Centaurus Metals has intersected high-grade nickel 300 metres below the current mineral resource estimate (MRE) limits in a new program to test the deeper upside at its 100%-owned Jaguar project in Brazil.
The Jaguar Deeps drill program has also obtained positive drill hole electromagnetic (DHEM) survey results from deep conductor plates which show that the mineralisation remains open.
Managing director Darren Gordon said the initial results from the new Jaguar Deeps campaign have confirmed that nickel sulphide mineralisation continues well below the current resource limits.
The company is confident the drilling results will help build on the current resource and take it well beyond its target of 1 million tonnes of contained nickel metal and support future underground operations at Jaguar.
Outstanding initial returns
“The first results from the Jaguar Deeps program have been outstanding. At Onça Preta, we have intersected thick high-grade nickel sulphide mineralisation more than 300m below the current base of the resource while at Jaguar South drilling has encountered new mineralisation around 200m below the current Resource limits,” Mr Gordon said.
“These Jaguar Deeps step-out holes demonstrate that the high-grade nickel sulphide mineralisation is consistent from surface, extends to depths of almost 1,000m down-dip and remains open.”
Mr Gordon said the results from the large off-hole DHEM conductors in the 1,000m plus deep holes at both Onça Preta and Jaguar South highlights the project’s upside.
“The success of the Jaguar Deeps program continues to drive the company’s two-pronged strategy of systematically growing the Jaguar resource, in parallel with key de-risking steps associated with project permitting, completion of the ongoing definitive feasibility study and ongoing strategic partnering discussions.”
High-grade deposit
The Onça Preta deposit is the highest-grade deposit at the Jaguar project, with a November 2022 mineral resource estimate expanding the resource to 14.2 million tonnes at 1.23% nickel for more than 173,000 tonnes of contained nickel.
The new results highlight the potential to add to that with drilling pushing the down-dip extent of mineralisation out to more than 850m from surface.
Drilling has also expanded the deposit to more than 400m of strike and over 900m of down-dip extent.
Follow-up opportunities
Centaurus is waiting for further information from two holes which returned “interesting” results.
Copper was identified in drill hole JAG-DD-23-616. A DHEM test is now being completed in the hole which intersected an isolated interval of stringer to semi-massive chalcopyrite hosted in a chlorite-epidote altered granite basement rock that returned 4.0m at 4.06% copper from 552.3m.
The company will utilise the DHEM results to ascertain whether follow-up drilling is required.
Elsewhere, the company received promising results from the upper intersection of hole JAG-DD-23-617. Notably, these results were obtained from within a broader intermittent mineralised interval of more than 135m immediately below the Canaã fault, which is a key regional structure and is understood to have controlled the mineralising fluids.
