Thick Highly-Prospective Ultramafics Intersected At Nepean Deeps

Auroch Minerals Limited (ASX:AOU) (Auroch or the Company) is pleased to announce that the first drill-hole in the maiden diamond drill programme into the Nepean Deeps target is now complete. The drill programme was designed to test for down-plunge extensions to the high-grade nickel sulphide mineralisation below the historic Nepean mine at the Nepean Nickel Project in Western Australia (Auroch Minerals 80%).

• •First drill-hole NPDD008 testing the Nepean Deeps exploration target has been completed to a final down-hole depth of 1,291m
• NPDD008 is the first hole to successfully drill through the thick pegmatite intrusion below the historic Nepean nickel mine
• The drill-hole intersected a total of 46m of prospective komatiitic ultramafics over three intervals from 1088.5 - 1108.5m, 1144.5 – 1148.35m and 1210.5 – 1233.0m, within a lower greenstone sequence starting at 993m
• NPDD008 was drilled as both a first-pass stratigraphic hole and also as a platform for DHEM and DHMMR geophysical surveys which are currently underway
• The geophysical surveying and modelling will take one to two weeks and will be used to plan further drilling into the Nepean Deeps Target

The first drill-hole, NPDD008, successfully drilled through the thick pegmatite intrusion that was previously intersected at the base of the historic mine workings. Below this pegmatite the drill-hole intersected a greenstone sequence that importantly includes 46m of prospective komatiitic ultramafics over three intervals from 1088.5 - 1108.5m (Figure 1, Photograph 1), 1144.5 – 1148.35m and 1210.5 - 1233m (Figure 1).

Figure 1 – Cross section of diamond hole NPDD008 drilled below the historic Nepean mine workings showing lithologies intersected, including multiple ultramafic units, against a 2D seismic survey section.

Auroch Managing Director Aidan Platel commented:

"This is a pivotal moment for the Nepean Project and for Auroch. Due to the lack of any deep exploration historically, we had no idea what to expect from this first drill-hole once we got to depths below the historic mine workings.

To have drilled through the pegmatite intrusion that was identified at the base of the old mine workings, which has never been done before, and to have intersected thick zones of ultramafics below the pegmatite, which are potentially the same rocks units that host the high-grade nickel sulphide mineralisation above the pegmatite, is an exceptional result and proves our theory that the mine stratigraphy does indeed continue beneath the pegmatite intrusion.

The down-hole geophysical surveys, for which the drill-hole was primarily designed, have commenced, and will test for any conductive bodies such as massive nickel sulphides that may lie within 100 – 150m of the hole. The information from the geophysics, along with the geological and geochemical data from the drill-hole itself, will be used to design the next drill-hole into this very exciting target zone."

Diamond drill-hole NPDD008 was completed to a final down-hole depth of 1,291m. Slow controlled drilling techniques were successfully used to minimise hole deviation from the planned target. As a result, the drill-hole has been very effective as a first-pass stratigraphic hole into a new target area as well as providing an excellent platform for down-hole geophysical surveys.

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