Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights
- Auroch Minerals (AOU) completes the first drill hole as part of a maiden drilling program at the Nepean Deeps target in WA
- The hole is the first to successfully drill through the thick pegmatite intrusion below the historical Nepean mine which Auroch says is a “pivotal moment”
- Auroch is now undertaking survey work to test for massive nickel sulphides and will use the geophysical data to help design the next drill hole
- Company shares are trading in the grey at 17 cents at 11:45 am AEDT
Auroch Minerals (AOU) has completed the first drill hole under its maiden drilling program at the Nepean Deeps target in Western Australia.
The drilling program aims to test for down-plunge extensions to the high-grade nickel sulphide mineralisation below the historical Nepean mine at the 80 per cent-owned Nepean nickel project.
Positively for the company, this initial hole is the first to successfully drill through the thick pegmatite intrusion below the mine.
NPDD008 was drilled to a 1291-metre depth and intersected 46 metres of prospective komatiitic ultramafics over three intervals within a lower greenstone sequence starting at 993 metres.
Managing Director Aidan Platel commented on the initial observations.
“This is a pivotal moment for the Nepean project and for Auroch. Due to the lack of any deep exploration historically, we had no idea what to expect from this first drill-hole once we got to depths below the historic mine workings,” he said.
NPDD008 was drilled as both a first-pass stratigraphic hole and a platform for downhole electromagnetic (DHEM) and downhole magnetometric resistivity (DHMMR) geophysical surveys which are now underway.
The DHEM and DHMMR survey work will test for any conductive bodies such as massive nickel sulphides that may lie within 100 to 150 metres of the hole. Auroch will then use the geophysical data to design the next drill hole.
Auroch Minerals expects the surveying and modelling will take one to two weeks to complete.
Company shares are trading in the grey at 17 cents at 11:45 am AEDT.
