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Raiden Resources (RDN) is refocusing its strategy to unlock the significant resource potential of the Pilbara in Western Australia (WA) with its JORC resource-stage Mt Sholl nickel-copper and platinum-group elements (PGE) project.
The Mt Sholl project, situated just 10 kilometres northeast of the currently mothballed Radio Hill nickel-copper-PGE mine, has garnered significant attention from the mining industry with its strategic location, in one of the world’s best mining jurisdictions.
The project comprises 42 square kilometres, lies 22 kilometres southeast of Karratha, and is held by RDN through its subsidiary, Pilbara Gold, with a project-level interest of 80 to 100 per cent.
Furthermore, Mt Sholl is proximal to the Port of Dampier infrastructure, Karratha International Airport, grid power, and a sealed highway with support services and infrastructure available in Karratha. – All of which will positively impact the development potential of the project.
The project areas encompass the majority of Mount Sholl’s layered mafic-ultramafic intrusive complex, which hosts all of the four known deposits defined to date.
Recent work conducted by Raiden at Mt Sholl, as well as past explorers, has demonstrated significant upside potential for further mineralisation.
RDN emphasises that its project has been “significantly de-risked”, with more than 250 drill holes completed historically comprising approximately 80,000 metres of drilling, with an additional 4200-metre diamond drilling campaign undertaken by the company.
Raiden’s recent Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for Mt Sholl in April has further demonstrated the size potential of the project.
The MRE defined 23.4 million tonnes (Mt) at grades of 0.36 per cent nickel, 0.40 per cent copper and 0.31 grams per tonne (g/t) of PGEs.
20Mt of which reports inside of an open pit, with the MRE including a high-grade resource of 5.8Mt at 0.94 per cent Nickel equivalent (Ni_Eq ) or 2.48 per cent copper equivalent (Cu_Eq), at a 0.70 per cent Ni_Eq cut-off.
This maiden MRE translates to approximately 83.9 thousand tonnes (kt) of nickel, 93.7 thousand tonnes (kt) of copper metal, and 233,644 ounces of PGEs.
The MRE is based on historical drilling, as well as a 39-hole diamond drill program completed by RDN in October last year, which confirmed the historical results.
Along with the MRE, RDN published a JORC Exploration Target with a range of 80-150Mt at 0.45-0.75 per cent Ni_Eq grade range, representing a significant upside to the existing resource, which will be defined through future drilling.
“We are very grateful for the continued support of our shareholders who share our vision of generating value in the company and advancing the Mt Sholl Ni-Cu-PGE project that we believe has the potential to become a strategically important deposit in the district,” Raiden Managing Director Dusko Ljubojevic said.
“Management is also continuing to advance negotiation regarding sales and partnerships over non-core assets, aimed to further strengthen the balance sheet and provide additional working capital for Mt Sholl exploration,” Mr Ljubojevic said.
Value generation & discovery upside from non-core assets
Fast forward to May, and Raiden has entered into a binding letter of intent agreement to sell its WA Yandicoogina project to LW Resources for $160,000 to divulge its non-core assets and create more financing for Mt Sholl.
The company also sold its Majdanek West project in Serbia in April for $300,000 but retained a royalty over the project, allowing it to focus on Mt Sholl and strengthen its balance sheet for future exploration work.
Furthermore, RDN initiated a $1.84 million capital raising in April, with a view to deploy the funds towards metallurgical work and further drilling to be undertaken at Mt Sholl.
Raiden Managing Director Dusko Ljubojevic said the company was “very grateful” for the ongoing support from shareholders as RDN advances Mt Sholl into a premier nickel deposit.
“Management will continue to focus on advancing the Mt Sholl Ni-Cu-Co-PGE deposit in the Pilbara whilst looking to generate value from the non-core portfolio of projects,” Mr Ljubojevic said.
“Further non-core asset divestments and partnerships are under negotiation and
the management is confident we will close on further transactions.”
The Company still holds a significant amount of highly prospective ground in Australia and Europe, and further transactions over the non-core assets are likely to strengthen the company’s balance sheet.
Why is Nickel Sulphide critical?
WA is home to one of the largest Nickel resources across the nation, hosting world-class nickel sulphide deposits, which account for the majority of Australia’s total Nickel sulphide resources.
According to the International Energy Agency, Nickel is an ideal element for the production of electric vehicle batteries and is particularly important for the advancement of Hydrogen technologies.
Furthermore, in combination with other metals, nickel creates a strong alloy, in stainless steel production. These alloys can withstand extreme temperatures that allow it to be easily shaped into thin wires or flat sheets.
This positions Nickel as a globally critical metal whose demand is estimated to exceed current production rates.
These attributes of the metal, paired with Raiden’s advanced Mt Sholl deposit, allow the company to capitalise on the new wave of investments into the energy transition cycle.
“As a significant amount of mineralisation is near the surface, Mt Sholl not only represents the largest resource in the district, but is currently the only Ni-Cu-PGE sulphide project in the district with open pit potential,” Mr Ljubojevic said.
“At the same time, mineralisation remains open along strike and to depth, presenting the Company with a path to potential resource growth, along with significant geophysical and geochemical targets, which remain untested by drilling to date and form the basis for the revised Exploration Target.”
Raiden’s Prime Position
Australia places second globally with the largest supply of nickel reserves at 21 per cent.
RDN is leveraging this opportunity throughout the under-explored WA Pilbara region to become a significant supplier of nickel sulphide to the starved global markets.
Ongoing work has allowed Raiden to improve its understanding of the geological controls on nickel mineralisation at Mt Sholl and defines the potential for further mineralisation throughout the entire project area.
As only six per cent of the potentially mineralised contact zone volume at Mt Sholl has been drill tested to date, Mt Sholl offers RDN an exceptional opportunity to define further mineralisation to what is already the largest sulphide deposit in the district.
The company has already secured access agreements and has completed heritage surveys over the key target areas allowing for the commencement of follow on drill campaigns in the near term.
RDN is currently undertaking metallurgical studies on its Mt Sholl ore to determine optimal processing paths and will follow up on the numerous targets already defined at the project.
All signs point to Mt Sholl holding the potential to generate outsized rewards for Raiden.
