Boadicea may hold the key to IGO’s hottest target – the Orion prospect

28/01/2021

The dawn of 2021 begins an exciting chapter for Boadicea Resources with highly-respected exploration partner IGO zeroing in on a prospect target that holds much hope for a significant discovery on Boadicea’s Symons Hill Licence.

In IGO’s latest technical overview released late last year, IGO names three prospects in the Fraser Range it has identified could uncover the next nickel discovery and which it has progressed to Prospect Evaluation stage.

They are Orion in the number one position, Kaon 2 and Ecliptic.

Of significant excitement to Boadicea is the Orion prospect which is located on the edge of Boadicea’s Symons Hill tenement and is interpreted to extend in a north-east direction into Boadicea’s Symons Hill licence area. (Source IGO Website).

These three targets were identified through the IGO project assessment process across 600 potential Fraser Range targets, 22 are ready to be drill tested.

Boadicea Managing Director Jon Reynolds says, “IGO themselves compare the Fraser to the famous Thompson Belt nickel deposits in Canada.

“The Fraser Range has only two deposits with more than 150km strike length, and total known resources of 18 million tonnes.

“Taking a look at the Thompson Belt in Canada, there are 10 deposits and total known resources of more than 146 million tonnes which occur over a similar strike length.

“The opportunity is clearly evident,” Mr Reynolds says.

In IGO’s Technical Overview Report of exploration works, IGO lists:

• 111 targets were downgraded
• 57 for anomoly generation
• 22 targets to drill test
• 3 advanced to prospect evaluation (Orion, Kaon 2 and Ecliptic).

Orion sits north-east trending from the Nova Mine and thereby indicating it could traverse the boundary into Boadicea’s Symons Hill project, while Kaon 2 is trending south-west of the Nova Mine. Both are located in a northerly and southerly direction respectively of Nova.

Meanwhile the Ecliptic licence is positioned directly south-west of the Mark Creasy Silver Knight discovery and still on trend to Nova, Orion and Kaon 2.

IGO’s report states “new JVs and option agreements adjacent to the Nova Mining Lease, including the recently concluded transaction with Boadicea Resources (BOA), ensure that IGO has a pipeline of near mine targets for the foreseeable future”.

The report states the Orion Prospect is just 3km north east of the Nova Operation and is a highly prospective polyphase sulphide-bearing mafic-UM intrusion that exhibits textural and lithological features indicative of a productive nickel copper-sulphide-hosting chonolith (tube-like intrusion).

The chonolith intrusion has been intercepted in multiple diamond drill holes that constrain the morphology of the intrusion to over ~1,000m in strike and from ~80m to ~250m in diameter. Modelling of drilling and 3D seismic data shows the chonolith following a fold hinge, intruding into a chemically reactive carbonate unit.

The chonolith is both laterally and vertically zoned comprising variably contaminated gabbronorite, olivine-bearing websterite and thin cumulate norites.

Blebby, multiphase magmatic sulphides (pyrrhotite-pentlandite-chalcopyrite) are present in the intrusion with sulphide content increasing towards the northeast. The sulphides are concentrated on internal contacts and at the base of the intrusion where stringers are present. Importantly, calcite-filled cavities occur with some sulphide blebs providing strong evidence that a mechanism to enhance sulphide droplet accumulation within the melt has occurred.

What strengthens Boadicea’s excitement in 2021 is the report’s statement: “The observed lateral zonation in the chonolith is accompanied by increases in nickel and copper sulphide tenors (grade of the sulphides) that suggest that the intrusion is becoming more dynamic and therefore more prospective for nickel-copper mineralised systems towards the north-east …”

All roads are leading to Symons Hill to bring home the next bonanza find in the Fraser Range.

This article was written by mining stocks investor and publicist Yolanda Torrisi. Yolanda has been involved in the mining sector for more than 25 years covering numerous ASX-listed stocks. She manages investor relations and communications for Boadicea Resources.