In IGO Ltd’s First Quarter 2021 presentation released on 29 October 2020, the company states in its exploration overview its portfolio is focused on Tier 1 nickel and copper discovery.

The presentation showcases the potential of exploration near IGO’s Nova mine (“Big focus on Nova Near-mine seismic and MLEM target drilling”).

IGO has increased the exploration budget on Nova during the past 18 months and the dialogue now focuses on exploration in close proximity to Nova.

IGO’s recent $57 million deal to explore nine of Boadicea Resources’ licences in the Fraser Range is a critical element of the IGO exploration puzzle success.

Boadicea Resources Managing Director Jon Reynolds says the board is pleased to have such a capable and successful mining company exploring its nine Fraser Range tenements.

“Having IGO exploring with great intent on our licences gives us great confidence a new discovery is highly possible in the Fraser Range.

“IGO is committing significant exploration funding to ensure the Fraser Range’s potential to produce multiple mine generating targets give confidence to our shareholders the next discovery could only be one drill hole away,” Jon Reynolds says.

IGO’s presentation identifies and names Boadicea’s Symons Hill, which is along strike some 7km from IGO’s Nova Mine, as a high priority for the exploration team.

IGO’s Orion and Hercules deposits, also named high priority targets immediately abut Boadicea’s Symons Hill project.

IGO has already drilled multiple holes from surface and underground at the Nova mine. It has intersected high-tenor disseminated and blebby nickel and copper sulphides.

The exploration strategy has a three pronged approach:

Commodity and deposit style – A focus on high value magmatic nickel sulphides and sediment hosted copper deposits;

Terrane selection and portfolio development – Driven by leading generative geoscience equity joint venture structures to secure tenure;

Geoscience Excellent and Execution Capacity – Leveraging inhouse geophysics/geochemistry capability.

IGO states its exploration plans for the Fraser Range are a systematic process to drill high priority targets.

• It has intersected thick intervals of mineralised mafic-ultamafic intrustions at Ecliptic, located south of Mark Creasy’s Silver Knight project;
• Further more abundant disseminated to locally semi-massive nickel-copper sulphides have been identified at Kaon 2 and Chimera, southeast of the Nova mine which require follow up drilling;
• Also, widespread gold mineralisation identified at Themis including 16m @ 6.69g/t gold from 42 metres.

IGO concludes it has started its 2021 financial year with its operations continuing to generate high margins and outstanding free cash flow, while its balance sheet provides a strong platform for organic and inorganic growth.