Western Areas, a nickel mining company, believes that its new discovery in the Sahara of the West Gorge Craton in South Australia is similar to the geological background of the Eagle East copper-nickel mine in Michigan, USA.
If this is the case, it means that geophysical prospecting, a tool for mineral exploration, cannot be completely relied on.
A 2017 Lundin Mining technical report believes that the Yingdong deposit is not supported by geophysical work, and its discovery completely relies on the open-system chonolith model of the magmatic sulfide deposit.
“The main and most successful exploration tool is diamond drilling combined with a very practical and predictable deposit model.”
Graeme Gribbin, general manager of the exploration department of Western Region, stated at the RIU Explorers Conference that this applies to the Sahara deposit.
“We feel that both have the same background…, because of the depth of burial we need to track the system geologically.”
Gribbin will head to the mining area this week. The drilling rig will arrive at the site next Monday, when a series of diamond core drilling will begin.
The discovery of a high-grade nickel sulfide mine seen by Xiyu’s first diamond drill last year is the accumulation of the results of systematic exploration in the past seven years.
