Chalice Mining continues to bolster its history-making Gonneville deposit, with recent surveying indicating “significant” growth potential beyond the current resource.
Recent 2D seismic surveying over the Hartog area highlighted potential plunge extension of the Gonneville intrusion approximately 1.6km north-west of the resource and 500m below surface.
The interpreted positioning is to the west and below the current Hartog resource – a separate prospect Chalice has been exploring within its Julimar nickel-copper-platinum group elements (PGE) project in Western Australia.
Chalice said that given the sulphide-rich nature of the Gonneville intrusion, this extension could significantly expand the deposit. The company will soon complete step-out drilling to validate the seismic interpretation.
Chalice’s immediate priorities for the Julimar project are to advance development studies and regulatory approvals for the Gonneville deposit, which is the likely starter mine for the project.
This includes a scoping study for the prospect, which is evaluating a smaller ‘starter mine’ concept alongside a larger bulk mine concept.
Chalice said the large size, variability (regarding mineralogy and grade) and growth potential of the resource with further drilling meant it was exploring several development scenarios for Gonneville.
This includes open-pit and underground mining methods, two potential processing flowsheets and a broad range of processing plant throughputs and concentrate production rates.
The Gonneville scoping study is expected to be completed in late 2022.
The company has also commenced discussions with several technical and funding partners for the potential starter mine.
Exploration will continue at Gonneville, and seven drill rigs are currently operating at Julimar with 27 planned drilling sites across the 10km Hartog–Dampier strike length.
In November 2021, Chalice defined a Tier-1 scale maiden mineral resource estimate for Gonneville, considered one of the largest recent nickel-copper-PGE sulphide discoveries worldwide, and the largest PGE discovery in Australian history.