 tonnes of cobalt.

What’s more, roughly 150 million tonnes of the resource fall into the ‘indicated’ category, with the rest categorised as inferred.

Chalice Managing Director and CEO Alex Dorsch said the mineral resource estimate was a “major milestone” for the company, particularly given Chalice reported on the first hole discovery at Julimar just 18 months ago.

“Since then, we have completed more than 175,000 metres of diamond and reverse circulation (RC) drilling and now defined a genuine tier-one scale deposit of critical minerals, with exceptional growth potential,” Mr Dorsch said.

“The resource confirms that Gonneville is the largest nickel sulphide discovery globally in over two decades, and the largest PGE discovery in Australia’s history — a remarkable achievement considering that this is the first discovery in what we consider to be an entirely new district, Julimar, within a new nickel-copper-PGE province, the West Yilgarn.”

The newly-defined resource includes a higher-grade sulphide component above a cut-off grade of 0.6 per cent nickel equivalent. Mr Dorsch said this was “very important” for the project given it provides a degree of optionality for mine development that is not often seen for projects of Julimar’s nature.

He said the company will continue to take on some step-our drilling down-plunge as it works to complete a scoping study for the Gonneville deposit. The scoping study is slated for completion during the second quarter of 2022.

Importantly, Chalice said the deposit remains open to the north and at depth, meaning ongoing drilling in the area could increase the size of the resource.

Shares in Chalice Mining were up 16.99 per cent and trading at $7.89 each at 11:01 am AEDT. The company has a $2.8 billion market cap.