Ardea winds up Goldfields drilling program for nickel resource upgrade
Ardea Resources has wound up its latest infill drilling program designed to upgrade its nickel resource, as part of the company's ongoing definitive feasibility study work being undertaken at its massive Kalgoorlie nickel project-Goongarrie hub in the Western Australian Goldfields.
The DFS's significant $98.5 million budget is being funded by Japanese giants Sumitomo Metal Mining Co and Mitsubishi Corporation.
Ardea subsidiary Kalgoorlie Nickel Pty Ltd is managing the DFS work program on behalf of the consortium companies to complete the DFS and move the project closer to development status. The consortium companies will contribute a total of $46.1 million to help complete the DFS, representing about 47 per cent of anticipated DFS expenditure.
Ardea signed a 50:50 joint venture (JV) agreement with the exploration giants in April of last year to meet the expected increased demand for nickel to help fuel a global green energy transition.
The three parties joined forced when Sumitomo sent an unsolicited email to Ardea expressing initial interest in the project, and Ardea was introduced to Mitsubishi management via the Australian Government-owned Export Finance Australia program.
Ardea believes the project could become a multi-decade, low-cost nickel and cobalt producer. The key metals are used in electric vehicle batteries and alloys to strengthen and improve steel.
The company's latest drilling program increased the density of drill holes to enable a resource classification upgrade and assist with early mine planning.
Ardea says it has made further management and technical appointments during the month, including strengthening the project team by filling important roles for a head of approvals and compliance.
The infill drilling program comprised 727 holes for 45,735 metres across five deposits. At Goongarrie South, 28 holes were drilled for 1938m to support Ardea's resource classification and increase its confidence in the mineral inventory.
Four diamond holes were drilled at Goongarrie Hill to provide quality assurance and control using twin holes for the DFS. A diamond rig is still on site drilling large diameter holes to triple the metallurgical sample holes across the Goongarrie South, Big Four-Scotia Dam and Highway deposits.
The company commenced wireframing at Big Four-Scotia Dam and is undertaking similar activities at the Goongarrie South and Highway deposits. It says the initial wireframes will help geostatistical analysis and preliminary resource estimation.
Ardea has also made several key design and engineering improvements for the proposed process plant. Testwork on its all-important ore indicated the material was generally soft to medium-hard, with no hard ores identified, which bodes well for ease of future processing.
The company is also making progress with the necessary baseline environmental studies, native title discussions and heritage agreements.
The imposing Kalgoorlie nickel project-Goongarrie hub is 70 kilometres northwest of Kalgoorlie and contains a significant number of nickel-cobalt and critical mineral deposits.
A whopping total resource of 854 million tonnes at 0.71 per cent nickel and 0.045 per cent cobalt for 6.1Mt of contained nickel and 386,000t of cobalt is locked and loaded within its Goongarrie, Kalpini and Yerilla hubs.
Goongarrie hosts a 584Mt mineral resource at 0.69 per cent nickel and 0.043 per cent cobalt for 4.044Mt of contained nickel and 250,000t of cobalt.
Kalpini and Yerilla hold 270Mt grading 0.76 per cent nickel and 0.05 per cent cobalt for 2.056Mt of nickel and 136,000t of cobalt.
Ardea is patiently nudging its mammoth project step-by-step towards development and may end up producing the valuable metals to coincide with electric vehicle makers' and industry's screams for more of the high-quality, clean Aussie minerals.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
matt.birney@wanews.com.au
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