Hugh Morgan presenting at the Paydirt 2016 Africa Down Under mining conference at Perth in September.

 

By Elizabeth Fabri

 

A HIGH grade native nickel discovery made in West Africa is believed to be the first of its kind in the world.

The Titan Nickel Project discovery, made by a private Australian company, was said to contain an ‘improbable’ kind of nickel that formed in small balls 0.1-5.0mm in diameter, compared to traditional nickel that needed to be refined from soil.

Mining veteran Hugh Morgan, who heads the company, said the balls were hard and weakly ferromagnetic, and ranged in colour from bright silver and golden, to dark metallic grey.

“What makes this nickel so unique is its genesis; it is a different genesis than we believe has ever been documented previously,” Mr Morgan said.

“There is no other deposit like it in the world – it is that significant in style.

“The initial assays immediately raised suspicion that what we had was very special.”

Mr Morgan said exploration began at the Nigerian project in 2015, and the company was working closely with the local government to ensure the project reached its full potential.

“We don’t know the extent of what we are working with yet [but] the geological setting is very encouraging,” he said.

“This could be very significant – in other places, such discoveries have changed countries.”

“The project will be a big learning curve for everyone.”

 

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