Sirius Resources has announced a potentially significant new nickel-copper deposit at its 70 per cent owned Fraser Range project in Western Australia.

The discovery has been named the Nova deposit, which is located in a previously unexplored and inaccessible area 40km north of the Eyre Highway.

The deposit was discovered with the first drill hole designed to test a large electromagnetic (EM) conductor – one of three EM conductors at the Eyre prospect.

Sirius managing director Mark Bennett said the deposit is a major nickel-copper discovery and of a new deposit style in a new province.

“It is very gratifying to start from scratch in a new frontier doing what we do best and make a discovery.

“This success vindicates our somewhat unfashionable corporate strategy of seeking to identify early stage exploration opportunities with low entry cost in safe jurisdictions and creating real value through discovery and definition of significant resources.

“It is very early days but it ticks all the boxes. The mineralogy looks ideal for the production of a high quality concentrate because there are none of the troublesome silicate minerals which can cause recovery problems in the typical Goldfields-style nickel deposits, and its location relative to port is second to none,” he said.

The mineralisation intersected in discovery hole SFRC0024 comprises a four metre thick zone of heavy pyrrhotite-pentlandite-chalcopyrite sulphides (from 191-195m) grading of 3.8 per cent nickel and 1.42 per cent copper.

The mineralisation intersected in step-out hole SFRC0026, some 55 metres up-dip, comprises 15 metres of matrix and massive sulphides similar in appearance to those in the discovery hole. Assays are awaited for this step-out hole.

It is not yet known if the mineralisation also contains platinum group metal (PGM) mineralisation – assays for PGM’s and other elements are expected to take several weeks.

Sirius, together with its major shareholder and joint venture partner Mark Creasy, control most of the ground in this belt and are in a unique position to control what appears to be a significant new nickel province.

Pic: The discovery role where Sirius intersected mineralisation comprising of a four metre thick zone of heavy sulphides grading of nickel and copper.

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