By Iceni Gold Limited (ASX: ICL) (Iceni or the Company) is pleased to provide an exploration update on the 14 Mile Well Project.
Highlights
Since listing on the ASX, Iceni embarked on a tenement wide fieldwork program, including UFF+ soil and rock chip sampling. These include over 15,000 soil samples that have been tested for 50 elements.Analysis of UFF+ soil and rock chip assays have identified new and significant nickel and lithium targets, in addition to the existing gold targets, within Iceni’s 14 Mile Well tenement package. These include:Four large UFF+ nickel soil anomalies (1.6-4.5kms long).Two large UFF+ lithium soil and rock chip anomalies (3-10km long) with a strong association with Li-Cs-Be-Rb.The Leonora-Laverton District hosts a number of Australia’s significant critical minerals projects and some of these are located within a 50km radius of Iceni’s 14 Mile Well Project.Iceni will further evaluate the critical minerals prospectivity at 14 Mile Well while maintaining the primary focus on discovering a world class gold deposit.
“The presence of potential nickel and lithium targets at the 14 Mile Well Project, in addition to our primary gold targets, adds significant exploration upside and supports the Company’s decision to complete the tenement wide soil sampling campaign from the outset following the IPO.
These new nickel and lithium anomalies are reinforced by multi-element soil geochemistry and have geochemical signatures known to be associated with lithium and nickel mineralisation in the Yilgarn.
The lithium anomalies have a similar tenor and extent to other published lithium anomalies within the Yilgarn Craton that host major lithium projects such as Mt Holland*.
Iceni will follow-up on these exciting targets in parallel to its focus on gold.”
*Mt Holland soil anomaly map in Phelps-Barber, Trench & Groves (2022) Recent pegmatite-hosted spodumene discoveries in Western Australia: insights for lithium exploration in Australia and globally. Applied earth Science, 131:2, 100-113.
Introduction
Over a two-year period UFF+ sampling was conducted across the entire tenement package on a regular grid pattern (nominally 100m x 400m). The 15,180 soil samples were taken and analysed for 50 elements, along with other soil properties, including soil sizing, colour, conductivity, acidity, and short wave infra-red analysis (SWIR), to identify clay mineralogy.
The CSIRO developed the UFF+ soil sampling technique to see through deep cover and identify the anomalies derived from mineralisation hidden below.
New generative targeting work conducted by Iceni, assisted by the reviews from the CSIRO and Tower Geoscience consulting geochemist Dr Chris Salt, has led to the identification of a number of new nickel and lithium targets that complement the existing gold targets within the 14 Mile Well project.
Since the IPO in 2021 the Company has identified 12 new significant soil and rock chip anomalies:
Four UFF+ nickel soil anomalies.
Two large rock chip/UFF+ lithium anomalies.Six large UFF+ gold anomalies (included in ASX releases dated 21 December 2022, 10 November 2022, 20 September 2022, 31 August 2022 and 14 February 2022).
Nickel Projects
Three significant nickel projects are situated within a 50km radius of the Iceni tenement package:
Murrin Murrin Project (Glencore), operating, 2021 production: 33,700t Ni and 2,800t Co.
Kilkenny/Eucalyptus Project (Alliance Nickel), under construction, planned annual production: 20,000t Ni and 1,400t Co.Windarra Nickel Project (Poseidon), re-development, historic production (1974-1978 and 1981-1989) 7.191Mt at 1.59% Ni for 84,630t Ni.
Nickel Soil Targets
The 14 Mile Well project sits immediately adjacent to the Murrin Murrin and Kilkenny/Eucalyptus nickel projects which adjoin tenement boundaries with Iceni’s 14 Mile Well project.
Work from the CSIRO UFF+ soil program has identified a number of nickel and multi-element anomalies associated with mafic-ultramafic rocks within the 14 Mile Well project. These anomalies include:
14UF010 Christmas Gift – 2.5km long platinum, nickel and chrome anomaly.
14UF011 Granite Bore West – 4km long platinum, nickel and chrome anomaly.14UF012 Granite Bore South – 1.5km long platinum, palladium and nickel anomaly.14UF013 Bell Bird – 4.5km long platinum, nickel and chrome anomaly.
Lithium Geochemistry Targets
As a result of the UFF+ soils campaign a significant gold anomaly 14UF001 – Breakaway Well was discovered on the southwestern boundary of the project within the Monument Granite (in ASX release dated 1 October 2021).
Click here for the full ASX Release