Chalice makes move on Julimar ‘lookalike’

The option and earn-in agreement with Venture will see Chalice earn up to a 70 per cent interest in the project by spending $3.7 million on exploration across four years.

Part of the project has been described as a ‘Julimar lookalike’ due to a 20-kilometre long interpreted magic-ultramafic complex that includes a massive nickel-copper-PGE sulphide occurrence – referred to as the Thor Target.

Similar to Chalice’s Julimar project, the South West project is also located close to Yilgarn Craton, which is a historically under-explored but prospective region, Chalice stated.

Chalice locked in the new exploration opportunity by utilising previous knowledge it has gathered from the Julimar project, which has earned a string of successful drilling results this year.

“Having uncovered the new West Yilgarn Ni-Cu-PGE Province in WA, Chalice is in the unrivalled position of being able to leverage its proprietary knowledge to make further discoveries,” Chalice Gold managing director Alex Dorsch said.

“The Thor Target within the South West project looks remarkably similar to the Julimar complex in terms of its geophysical signature, scale and geology; providing an exciting new discovery opportunity.

“The potential for new nickel-copper-PGE discoveries within the wider Julimar project, the Barrabarra Project to the north and within the new South West project is extraordinary. We intend to rapidly advance our new discovery at Julimar in parallel to generative exploration across the portfolio.”

The South West project adds to Chalice’s low-cost, targeted generative exploration strategy for the 2021 financial year.

It will aim to incorporate the technological expertise it has learnt from its Gonneville discovery at the Julimar project, using low-cost geochemical and geophysical targeting.

Chalice’s immediate focus at the South West project will be to conduct geological reconnaissance, systematic surface geochemistry and ground-based electromagnetic geophysics over the Thor Target, which the company is set to begin later this year.

The company has more than $50 million in cash and investments and remains fully funded to continue exploration.