JOINT venture partners Continental Nickel (75 per cent) and IMX Resources (25 per cent) have announced the discovery of new nickel sulfide intersections at the promising Ntaka Hill project, which forms part of the larger Nachingwea nickel-copper JV in southern Tanzania.
The initial round of drilling assays received from the Sleeping Giant Zone at Ntaka Hill returned 32.65m grading 1.04 per cent nickel and 0.22 per cent copper and 14m grading 1.45 per cent nickel and 0.25 per cent copper.
Multiple zones of scattered nickel sulfide mineralisation assaying more than 0.5 per cent nickel were also intersected in the hanging wall to the Sleeping Giant Zone.
IMX’s interest in Nachingwea is held through a direct 25 per cent interest in the Tanzanian JV company, Ngwena, and indirectly through a 37.2 per cent interest in Continental.
Continental, which is both manager and operator of the project, has implemented a C$10 million exploration program for 2012 for the project, which was initiated in mid
May utilising three diamond drill rigs.
The comprehensive program includes between 20,000m and 25,000m of diamond and reverse circulation drilling, a 2500km regional airborne versatile time domain
electromagnetic survey and ground geophysical surveys.
A total of 56 drill holes for 12,683m was completed to the end of July, including in-fill and geotechnical drilling at Sleeping Giant and exploration drilling at Ntaka Hill,
Lionja and other regional targets.
“The 2012 drilling program is well underway and we look forward to reporting more new assays at regular intervals, including [the] results of recently completed exploration holes,” Continental vice president of exploration Patricia Tirschmann said.
“At Sleeping Giant, the intersection of both new mineralisation, as well as hanging wall zones returning assay values greater than 0.5 per cent nickel, is very encouraging,” she said.
“New intersections at Sleeping Giant will be incorporated into the drilling database and are currently expected to result in another mineral resource estimate update in early
2013.”
The Nachingwea project has a measured and indicated resource of 12.8 million tonnes grading 1.21 per cent nickel and an inferred mineral resources of 45mt grading 0.30 per cent nickel.
