Lunnon Metals Ltd (ASX:LM8, OTC:LNMLF) has secured an Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS) grant from the Western Australia Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety of up to $220,000 to co-fund drilling programs at the Foster Gold Prospect, part of the Kambalda Gold and Nickel Project in WA.
The grant will support two diamond drill holes at the Defiance West target, an area of about 4 square kilometres at the footwall of the Foster nickel mine, immediately to the southwest of the Conqueror gold deposit.
Gold exploration at the nearby Beta/Hunt Mine over a more than 7-year period has revealed a strong link between high-grade sulphide nickel deposits and gold mineralisation in this region.
Potentially transformative gold opportunity
"Lunnon Metals acknowledges the WA Government for its support and is delighted to be chosen as a successful EIS applicant,” Lunnon managing director Edmund Ainscough said.
“Supported by this funding we will drill an area completely devoid of information in the bedrock at depth and one that is a direct analogue of the structures and rocks that have proven to be so successful for Beta/Hunt’s owners over the past seven years.
“We have shown that what was once considered as just a nickel belt is permissive for gold with the exciting results delivered at Lady Herial.
“Our tenements at Foster and Baker are surrounded by some of WA’s great gold mines and the opportunity to test our own ground more aggressively is extremely exciting and has the potential to transform the company.”
Lunnon believes the Defiance West target holds the same gold-bearing rock types as the Beta/Hunt mine to the north, having already identified an array of gold mineralised structures in the hanging wall of the Foster nickel mine at Lady Herial.
Read: Lunnon Metals confirms high-grade gold opportunity at Lady Herial with grab sample results
The two diamond holes will be drilled along the Lunnon Dolerite margin, in an area host to a 700-metre-long magnetic high anomaly.
Defiance West area of interest plan with overlaid airborne magnetics image.