Rat's Rant 27/01/21 First edition AOU - Auroch Minerals Limited...

Rat's Rant 27/01/21 First edition


AOU - Auroch Minerals Limited today closed up 16% to finish at 29c on $3.5m stock traded. There was no news out today but last Tuesday they announced drilling has commenced at their high-grade Nepean Nickel Project, located 25km south of Coolgardie, WA.

The Nepean Nickel Project contains the historic high-grade Nepean nickel sulphide mine, which was the second producing nickel mine in Australia, producing 1.1mt of ore between 1970 and 1987 for 32kt of nickel metal at an average recovered grade of 2.99% Ni.

Good luck to Aiden and his team on upcoming drill program and to my guys that own a few too !!!

Some details on their drilling program are listed below:

DRILLING UNDERWAY AT THE HIGH-GRADE NEPEAN NICKEL PROJECT

Highlights

• 3,500m reverse-circulation (RC) drill programme has commenced at the high-grade Nepean Nickel Project in Western Australia. which historically produced 32,303t of nickel metal at an average recovered grade of 2.99%Ni

• Drilling to target a series of untested and highly prospective aeromagnetic targets to the north and south of the mine

• Drilling will also test the extents of shallow near-mine high-grade mineralisation

• The drill programme is the first of an aggressive schedule of drill programmes planned for Q1 across the Company’s three high-grade nickel sulphide projects in WA


Auroch Minerals Limited is pleased to announce drilling has commenced at its high-grade Nepean Nickel Project (Nepean), located 25km south of Coolgardie, in Western Australia.


The project is operated under the Company’s 80:20 JV agreement with Goldfellas Pty Ltd (Goldfellas). Drilling will target a series of untested highly prospective aeromagnetic targets to the north and south of the mine.


These targets align with the Nepean mine stratigraphy and are thought to represent a serpentinised core or high MgO unit of the komatiitic unit. The targets extend for over 10km of strike and each one has the potential to host significant massive nickel sulphide mineralisation.


The drillholes at these exploration targets have been planned to intersect the ultramafic-basalt contact and to define channel geometry, fertility and the presence of any nickel sulphides.


The Nepean Nickel Project contains the historic high-grade Nepean nickel sulphide mine, which was the second producing nickel mine in Australia, producing 1,108,457t of ore between 1970 and 1987 for 32,202t of nickel metal at an average recovered grade of 2.99% Ni.


An initial eight drill-holes of the 3,500m programme will also test shallow near-mine mineralisation located approximately 200m south of the historic mining operation.


These holes will look to define the extents of the mineralisation identified by historic high-grade intercepts which include:

• 3m @ 11.78% Ni from 37m (NP084470-2) o 3m @ 9.93% Ni from 49m (NP084480-1)

• 4m @ 6.63% Ni from 46m (NP084470-1) o 6m @ 2.82% Ni from 53m (NP084490-1).


Modern high-powered down-hole electromagnetic (DHEM) surveys will be undertaken on the completed drill-holes to identify any potential nearby conductive
massive sulphide bodie.

Seismic Drilling Services Pty Ltd (Seismic) have been contracted to complete the programme having previously assisted Auroch at its wholly owned Saints Nickel Project (Saints).


The programme is expected to be completed within 3-4 weeks, and laboratory assay results will be reported to the market as they are received.


Auroch Managing Director Aidan Platel commented:


“We are pleased to have drilling underway at our recently-acquired high-grade Nepean Nickel Project, and are very excited by the huge potential to build on the existing nickel sulphide mineralisation as well as uncover further significant high-grade nickel sulphides.


The nickel price has continued to rise to over US$18,000/t and many forecasts for the price of nickel have recently been upgraded as we continue to see a greater disconnect between supply and demand for nickel, and in particular for Tier 1 nickel, forecasted for the next few years.


As such, Auroch has aggressive work programmes planned for 2021 as we consolidate our existing high-grade nickel sulphide resources and move towards scoping studies, whilst at the same time continue to aggressively explore for new nickel discoveries, and we look forward to creating real value for our shareholders this year.”