The Rok Optel nickel/copper target, in the Northern Cape, which forms part of ASX- and JSE-listed Orion Minerals’ regional exploration programme, is continuing to emerge as a very promising nickel sulphide project, MD and CEO Errol Smart said on Wednesday.
Diamond drill hole OROD003, which was designed to target a 10 500S down-hole, electromagnetic conductor, has been completed to a depth of 532.73 m.
According to a release on Wednesday, the hole intersected three significant zones of magmatic sulphide mineralisation, all of which are characterised by the presence of sulphide veins injected into both the host country rock and the intrusion.
The vein, stringer and massive sulphides intersected in recently completed diamond hole OROD003 can be correlated with the mineralisation intersected previously in drill holes OROD001 and OROD002, which the company says confirms the potential scale and significance of the target.
Orion Minerals now recognises that Rok Optel has an extensive and complex multiphase intrusive history.
“The identification of magmatic sulphide veins injected into the country rock is also particularly encouraging as it highlights the potential to discover bulk massive sulphide mineralisation. We are eagerly awaiting the assay results so that modelling can be refined and drilling can continue,” Smart commented.
Once all outstanding analytical and geophysical results have been received and evaluated, drilling will resume on the Rok Optel prospect.