Widgie could be next Aussie nickel miner: Norregaard
BLESSED with a substantial resource in Western Australia’s nickel heartland, Widgie Nickel boss Steve Norregaard says the company can easily see a path to being ready to start its first mine in little more than six months – and it has no intention of stopping at just one deposit.
The Mt Edwards project sits on the periphery of the prolific Widgiemooltha Dome, south of Kambalda, and has a rich lineage for the metal.
It contains four mines from which around 31,000 tonnes were recovered between 1980 and 2008, but it remains a rich and underexplored hunting ground.
In all there are 12 deposits within 15km of strike, and more than 40 exploration prospects, and if its recent success at Gillet North is any indication, there's plenty more metal to be found.
While Mt Edwards has been explored since the 1960s, the evidence more is the discovery hole at Gillet North in the Widgie South area.
Drilled some 350m away from the existing 22,500t Gillet resource, it returned 12m at 3.4% nickel, 0.45% copper, 0.13% cobalt and 1.45gpt platinum-palladium-gold (3E PGM) from 200m, over 18m at 4.69%, nickel, 0.59% copper, 0.18% cobalt and 1.35gpt 3E PGM in the discovery hole.
"I am super excited by the Gillet North area. These intercepts are absolutely amazing, and I have never seen anything of a similar ilk in my time," Norregaard said.
"It represents significant upside."
Mineralisation at Gillett and Gillett North covers a strike extent of 1150m and remains open along strike and down-dip.
Gillett itself is a relatively new discovery, having been made under cover in 2008, just before mining stopped.
More recent drilling has confirmed grade continuity within the Gillet resource, with intercepts such as 10m at 2.93% nickel, 0.38% copper, 0.07% cobalt from 210m, over 6m at 1.28% nickel, 0.15% copper and 0.04% cobalt from 247m, and a further am at 1,34% nickel, 0.15% copper and 0.07% cobalt from 263m.
PGM assays are pending.
The company is optimistic of resource growing as it shows no signs of closing off at depth.
After that, it has a multi-pronged approach: getting into production, infill drilling to upgrade its other resources, more regional exploration across its 240sq.km ground position, determining options for oxide mineralisation, and eventually getting involved in downstream processing.
Given its deposits sit within granted mining leases, Norregaard said Widgie's strategy was simple.
"Simply put, we want to be in a position to mine in early 2023," he said.
"Our proposal has a low capital requirement, toll treating through BHP's Kambalda concentrator."
Step one is resurrecting the Armstrong pit that was briefly mined around 15 years ago.
A resource update is pending to support a full feasibility due before the end of the end of the year.
An application to dewater the pit is in train.
In tandem, given the potential by-products defined by Gillet North, it has plenty of work elsewhere as 90% of the core drilled historically was never assayed for other metals, so they could play a significant role in future developments.
While Widgie's focus since listing was largely focused on infill drilling, over the past few months it has amped up the exploration tempo, defining new electromagnetic targets at Widgie West and Widgie South.
"These are not isolated anomalies. They all have nickel sulphides in close proximity, and we'll drill once we have approvals," Norregaard said.
It aims to develop multiple mines, supported by centralised infrastructure.
In the longer-term, Widgie would like to participate in downstream processing.
While at the moment only BHP making nickel sulphate at Kwinana, but IGO and Pure Battery Metals are exploration their options, which could unlock significant value in providing battery precursors.
Widgie is well funded, with A$16 million in the bank remaining from its $24 million IPO, and supportive markets for nickel developments, Norregaard said, with inbound offtake interest already.
Widgie shares have traded at 18-67c over the past year, and were last traded at 30c, capitalising it at about $74 million.
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