Alien Metals Limited (LON:UFO) has provided an update, further to an independent review undertaken by Resource Potentials Pty Ltd, covering recent activities and exploration works planned for later this year at its 100% owned Pinderi Hills silver and precious metals project in Western Australia and the Hancock Iron Ore Project.
Overview
The Pinderi Hills Project is located in the world-class mining province of the West Pilbara, covering an area of 180 square kilometres. The Project contains a unique combination of platinum group metals (“PGM”) and gold (“Au”) associated with the Munni Munni Intrusive Complex, the nearby historic Elizabeth Hill silver (“Ag”) mine and multiple nickel-copper (“Ni-Cu”) and lithium (“Li”) exploration targets.
The current resource base for the Project, as previously announced, includes:
· Munni Munni (JORC 2004): 24Mt @ 2.9g/t PGM and gold for 2.2Moz PGM1
· Elizabeth Hill (pre-JORC): 46.8kt @ 2,700g/t Ag for 4.05Moz Ag2
Based on the reverse circulation drilling program completed by the Alien team in November 2022, the Company is confident that the resources at Pinderi Hills can be significantly expanded and could potentially host a Tier 1 Precious Metals and Ni-Cu project. The Australian Government-backed Geoscience Australia 2016 report highlights the Munni Munni Intrusive Complex as a high-priority area for a world-class ultramafic hosted Ni-Cu-PGE Sulphide deposit and amplifies further the Company’s planned activities.
The Project is located close to major infrastructure, 50km south of Karratha, a large mining-centric regional city and airport that provides all the necessary support for exploration and mining in this highly prospective region.
Following an independent review of the Project by Geoscientist, Dr. Jayson Meyers, Principal Consultant and Director of Resource Potentials, Alien propose to expedite exploration and potentially increase the resource base and find new deposits. Dr. Jayson Meyers has previously been involved in several discoveries in Western Australia. The Company is planning exploration activities to take place in Q3 2024. Alien will commence by undertaking soil geochemical surveys over the main Ni-Cu target areas and Judy’s Reef PGM trends.
Robert Mosig, Alien Metals Technical Director, commented:
“Further to Resource Potentials’ review of Pinderi Hills, including encouraging silver, base and precious metals drilling results from Elizabeth Hills (AIM: 20 February 2023), the Company has fast-tracked plans to develop the Elizabeth Hills Silver Mine, as well as furthering our understanding of base metals deposits as we explore new opportunities in the area. The region’s recent history has not been explored, so we are delighted, based on the review and the Company’s previous drilling program, to announce our plans for the next phase of exploration in the region.
“With our recently announced strategic lithium joint venture with Errawarra Resources (ASX: ERW), Alien can strategically focus on its precious and base metals targets at Pinderi Hills.”
The Pinderi Hills – Located in a World Class Geological Province
The Pinderi Hills mineral exploration and mining licenses covering an area of 180km2 contains highly prospective geology. Geoscience Australia, an Australian government department, has highlighted this area as having a high potential for intrusion-hosted Ni-Cu-PGM sulphide deposits in mafic/ultramafic complexes. In terms of silver, previous drilling by Alien in 2022 identified exceptional broad intersections of native silver, as set out below.
Figure 1: West Pilbara high potential areas for Ni-Cu-PGM sulphide deposits with the focus on Munni Munni Complex (Geoscience Australia, 2016)
These large mafic/ultramafic complexes of the West Pilbara are some of the most fertile rock types for significant discoveries. The Company is moving ahead with plans for a comprehensive, staged exploration under the guidance of Non-Executive Director, Mr Robert Mosig, who has over 40 years of experience in this area and explored Pinderi Hills when he was the managing director of Helix Resources (ASX: HLX) and Platina Resources (ASX: PGM).
In addition, to assist and expedite the exploration programs at Pinderi Hills, the Company has engaged geophysical and geological consultancy Resource Potentials. This well-known consultancy uses leading-edge techniques and interpretive strategies led by Dr Jayson Meyers, who has run a team of geoscientists at Resource Potentials for 24 years and served as an Associate Professor in Exploration Geophysics at the WA School of Mines for 10 years during that time.
Dr. Meyers has led exploration programs that have discovered and expanded several different styles of mineral deposits around the world, and his team has completed a comprehensive study on the mineral potential of Pinderi Hills and provided a recommended exploration plan.
Upcoming work programs
For the remainder of 2024, soil geochemical surveys are planned to commence over the main Ni-Cu target areas and Judy’s Reef PGM trends. Fortunately, these two mineralisation styles overlap, so when the surveys are completed, they will be able to test for both styles of mineralisation in one program. The results from the geochemical sampling will then drive the decision-making process for the best locations for future geophysical and drilling programs. Plans are also underway at Elizabeth Hills to target larger silver ore bodies at depth and along strike from the known silver deposit/mine zone.
Following our recently announced joint venture with Errawarra, we are pleased that they have already commenced exploration activities. Whilst their focus is on lithium, utilising the expertise of Alien’s partner, the data gathered from the current fieldwork is expected to provide critical information which will assist in the analysis and drill targeting for silver, base and precious metals at Pinderi Hills.
Hancock Project – strategic discussions update
As announced on 19 April 2024, the Company’s Hancock Iron Ore Project in Western Australia was granted a Mining Lease (M47/1633) by the Western Australian Department of Mines, representing a key milestone on the pathway towards development and production.
The Company is actively progressing the ongoing review of strategic funding options with regards to the Hancock Project to maximise value for the Company’s shareholders and stakeholders, including various longer-term financing options, including continued discussions with iron ore industry operators regarding offtake funding, joint venture, debt, and equity project funding.
The Pinderi Hills Project – Further Technical Information
Silver and base metals
The Elizabeth Hill Silver Mine has a pre-JORC compliant resource of c.4.05Moz of silver and it was Australia’s highest-grade silver mine. Over 1Moz of silver was produced in 1999-2000 from a shaft and on-site processing plant before the mine was closed due to a dispute between the joint venture partners in 2000. The Elizabeth Hill Mine is now 100% owned outright by the Company, and historical drilling, both surface and underground, including detailed and high-quality underground development sampling, has been compiled into a secure geological database.
The polymetallic nature of the Elizabeth Hill mineralisation, with recorded Pb values up to 2.09% (AMC220001), has not been fully accounted for in previous work on the deposit. This presents Alien with an opportunity to add credits from other valuable metals, such as gold (Au), platinum (Pt), and palladium (Pd), amongst others.
The main silver mineralisation is on a structurally controlled fault contact between granite and ultramafic rocks. The main zone of mineralisation is plunging steeply to the south, and testing of interpreted parallel structures is planned for future drilling.
Key assay intersections are3:
· Copper:
o 0.4m @ 4.7% Cu, 26ozt Ag, 1.55% Ni from 1.6m in UGD041
o 0.4m @ 4% Cu, 799ozt Ag, 0.8% Ni from 3m in UGD069
o 1m @ 3.98% Cu, 12ozt Ag, 0.95% Ni from 35m in EC002
o 1m @ 3.5% Cu, 125ozt Ag, 1.06% Zn, 0.58% Ni, 0.68% Pb from 2m in UGD063
· Nickel:
o 0.9m @ 2.95% Ni, 65ozt Ag, 0.15% Cu from 5.1m in UGD073
o 5.2m @ 2.18% Ni, 166ozt Ag, 0.76% Cu, 0.28% Zn from 3m in UGD069
o 1.05m @ 1.90% Ni, 114ozt Ag, 1.25% Cu, from 5.05m in UGD072
· Lead:
o 0.4m @ 9.7% Pb from 1.2m in UGC82406
o 1m @ 4.8% Pb from 11.9m in UGD022
o 1m @ 3.8% Pb from 91m in EC028
o 1.1m @ 3.1% Pb from 8.6m in UGD060
o 1.2m @ 2.05% Pb and 723ozt Ag from 0m in UGD072
· Zinc:
o 1m @ 2.85% Zn, 13ozt Ag, 0.16%Pb from 0m in UGC82057
o 0.95m @ 2.70%, Zn, 0.48% Pb from 4.9m in UGD055
o 1.1m @ 2.65% Zn, 5ozt Ag from 9m in UGD042
o 1m @ 1.06% Zn, 326ozt Ag, 0.5% Pb from 2m in UGD063
The main silver mineralisation is located south of the Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (“VMS”) Cu/Ni/Pb/Zn anomalism, which has been targeted with several historical reverse circulation (“RC”) holes.
Figure 2: Sub Audio Magnetic (“SAM”) survey with main target areas4 at Elizabeth Hills and surrounding area
Platinum Group Metals
The Project contains significant platinum group metal mineralisation. The Company understands the known mineralisation and believes that additional discoveries can be made in areas that have not been explored.
The current (2004) resource is a non-JORC 2012 compliant:
24Mt @ 2.9g/t Platinum Group Element (“PGE”) and gold for 2.2Moz PGM3
This includes 1.14Moz of palladium, 0.83Moz of platinum, 152koz gold and 76koz of rhodium. The Munni Munni Project is considered one of Australia’s largest PGE deposits.
The Munni Munni project’s geology is well understood, and the Company has the advantage of building onto existing mineralisation with opportunities for nearby repeat ore shoots and untested strike extensions. Importantly, the metallurgy test work completed previously was using historical methods, and there are now new opportunities for improved metallurgical recoveries at a time of heightened demand for PGM.
The main Munni Munni resource mineralisation is on the Hunter/Ferguson Reef. Field mapping and geophysical interpretation highlight a lower reef, Judy’s Reef, that has little or no drilling and also requires basic soil sampling to advance it towards drill target status.
The schematic below highlights the interpreted stratigraphic position of these two reefs.
Figure 3: Schematic stratigraphy highlighting PGM Reef known and interpreted locations
Figure 4, below, shows the location of the known Ferguson and Hunter Reef and the location of Judy’s Reef. It is important to note the lack of drilling in the vicinity of Judy’s Reef. The Company reported some initial promising results (AIM: 26 April 2023) from limited RC drilling south of Elizabeth Hill that targeted Judy’s Reef. The results reported from the drilling and geological interpretation demonstrated that a reef similar to the Hunter/Ferguson Reef at Munni Munni is located further west of this drilling. The reported anomalous PGE’s, Ni, Cu and elevated Chromium units are of a similar tenor form and reef-style orientation, with a similar dip to the granite contact as seen at the Munni Munni Resource area.
Figure 4: Geology and location of PGM Reef locations and Ni/Cu target areas Munni Munni, Pinderi Hills, WA – Major rock units are: Pink=granite, purple=ultramafic, green=gabbro
Nickel-Copper sulphide mineralisation
The mafic-ultramafic complexes mapped at Pinderi Hills can host massive Ni-Cu sulphide deposits typically formed along the base of an intrusion or along magma conduits to the intrusion at its base. The Cadgerina Dyke, Figure 4, is a magma conduit for the Munni Munni intrusion and remains untested by electromagnetic (“EM”) surveying or drilling, despite having strong geochemical anomalism.
The Munni Munni Intrusive Complex is tilted onto its side, so the base of the intrusion is located along the northern edge and eastern edges, where Judy’s Reef West and Judy’s Reef PGM reefs form along the basal contact with the surrounding granite. The base of the Munni Munni intrusion is largely under-explored for intrusive Ni-Cu-PGE sulphide deposits and requires soil geochemical surveying, mapping, EM surveying and drilling.
The Ni-Cu mineralisation could be similar to or much larger than that which was successfully mined in the 1990’s at Radio Hill, located c.15km to the north. Figure 5 provides an example of the style of mineralisation being explored for a schematic section of the high-grade Radio Hill mineralisation.
Figure 5: Cross section of radio Hill Ni-Cu mineralisation
Lithium
The Pinderi Hills Project contains areas identified as highly prospective for lithium pegmatite mineralisation. To allow the Company to focus on Ag, PGM, and Ni-Cu exploration, it entered a joint venture with Errawarra Resources Ltd on 29 April 2024 and the Company looks forward to providing updates as exploration works progress.
Figure 6: Pinderi Hills pegmatite swarm extent as at the time of JV announcement
Figure 7: Errawarra Resources currently conducting exploration in several areas at Pinderi Hills, W.A
1/ 2004 JORC compliant
2/ Global Strategic Metals NL, Annual Technical Report 2014, non-JORC 2012 compliant
1moz of the resource has been mined up until 2000-2001
3/ Alien Metals announcement 6 September 2023
