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Impact Minerals Limited (ASX:IPT) is pleased to announce that it has identified 20 moderate to strong conductors in airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data flown over parts of its 100% owned Arkun Project in the emerging mineral province of southwest Western Australia, a Tier One jurisdiction (Figure 1).
- Twenty moderate to strong electromagnetic (EM) conductors identified at the Arkun Battery Metals project in 400 m line-spaced airborne electromagnetic (“AEM”) survey data collected by the XCalibur HELITEM time-domain system.
- Several priority anomalies coincide with magnetic and gravity anomalies and Ni Cu PGM-in-soil anomalies.
- Many other anomalies have yet to be soil sampled, and this work is a priority for the next Quarter with a view to a maiden drill programme in Q1 2024.
- Broken Hill update: Xplor programme completed. IGO withdraws from joint venture over the alkaline intrusions. Data synthesis and interpretation in progress of all data collected during Xplor and by IGO. Both BHP and IGO remain interested in the broader Broken Hill project.
Impact Minerals’ Managing Director, Dr. Mike Jones, said, “These new conductors at Arkun look very promising and significantly increase the potential for the discovery of massive nickel-copper-PGM sulphides. What’s particularly exciting is that some conductors have coincident soil geochemistry anomalies. However, with many of them still yet to be soil sampled, we are confident of generating more targets for follow-up work, which will include drilling. With the recent REE soil anomalies identified throughout the project area, including the standout Horseshoe prospect, Arkun continues to emerge as a major project for a wide range of essential battery and strategic minerals.”
The airborne EM survey was completed over seven priority areas, covering only about 15% of the Arkun project, by XCalibur Multiphysics using the HELITEM system at a line spacing of 400 metres (Figure 2).
The 20 conductors were identified using a combination of interpretation of individual lines of EM data by consultants Resource Potentials and by reprocessing of the survey data by Intrepid Geophysics using their proprietary 2.5D AEM inversion algorithm. The 2.5D inversion process provides conductivity models and can image steeply dipping, deep, and near-surface targets.
Figure 1. Image of regional magnetic data showing the location of the Arkun project along trend from the Julimar/Gonneville Ni-Cu-PGE deposit owned by Chalice Mining Limited (ASX: CHN).
Also shown is ground held by private company Northam Mining Ltd, in which Chalice Mining is now earning an interest via a joint venture, and ground held by Anglo American Corporation, which surrounds the Arkun Project on three sides. The green lines are publicly available regional AEM flight lines flown in 2020, including one line over the Gonneville deposit (Figure 7).
Two of the survey areas contain numerous EM conductors that have broadly coincident strong nickel- copper-PGM soil geochemistry anomalies: these include 5 AEM anomalies at the Three Eagles prospect and 6 AEM anomalies at the Starfish complex (Figures 2 and 3; and ASX Release 9 August 2023).
In addition, the EM conductors are commonly coincident either with magnetically quiet areas and/or gravity- highs in regional geophysical data, which together may represent mafic and ultramafic intrusions that are potential hosts for nickel-copper-PGM mineralisation (Figures 2 and 3).
Figure 2. Image of regional magnetic data showing the location of the 7 AEM survey areas showing priority conductors (white squares). Three survey lines (AEM-1, AEM-2 and AEM-3) are shown in detail in Figures 4, 5 and 6.
Figure 3. Image of regional gravity data showing the location of the 7 AEM survey areas showingpriority conductors (white squares). Note the Starfish Complex is associated with a strong gravity anomaly. Three survey lines (AEM-1, AEM-2 and AEM-3) are detailed in Figures 4, 5 and 6.
THREE PRIORITY CONDUCTORS
Three prominent conductors that are priority areas for follow-up work have been identified in the 2.5D inversions and are shown here as examples.
Click here for the full ASX Release
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