- Macarthur Minerals (MIO) has been awarded an $85,000 grant to support drilling at its Moonshine North Nickel Prospect in Western Australia
- Macarthur will use the $85,000 to plan a 460-metre deep diamond drill hole to test the anomalous nickel from a previously identified hole
- The money will also be used to test a geophysical anomaly
- The company hopes this drill will provide a better understanding of the Moonshine Prospect and help with further discoveries.
- Macarthur is steady on the market today and shares are currently trading for 10 cents each
Macarthur Minerals (MIO) has been awarded an $85,000 grant to support drilling at its Moonshine North Nickel Prospect in Western Australia.
With this money, Macarthur will target nickel mineralisation at Moonshine.
Drilling is planned over two prospective targets with the first being a 20,000 Siemens (a unit of conductance – similar to ohms) conductor geophysical anomaly.
The second target is an anomalous nickel horizon that was found close to surface in nearby drill hole LGDD_054. This hole intersected 19 metres at one per cent nickel, including one metre at 1.42 per cent nickel from 13 metres.
It is believed that the weathering of the surface could host a second massive sulphide source at depth.
The grant has been awarded from the Western Australian Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS), and has been managed by the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety.
This EIS provides up to $5 million a year to encourage companies to drill in under-explored areas in the State.
The Moonshine Nickel Prospect is situated within Macarthur’s Lake Giles Iron Project which lies 450 kilometres northeast of Perth in Western Australia.
The project is made up of volcanic sequences that mainly consist of high magnesium basalts and ultramafic flows.
The anomalous nickel of 1.42 per cent found in hole LGDD_054 is believed to be related to a magmatic sulphide source.
Diamond hole LGDD_055, was then drilled for magnetite exploration, however it was not analysed for nickel.
Logging of both holes confirms that dispersed sulphides are plentiful throughout the prospect.
In 2018, Macarthur completed a moving-loop electromagnetic (MLEM) survey and successfully outlined two bedrock conductors, MCO1 and MCO2.
There was a standout anomaly and a conductance of 20,000 Siemens on MCO2, which is more than double that used for typical operations.
After this MLEM survey, Macarthur began a two-hole reverse circulation (RC) drilling program to target the previously identified conductor.
While both holes were successful in intersecting massive and semi-massive sulphides, they were unable to effectively test the conductor.
Macarthur will use the $85,000 to plan a 460-metre deep diamond drill hole to test the anomalous nickel result from LGDD_054 and the MC02 conductor plate.
The company hopes this drill will provide a better understanding of the Moonshine Nickel Prospect and help with further discoveries.
Macarthur is steady on the market today and shares are trading for 10 cents each at 3:36 pm AEDT.