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Impact Minerals increases stake in Broken Hill Project to 87%

Last updated: 22:50 27 Mar 2015 AEDT, First published: 23:50 27 Mar 2015 AEDT

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Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) has now moved to an 87% interest in the copper-nickel-platinum group metal rights at the Broken Hill Joint Venture Project in New South Wales.

This follows the company’s recent discovery of high grade copper-nickel-PGM at the Red Hill prospect in February.

Partner Golden Cross Resources (ASX:GCR) is focussed on a development project elsewhere and elected not to contribute to Impact’s recent work programs.

It has also elected to not contribute to the follow-up drill program due to start in the next quarter.

Should Golden Cross to less than a 5% interest then it has to transfer its interest to Impact for $1.


Recent Activity

At Red Hill, Impact has discovered a 25 to 30 metre thick near-surface zone of mineralisation that contains high grade PGM’s together with nickel and copper associated with an ultramafic intrusion.

Four significant intercepts have been returned from drill holes RDH001 and RDH006 that define an
Upper and Lower Zone of mineralisation.

- Upper Zone: 9.5 metre at 4.7 grams per tonne platinum-palladium-gold, 1.5% copper and 0.8% nickel (RDH001) and 5.2 metres at 3.4 g/t platinum-palladium-gold, 1.1% copper and 1.6% nickel (RDH006); and
- Lower Zone: 9.9 metres at 6.7 g/t platinum-palladium-gold, 1.4% copper and 0.3% nickel (RDH001) and 13.8 metres at 6.3 g/t platinum-palladium-gold, 1.1% copper and 0.3% nickel (RDH006).

The copper, nickel and PGE grades appear to be increasing in width and grade at depth and the mineralisation is open at depth and along strike. 

Mineralisation comprises massive and disseminated nickel and copper sulphides together with vein and disseminated nickel and copper oxides and sulphides.

Importantly it appears that mineralised zones dip at a shallow angle to the south and are close to true width.


Next Steps

The results to date from the Red Hill prospect confirm Impact’s belief that there is potential for a significant discovery near Broken Hill.

Latest down hole and ground electromagnetic survey results have been received and are being interpreted.

These results will be used together with the previous drill assays to design a follow up drill program expected to start in the next quarter.

The drill intercepts in RHD001 and RHD006 are the first significant drill intercepts of nickel and copper within Impact’s project area away from the high grade drill intercept of 2 metres at 6.1% nickel, 4.5% copper, 10.9 g/t platinum and 23.6 g/t palladium in fresh sulphide discovered some years ago by previous explorers at the Platinum Springs prospect some 15 kilometres to the north east. 

There are many strike kilometres of the same ultramafic host rock that contain high grade nickel-copper-PGE rock chip assays similar to those at Platinum Springs and Red Hill that have never been drilled.


The Red Hill Prospect


The host ultramafic intrusive unit at Red Hill, which outcrops over an area of about 500 square metres, has a nickel-rich core and copper-precious metal-rich margins.

This is a common feature in many major nickel-copper-precious metal sulphide deposits around the world.

Red Hill is part of Broken Hill, which is located 20 kilometres east of the world-class Broken Hill silver-lead-zinc mine.

The centre of the unit is marked by nickel-in-soil values greater than 10,000 ppb and up to 16,100 ppb nickel that is 100 metres wide and 300 metres long. 

Both the western and, in particular, the eastern margins of the unit are marked by copper-in-soil results greater than 2,500 ppb and up to 16,200 ppb copper that are up to 200 metres wide and 600 metres long. 

Within these margins there are a further three priority areas for follow up work that contain greater than 20 ppb platinum+palladium+gold-in-soil results covering several hundred square metres and which contain rock chip samples with high grade nickel, copper and precious metal assays:

At Red Hill Shaft, mined to a depth of about 40 metres in the early 1900’s, grab samples from outcrops around the shaft returned up to 16g/t platinum, 12.1g/t palladium, 4.2% nickel, 7.7% copper, 1.3 g/t gold and 221g/t silver. 

Rock chip samples from a surface excavation about 50 metres long located 100 metres to the south of the shaft returned up to 1g/t platinum, 2.6g/t palladium, 0.9% nickel, 0.8% copper, 1.8g/t gold and 3.3g/t silver.

At Simons Find, rock chip samples returned up to 0.7g/t platinum, 1.7g/t palladium, 0.4% nickel, 0.1% copper, 1.9g/t gold and 6.6g/t silver.

Finally, in the south east corner of the intrusion, grab samples from weathered rocks associated with some surface diggings returned up to 22% copper, 0.2% nickel, 0.8 g/t gold and 91.1 g/t silver.

The soil geochemistry survey was completed by Impact at a spacing of 50 metres by 50 metres and submitted for analysis by the MMI partial digest (nickel and copper) and fire assay (platinum, palladium, gold and silver).


Broken Hill Joint Venture

Exploration Licence E7390 is owned by Golden Cross Resources and is the subject of two joint ventures, one between GCR and Impact and one between GCR and Silver City Minerals (ASX:SCI).

Impact has the rights to nickel, platinum and any other metals, occurring in, emanating from, or which are otherwise associated with, mafic or ultramafic complexes.

Silver City has the rights to base metal, silver and gold mineralisation associated with Broken Hill-style mineralisation.


Other Projects

Impact Minerals also holds the wholly-owned Commonwealth gold-silver-zinc-lead-copper project located 95 kilometres north of Orange, New South Wales, as well as the Mulga Tank Project located in the Yilgarn Block, Western Australia.

The Commonwealth Project has a maiden Inferred Resource of 720,000 tonnes at 4.7 grams per tonne gold equivalent.

This is open along trend and at depth and contains both massive sulphide mineralization at the Main Shaft prospect and disseminated, vein and lesser massive sulphide mineralization at the Commonwealth South prospect.

It extends from surface to an average depth of 90 metres, has a strike length of 400 metres and is up to 25 metres thick.

A separate Inferred Resource (included within the overall resource) has also been calculated for the massive sulphide lens at Main Shaft alone to demonstrate the high grade nature of such deposits that are the principal target for Impact’s exploration program.

The Main Shaft Inferred Resource is: 145,000 tonnes at 10 g/t gold equivalent for a contained 47,000 gold equivalent ounces comprising 4.3 g/t gold, 142 g/t silver, 4.8% zinc, 1.7% lead and 0.2% copper.

Previous drilling at the southern end of the deposit had returned a bonanza grade intercept of 4 metres at 41 g/t gold, 93 g/t silver, 5.5% zinc and 2.3% lead. This could lead to a new gold-rich massive sulphide lens.

Further drilling, which has the potential to increase the size and grade of this deposit, is expected to start in the next quarter.

Already, follow-up IP and ground gravity surveys have identified drill targets within a large zoned elliptical zinc-lead-copper-gold-silver soil anomaly at the Doughnut porphyry copper-gold target.

The project has similarities to Heron Resources Limited Woodlawn deposit, a Silurian VMS deposit with a global resource of 17.7 million tonnes at 1.4g/t gold, 80g/t silver, 1.7% copper, 9.9% zinc, 3.8% lead for 7.1 million ounces of gold equivalent.

There is also regional potential with the company securing a further 315 square kilometres that include 8 kilometres of potential strike in the rocks that host Commonwealth as well as 10 kilometres strike potential of structures that host the nearby Galwadgere copper-gold deposit.


Mulga Tank

Impact = recently completed the acquisition of the remaining equity in the Mulga Tank Project located in the Yilgarn Block, Western Australia, from Golden Cross Resources.

It now owns 100% of all 13 licences within the project, which covers 425 square kilometres of the highly prospective Minigwal greenstone belt, 200 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie.

Notably, the project is located close to world class nickel mines including Perseverance (>1 million tonnes contained nickel), Mt Keith (>2Mt nickel) and Kambalda camp (>1Mt nickel).

It is also close to recent discoveries such as the Nova-Bollinger deposit, Camelwood and Collurabie.

This completes a long term goal for the company since it purchased the joint venture rights two years ago while removing the earn-in requirement that was inherited from the previous owners.

Impact’s first drill program had identified nickel sulphides over just a 15 square kilometre area centred on the Mulga Tank Dunite.

It now plans to move forward with follow-up drilling within the dunite following the recent award of a $150,000 grant under the Western Australian State Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme.

There is also significant untapped gold potential.


Analysis

Impact Minerals now has a larger 87% interest in the copper-nickel-platinum group metal rights at the Broken Hill Joint Venture Project in New South Wales.

Already, the company has discovered high grade copper-nickel-PGM at the Red Hill prospect and plans to carry out follow-up drilling in the next quarter.

Significantly, the 25 to 30 metre thick near-surface zone of mineralisation appears to increase in width and grade at depth, raising the likelihood of a major massive and disseminated nickel and copper sulphide resource.

Share Price Catalysts

- Interpretation of results from down hole and ground electromagnetic surveys at Red Hill;
- Drilling at Red Hill in the second quarter of 2015; and
- Results from drilling.



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