Milestone review of nickel potential of Narnoo tenements

A1 Minerals has completed a milestone review of the potential for nickel-sulphide....

  A1 Minerals has completed a milestone review of the potential for nickel-sulphide deposits on its extensive tenement package at Narnoo, southeast of Laverton, within the Great Victoria Desert of Western Australia. The assessment highlighted the high nickel-sulphide potential on A1’s Narnoo Tenements.Narnoo is a totally covered greenstone belt with existing geological knowledge totally derived from aeromagnetic surveying and limited previous drilling, which was focused on gold. The review concluded that the Narnoo belt represents a rare example within the Yilgarn craton, of a greenstone belt that has been demonstrated to contain prospective high-magnesium komatiite units, but has seen no previous nickel exploration. This alone makes this belt a high-priority nickel sulphide exploration target. A1 Minerals has an estimated 60 strike-kilometres of effectively untested ultramafic-horizon at Narnoo, mostly associated with the Minigwal Lineament, interpreted as a fundamental crustal structure within this greenstone belt. This ultramafic horizon has been shown, at least locally, to be of the high-magnesium composition, a prerequisite for komatiite-hosted nickel-sulphide deposits. A1 Minerals Managing Director, John Williams said the company had been pleased with the outcome of the study. “We only recently announced A1 Minerals had surpassed our resource target of one million ounces of gold in the ground. Now we can offer our shareholders an exposure to the exciting nickel market through exploration for high-value nickel sulphide deposits,” Mr Williams said.During the current quarter A1 Minerals Board of Directors will decide on whether this value adding will be achieved through a Joint Venture with a successful proven nickel group or through a spin off of A1’s nickel assets into a separate investment vehicle.