Arnhem Land Drilling Update, and Further High Grade Ni Co Cu Au Assays at Piedmont Project
Brisbane, Sep 14, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Alligator Energy Ltd (
ASX:AGE) announces Arnhem Land drilling update and further high grade Ni Co Cu Au assays at Piedmont Project.
Highlights
Arnhem Land Drilling
- Two holes completed into Cahill Formation beneath unconformity - strong alteration in TCRD18-001 and graphite evident in TCRD18-002;
- No anomalous scintillometer indications of uranium as yet;
- Uranium price hits US$27 per lb, up more than 30% in 12 months.
Piedmont Ni Co project
- Range of significant grades from sampling of 0.49 to 2.24% Ni, 0.02 to 0.19% Co, 0.12 to 6.38% Cu and 0.6 to 60.8g/t Au;
- Significant Ni Co results in the Laghetto - La Balma 2-3 km trend provide infill continuity;
- Unexpected high grade Cu from Castilo di Gavala southern licence;
- First assays from historic Gula prospect reveal Au potential with two grab samples in excess of 40g/t Au;
- Magnetometer trial surveys completed and being processed.
Significant geochemical rock chip sample assays include:
Laghetto North: Sample P18-S102 - 1.73% Ni, 0.09% Co, 0.43% Cu
Castilo di Gavala: Sample P18-S176 - 1.31% Ni, 0.04% Co, 0.87% Cu
Sample P18-S177 - 6.38% Cu, 0.75% Ni, 1.39g/t Au
La Balma: Sample P18-S131 - 2.24% Ni, 0.19% Co, 0.09% Cu
La Balma SE: Sample P18-S121 - 1.21% Ni, 0.09% Co, 0.11% Cu
Sample P18-S122 - 0.86% Ni, 0.06% Co, 0.18% Cu
Gula: Sample P18-S160 - 0.93% Cu
Sample P18-S170 - 60.8g/t Au, 0.38% Cu
Sample P18-S159 - 41.5g/t Au
Vallar: Sample P18-S109 - 10.45g/t Au
AGE's CEO Greg Hall commented today: "The drilling in Arnhem Land was initially slow but has now picked up. Two holes have been completed with unconformity depth and underlying Cahill Formation drilled as anticipated. No anomalous scintillometer readings have as yet been observed, however strong alteration consistent with historical uranium intersections have been identified. Downhole lithological and structural data is being utilised to revise the continued drilling
The Piedmont results are very exciting and add further support to the Laghetto-La Balma mineralised trend through the confirmation of infill Ni-Co occurrences along strike. The exceptional polymetallic results at Castilo di Gavala confirm the credentials of this exciting new project, further supported by the anomalous high Au values identified at Gula".
Arnhem Land uranium drilling initial update
Alligator advised on 4 September the commencement of its Alligator Rivers Uranium Province (ARUP) drilling program, targeting its advanced TCC4 uranium prospect. Two holes of the planned program have been completed to date with a third currently in progress.
The two holes completed on Line 3 (refer Figure 1 in link below) have confirmed the unconformity depth at approximately 180m down hole depth. The underlying Cahill Formation was then intersected as anticipated and continued to depth in both holes. While no anomalous counts per second (CPS) have been observed through hand held scintillometer readings as yet, TCRD18-001 had significant alteration near the base of the sandstone, and moderate chlorite alteration / chlorite schists in the Cahill. The second hole TCRD18-002 exhibited some graphitic shears and schists in the Cahill. Both the chlorite alteration and graphite have been associated with either historical uranium intersections or deposits.
Alligator is updating its modelled cross sections with lithology and stratigraphic information as it proceeds, which will assist to inform and adjust immediate future drilling. The RC drilling of the pre-collar on hole TCRD18-003 is now underway.
The spot price of uranium has reached US$27 per lb as of 12 September, up more than 30% in 12 months. This fairly continuous price improvement can likely be attributed to Cameco's earlier announcement of its indefinite suspension of uranium production at McArthur River Mine - the largest uranium mine in the world - combined with suppressed production by other producers. Along with this, there is also approximately 10GW nuclear power (about 2.5 to 3% pa) being added to the global nuclear power base annually through new reactor construction.
Piedmont Project, northern Italy - Final batch of sample assay results
Alligator Energy Limited (Alligator or the Company) is pleased to announce the release of the second and final batch of assay results received from its detailed on-ground geochemical sampling and mapping work at its Piedmont nickel-cobalt-copper project in northern Italy. Piedmont is a farm-in/joint venture project with Chris Reindler and Partners (CRP) (ASX Announcement: 1 February 2018).
From May to July 2018, AGE's exploration team completed substantial on-ground geological and structural mapping, along with extensive geochemical sampling and a ground-based magnetometer survey around historical mines and other prospective sites within the project area.
Alligator, along with our Farm-in and JV partner CRP, will evaluate the effectiveness of the ground magnetometer data and assimilate this with the geochemical data and regional interpretation to establish the best way to advance this Province scale opportunity through further ground work, geophysics and drilling. Due to recent changes in Italian mining law, an environmental survey is required prior to drilling and hence this will most likely delay a drilling program into the European Spring of 2019.
Piedmont Geological Setting and Exploration progress
Figure 2 (see link below) shows the location of Alligator's interest in the Piedmont Project tenements, including those granted which are part of the CRP Farm-in and Joint Venture arrangement, those under application either in the Farm-in or directly applied for by Alligator.
A review of historical results and technical papers, combined with on-ground observation, indicate the region is a major gabbroic mafic complex, with sub-volcanic layered intrusive structures leading down to depth. The region of interest appears to extend some 30kms in length, by 2 to 3kms wide. From previous work, the dominant sulphide mineral is pyrrhotite, with minor amounts of pentlandite and chalcopyrite.
Phase one exploration work has included the collection of 167 surface rock chip samples from within the current licence areas, of which the remaining 90 surface sample assay results have now been received. A further 5 samples have been collected for petrographic studies to determine mineral types within the samples, which will assist with the selection of future possible processing techniques.
Of the 167 samples collected to date, 159 are located within the Alpe Laghetto licence area. Figure 3 (see link below) above shows the distribution of all samples collected to date and Figure 4 in link below shows the distribution of samples from the second batch of assay results over the Alpe Laghetto licence area plotted by Ni %. Three prospects have returned results >1% Ni within this second batch of results, being Laghetto North, La Balma and La Balma SE.
The Laghetto-La Balma trend has produced further exciting results through infill sampling highlighting a more continuous trend than first anticipated. High grade Ni results from the Laghetto North (1.73% Ni) and La Balma SE (1.21% Ni) prospects have shown Ni Co mineralisation extending between the two recognised historic prospects. This adds greater continuity to the mineralisation trend through on-ground identification of further mineralised outcrops infilling the previously identified 2-3km trend. Further structural and geological similarities have been observed at these new prospects and correlations can now be drawn through existing magnetic geophysics conducted simultaneously with the 2015 EM survey undertaken by Nyota, with processing undertaken by AGE. Future work will continue to determine the level of continuity and structural setting within these mineral lenses.
First sample results from Castilo di Gavala in the southern-most EL (refer Figure 3 in link below) show the potential of "pipe" style mineralisation in the region with exceptionally high Cu-Ni grades returned in sample P18-S177 of 6.38% Cu and 0.74% Ni. This is supported by a second grab sample P18-S176 returning 1.31% Ni and 0.87% Cu. Additionally, moderate Co and Au credentials occur at the prospect returning 0.04% Co and 1.39g/t Au also. And with just two samples collected to date further sampling is highly anticipated.
Another new prospect sampled during this phase was the historic Gula mine (see Figure 3 and 4 in link below). Sampling at the Gula prospect has returned highly anomalous Au in conjunction with a moderate Cu occurrence. Sample P18-S170 represents the stand out result, returning 60.8g/t Au and 0.38% Cu. This is supported by 41.4g/t Au and 0.93% Cu in samples P18-S159 and P18-S160 respectively. Sampling highlights can be seen below in Table 1:(see link below)
Six samples have been taken on the Cani licence area at Vallar, to the north of the Laghetto licence (refer Figure 3 in link below). The Cani licence and Vallar prospect represent a small Au prospect with several small historic mines. Initial reconnaissance of this licence area identified three of these historic mines and six samples were collected from the historic Vallar mine. The highlight of this sampling being 10.45g/t Au in P18-S109.
The location of all samples can be seen above in Figure 3 (see link below) which provides an overview of all sampling and identified mineral occurrences.
Samples were selected on a geological basis and collected as grab samples in a non-systematic nature as part of a reconnaissance mapping program around historic nickel prospects and mines within the AGE/CRP tenure. Sampling was completed using a geopick, with locations recorded utilising a hand held GPS. The program was designed to be representative of the variety of rock types and sulphide levels observed in the project area. Results are comparable to the previously unverified historic mining grades of the district and provide encouragement that, along with identification of lateral and depth continuation, potential exists for economic discoveries to be made within the district.
Future Work
From May to July 2018, AGE's exploration team completed substantial on-ground geological and structural mapping, along with extensive geochemical sampling and a ground-based magnetometer survey around historical mines and other prospective sites within the project area. The magnetometer survey results will be processed and interpreted in the coming weeks.
Alligator, along with our Farm-in and JV partner CRP, will evaluate the effectiveness of the ground magnetometer data and assimilate this with the geochemical data and regional interpretation to establish the best way to advance this Province scale opportunity through further ground work, geophysics and drilling.
Note that due to changes this year in Italian mining law, an environmental survey is required prior to drilling and hence this will most likely delay a drilling program into the European Spring of 2019.
Project Background
The Piedmont Project is located within an historic mining district with cobalt, nickel and copper mining taking place from the late 1800's to the end of WWII. Cobalt production grades of over 0.2% and nickel grades of over 2% were recorded as historic mine grade estimates within the Project area.
Alligator considers the Piedmont project prospective for Fe-Ni-Cu-Co massive sulphide deposits in gabbroic and mafic rocks. Previous work on the metallogenesis of the Hercynian orogeny of the Alps completed by Omenetto and Brigo in 1974 drew strong similarities with Sudbury type ores regarding the sulphide assemblages. Bigioggero et al. 1979 made a division of the deposits within the project area based on the metal association and geological settings, these categories were:
1) Mineralisation in layers of the cyclic units, proximal to metasediments
2) Mineralisation in layers of the main gabbro
3) Mineralisation in pipes
Alligator are exploring for all 3 mineralisation types. Virtually no modern exploration has been completed within the district, until a recent EM survey highlighted targets proximal to historic workings.
Piedmont Project Deal Structure
Alligator entered a Binding Heads of Agreement with CRP on January 31st to earn into the Piedmont Cobalt Nickel project (see AGE ASX Press Release 1 Feb 2018). In summary, Alligator's farm-in agreement comprises:
- Up front payments in shares and cash;
- A total of $650,000 to achieve 51% project ownership from completing both the Phase 1 and 2 Work Programs; and
- Option to increase ownership to 70% through a further $1.25 million program of work
Alligator and CRP have agreed to collaborate on other Ni, Co, Cu opportunities within Italy as deemed suitable to both parties.
Alligator has now completed the establishment of an Italian company AGE EV Metals S.r.L. This company is a fully owned subsidiary of Alligator and will contain the targeted 51% interest in the Piedmont Project (when earned) plus other EL's and applications which may be obtained. The Company has been considering additional opportunities within the region and recently announced the application for two further exploration permits (ASX Announcement: 23 August 2018).
To view tables and figures, please visit:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/9434OERP
About Alligator Energy Ltd
Alligator Energy Ltd (ASX:AGE) is an Australian, ASX-listed, exploration company focused on uranium and energy related minerals, principally cobalt-nickel.
Alligator's Directors have significant experience in the exploration, development and operations of both uranium and nickel projects (both laterites and sulphides).
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