ASX- and JSE-listed Orion Minerals has announced that a shallow high-grade nickel/copper/cobalt/platinum group metal intercept confirms strong openpit mining potential at the Jacomynspan project, in South Africa’s Northern Cape province.
The company reports that the intersection starts from just 85 m below surface, which poses an outstanding opportunity to drill out a shallow zone potentially extending over a strike length of up to 3 km.
One particular drill hole at Jacomynspan returned grades of 0.72% nickel, 0.34% copper, 0.05% cobalt and 0.45 g/t platinum and palladium for 31.5 m from 100 m down-hole, and grades of 1.55% nickel, 0.345% copper, 0.10% cobalt and 0.43 g/t platinum and palladium for 7 m from 106 m down-hole.
Previous drilling targeted the deeper parts of the deposit with a view to evaluating underground mining potential, leaving the shallower parts of the structure virtually unexplored.
Orion CEO Errol Smart says he could not have asked for a better start to initial drilling to test the shallow openpit potential at the project.
The company is planning to do an extensive resource drill-out, targeting the upper 200 m of the deposit, with a view to establishing a mineral resource as the foundation for economic studies.
This work is being progressed in parallel with metallurgical test work.