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- Ardea Resources (ARL) “confirms high-grade” nickel-cobalt laterite mineralisation with scandium credits following re-assaying of drill pulps from historic drilling undertaken at the Kalpini nickel hub that forms part of its Kalgoorlie nickel project (KNP) in WA
- Two of the past holes returned 12 metres grading 1.7 per cent nickel, 0.15 per cent cobalt and 28 grams per tonne scandium from 20 metres and four metres at 1.66 per cent nickel, 0.1 per cent cobalt and 40 g/t scandium from 29 metres
- Ardea says rare earth element (REE) grades were also detected within the historic nickel-cobalt laterite mineralisation and will be targeted to provide potential by-product credits as will cobalt and potentially scandium
- The company is weighing up a follow-up work program for Kalpini – as an ancillary to the current KNP definitive feasibility study – including metallurgical testing.
- ARL shares up 5.49 per cent to 86.5 cents
Ardea Resources (ARL) has “confirmed high-grade” nickel-cobalt laterite mineralisation with scandium credits following re-assaying of archived drill pulps from historic drilling undertaken at the Kalpini nickel hub that forms part of its Kalgoorlie nickel project (KNP) in Western Australia.
The company said the pulps came from drilling done by Heron Resources, Vale Inco and Ardea between 1998 and recently.
Two of the past holes returned 12 metres grading 1.7 per cent nickel, 0.15 per cent cobalt and 28 grams per tonne scandium from 20 metres and four metres at 1.66 per cent nickel, 0.1 per cent cobalt and 40 g/t scandium from 29 metres.
Ardea said rare earth element (REE) grades were also detected within the historic nickel-cobalt laterite mineralisation and would be targeted to provide potential by-product credits as would cobalt and potentially scandium.
“The Kalpini drill pulp re-assay was a major undertaking for Ardea in 2021, with the principal objective to validate historic resource drilling and obtain scandium assays for the current re-estimation of the full KNP mineral resource estimate,” Managing Director Andrew Penkethman said.
“The importance of cobalt as a significant revenue contributor for the KNP was validated in the 2018 pre-feasibility study. Significantly, the cobalt revenue credit reduced the then estimated C1 operating cost from US$5.59/lb to US$0.42/lb.
“If scandium and now REEs can be configured in the flowsheet as additional revenue contributors, there are significant improvements to the already robust KNP financial metrics.”
The company said it was looking at a possible follow-up work program for Kalpini – as an ancillary to the current KNP definitive feasibility study – including metallurgical testing.
ARL shares were trading 5.49 per cent higher at 86.5 cents at 1:28 pm AEDT.
