Aldoro Resources Ltd (ASX:ARN) is trading higher after receiving more encouraging preliminary results at the Narndee nickel and platinum-group-elements (PGE) project in Western Australia, this time from its third diamond drill hole.
The drilling forms part of a diamond drilling program at Narndee targeting four induced polarisation (IP) geophysical anomalies identified in IP surveying conducted earlier this year.
Investors have greeted the news positively with shares as much as 51.4% higher in morning trade to $0.28.
40-metre zone
The third drill hole, NDD0032, has been completed with Aldoro reporting a 40-metre thick anomalous nickel zone from 1 metre using pXRF (portable X-ray fluorescence) readings.
This hole reached a total depth of 576.3 metres with the upper 40 metres producing an anomalous nickel zone based on the pXRF data.
To further understand the shallow nature of the anomalous nickel zone, the company contracted a reverse circulation (RC) rig to drill an additional 16 holes around NDD0032.
The results of these follow-up step-out RC holes, taken from within 1-metre depth, include 1.3% nickel to 14 metres (NDC0019), 1.0% nickel to 80 metres (NDC0020), 1.2% nickel to 80 metres (NDC0021) and 0.92% nickel to 35 metres (NDC0022).
Area 32 discovery
Aldoro has named the anomalous nickel zone the 'Area 32 Nickel Discovery', with five of the holes drilled to date suggesting that the zone is open to the north, south and west. Drilling of a further eight holes remains ongoing at Area 32.
The samples will be dispatched for final nickel-PGE-cobalt assay, with high nickel-bearing samples retrieved for x-ray diffraction (XRD) and metallurgical analysis.
XRD and metallurgical analysis of ore samples retrieved from NDD0032 have also commenced to better understand the host minerals for the nickel. This is expected to help identify the most appropriate metallurgical process for this mineralisation.
The anomalous zones will also be analysed for nickel, copper, cobalt, palladium, platinum and gold.
A reverse circulation drilling program will attempt to define the shallow anomalous nickel grades around NDD0032 with a continuation of shallow RC holes from eight to 16 holes.
Once the step-out holes at Area 32 Nickel Discovery have been completed, the RC rig will be moved about 3.4 kilometres to the southwest to investigate a similar-looking nickel anomaly.