Chalice indicated the true width of the mineralisation is still being ascertained.
Chalice is looking at early underground mining options targeting high-grade zones extending from a depth of about 400m to plus-1100m at the northern end of the resource, in parallel with open-pit mining at the southern end of the resource.
Gonneville currently has 560 million tonnes grading 0.54% nickel equivalent or 1.7gpt palladium equivalent, for a contained 16 million ounces of 3E PGE, 860,000t of nickel, 520,000t of copper and 83,000t of cobalt, with a “high grade” sulphide resource update expected to be completed in March next year.
Step-out holes have hit mineralisation more than 1km beyond the limit of the current resource, with two rigs drilling to “scope the extent and width of the high-grade mineralised zones between the current resource and the intersections at depth”.
Chalice ended the September quarter with about A$130 million in cash and investments.
A scoping study for a 15 million tonne per annum and 30Mtpa development was very poorly received by the market in August, with criticisms including the commodity prices used in the assessment and the circa A$2 billion in capex required.
Chalice shares were little changed at $1.49 in morning trade, capitalising the company at $580 million.
