Legend tables maiden resource in Fraser Range
Legend Mining has declared an maiden nickel-copper-cobalt resource at its Mawson deposit in the Fraser Range which it says has significant room to grow and is currently at approximately one year of production from the Nova discovery of the heavyweight Fraser Range neighbor IGO. The initial estimate is 1.45 Mt at 1.14% nickel, 0.74% copper and 0.07% cobalt for a nickel equivalent grade of 1.2%.
Mawson is part of Legend’s Rockford Project and the Company says it already has 28,200 tonnes of contained metal consisting of 16,500 tonnes of nickel, 10,600 tonnes of copper and 1,100 tonnes of cobalt. Importantly, mineralization begins at a relatively shallow depth of 65m and is currently progressing to a depth of approximately 305m below surface. It’s still open on all sides and Legend in particular says the main source has yet to be discovered. Interestingly, 3D seismic data maps show the mineralized intrusive in drilled areas to a depth of 500m below surface, but the company says the data suggests it extends beneath the Mawson Fault to a depth of possibly 800m could extend 1000 m.
The initial mineral resource estimate is based on 26 drill holes completed between 2019 and 2021 consisting of 24 diamond core and 2 reverse circulation holes for 8,938m. Drill hole spacing was predominantly 20m by 20m throughout the discovery zone and widened to approximately 50m by 100m in the remaining areas.
The Company eagerly awaits the final commissioned octagonal 3D seismic model and reprocessed model for Mawson as the basis for planning diamond drilling for the upcoming field season. Meanwhile, regional aircore drilling and innovative high power EM surveys are ongoing.
Mark Wilson, CEO of Legend Mining commented: “This is the third published nickel resource in the Fraser Range, demonstrating that this underexplored nickel belt has the potential to host additional accumulations of nickel-copper sulphide. Our ongoing systematic exploration efforts will be aimed at discovering more of these clusters throughout Rockford.
The Mawson Prospect is located within the Company’s Rockford Project, which encompasses more than 3000 square kilometers within the famous Fraser Range, approximately 250 km east of Kalgoorlie. The region rose to prominence nearly a decade ago following the discovery of Nova-Bollinger’s landmark nickel, copper and platinum discovery approximately 120km away.
Mawson is a mafic-ultramafic intrusive system that hosts nickel-copper-cobalt sulphide mineralization. It lies on the eastern edge of the Fraser Zone, a northeast trending belt of Proterozoic rocks that is part of the Albany-Fraser Orogen. There are striking similarities in style of mineralization between Mawson and IGO’s nearby revered Nova-Bollinger deposit, which is hosted on a similar tenor gravity ridge as the Mawson deposit.
IGO’s Nova deposit is expected to produce approximately 23,000 tonnes of nickel, approximately 10,000 tonnes of copper and 900 tonnes of cobalt in one year, which is roughly comparable to the original resource at Mawson.
When Sirius Resources first announced its extraordinary Nova-Bollinger discovery in the Fraser Range, it set the market on fire and every small company with a million in the can headed south to try their luck. Most of them came home tails tucked in only months later, with a hard-won realization of the vastness of the Fraser Range and the cost of finding another Nova-Bollinger.
However, Legend is one of the few who have managed to keep their distance and carefully and methodically find the source of the mineralization on their ground.
With nickel prices on the rise and huge demand for critical minerals such as copper and cobalt, the openness of this prospective deposit will no doubt have the blue light viewers thinking carefully about how large Legend’s deposit could be once it has exhausted all possibilities with the drill rig .
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