- Summary of Projects
- Bungalbin Gold Project
- East Kimberley Project
- Eloise Regional Exploration Project
- Kalgoorlie Nickel Project
- Kambalda West Nickel Gold Project
- Miranda Nickel Project
- Mt Finnerty Project
- Scotia Nickel Project
- Wildara - Mt Clifford Belt
- Mount Clifford - Mount Newman
- Wildara
- Yillaree
Scotia Nickel Project
The Scotia Nickel Project is located 65 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. It covers 40 strike kilometres of the nickel sulphide bearing Highway Ultramafic, which regionally correlates with the ultramafic unit that hosts the Kambalda nickel deposits located approximately 120 kilometres to the south.
The project covers an area of about 251km2 , encompassing two nickel sulphide deposits (Scotia and St Patrick's), and several near surface nickel geochemical anomalies.
The Scotia Deposit consists dominantly of disseminated nickel sulphides and contained a reported pre-mining resource of 35,000 tonnes of contained nickel. The deposit was mined by underground methods during the 1970's to a depth of 360 metres and produced some 14,700 tonnes of nickel at an average grade of 2.2% nickel.
The mine ceased production in 1977 due to a pillar collapse. Although not certain, the remnant ore remaining in the mine workings does not appear to be a significant tonnage.
Below 360 metres the ore body appears to be structurally terminated. Limited wide spaced historical drilling down the inferred steep plunge of the ore body, beyond the lower termination, has so far failed to discover depth extensions. Based on the understanding that other nickel sulphide occurences in the Eastern Goldfields commonly comprise a series of disconnected lenses, Breakaway believes that the historical down-plunge holes do not represent an effective test and further drilling is required to test a broader range of down-plunge options.
The St Patrick's Deposit, which has been delineated by previous explorers, occurs in two coherent zones, termed "upper" and "lower", in the hanging wall of the host ultramafic. The mineralisation dominantly comprises dense disseminated nickel sulphides and based on a 1% nickel cut-off grade, a JORC compliant Inferred Resource of 135,000 tonnes at a grade of 3.7% nickel for 5,000 tonnes of contained nickel has been calculated by RSG Global (2006).
At St Patrick's, there is significant potential to explore for additional strike and depth extension of mineralisation. In addition, there is evidence in the ultra-detailed aeromagnetic information that the surrounding geology may be more complex, possibly offering exploration potential for contact repititions within the immediate area. Immediately south of St Patrick's, nickel sulphides (3.35 metres at 3.2% nickel, 5.71 metres at 1.41% nickel and 1.81 metres at 2.24% nickel) have been delineated in historical drilling at St Andrew's prospect, warranting follow-up drilling. Further south of St Andrew's, shallow drilling has detected near-surface nickel anomalism that also warrants follow-up testing.
Considering that the project produced nickel sulphides some 30 years ago and has only undergone sporadic, relatively localised exploration during the intervening years, more concerted exploration is warranted around and between the known occurences of mineralisation and near-surface geochemical anomalism. Furthermore, the region (15 strike kilometres long) north of St Patrick's has only been superficially explored due to the obscuring effects of lake sediments and represents an additional opportunity for future exploration.
The profect also offers gold potential, particularly at the Chameleon prospect, which is located 3.5 kilometres north of Barrick Gold's ("Barrick") Aphrodite refractory gold deposit (10.7 million tonnes at a grade of 3.32g/t gold for 1.1 million ounces of gold ). The Chameleon mineralisation has been delineated by wide-spaced drilling over a strike length of 300 metres and to a depth of 150 metres. Historical drill intersections in this zone include 32 metres at 3.78g/t gold, 22 metres at 5.43g/t gold, 5 metres at 5.08g/t golf and 2 metres at 5.54g/t gold. The system remains open at depth and along strike.