Chalice Mining has completed the first stage of its joint venture (JV) with Venture Minerals at the South West nickel-copper-platinum group elements (PGE) project in Western Australia.
The company satisfied the initial requirement by spending the minimum $300,000 on exploration by November 30, which was primarily focussed on the 20-kilometre-long Thor target.
Thor is considered a ‘Julimar lookalike’ magnetic anomaly as it bears similar characteristics to Chalice’s advancing Julimar nickel-copper-PGE project also in WA.
Chalice completed an electromagnetic (EM) program focussed on the prospective Thor target, zoning in on an area where a prior airborne EM survey delineated 13 highly-conductive anomalies within the southern 6.5 kilometres of the magnetic anomaly.
Results of the EM program are set to be released in early 2022 once the exploration team has received and completed its analysis of the data.
“With Venture’s JV partner Chalice Mining completing the first stage of the JV earn-in through the completion of a detailed EM survey, the company now eagerly awaits the survey results,” Venture managing director Andrew Radonjic said.
“The knowledge gained from Chalice’s Julimar discoveries will be a huge advantage in determining which conductors should be drilled first and this no doubt increases the probability of bringing a discovery forward.
“This is the main reason why Venture decided to partner with Chalice on this project as it clearly increases the chances of success which benefits all of the company’s shareholders.”
Chalice is expected to follow up any resultant bedrock conductors found in the EM program with soil geochemistry. This will pave the way for drill-ready targets to be identified.
Should the company choose to drill those targets, it will need to spend an additional $900,000 by July 29, 2022 – allowing it to meet the $1.2 million expenditure requirement after 24 months of the earn-in.
This will see Chalice earn a 51 per cent interest in the South West project. If Chalice spends a further $2.5 million on exploration across the following two years, it will earn a total 70 per cent stake in the project.