DevEx flexes exploration muscle with hunt for Kambalda-style nickel

DevEx has launched a foray into exploring for Kambalda-style nickel sulphide mineralisation after reaching an agreement to earn into the Highway project in Western Australia.

Highway comprises the non-gold mineral rights contained within tenements E29/0966 and E29/0996, where previous broad-spaced aircore drilling has confirmed that the nickel-bearing Highway ultramafic extends for a strike length of 11km.

The Highway ultramafic also hosts Future Battery Metals’ Saints nickel deposits immediately to the south and the historical Scotia nickel sulphide mine further to the south.

DevEx (ASX:DEV), which is earning up to 75% in the Highway project, plans to use SQUID EM technology to carry out a ground electromagnetic survey over the prospective rocks to explore for Kambalda-style massive nickel sulphides that may lie under the thin clay cover.

This style of mineralisation is named after the famed Kambalda region which has produced about 1.6Mt of nickel metal from ore that is typically mined at grades above 2% and commonly well above 3% since its discovery sparked Australia’s first modern mining boom in the 1960s.

“The agreement with Brightstar gives us an opportunity to apply state-of-the-art geophysical methods to test a highly prospective ultramafic horizon along strike from the historical Scotia nickel mine,” managing director Brendan Bradley said.

“This is a high-quality greenfields exploration opportunity which is consistent with DevEx’s strategy to target game-changing discoveries.”

DevEx expects the ground EM survey to take several months to complete and will fast-track any prospective EM conductors as the survey progresses for drilling.

It adds that the agreement is consistent with its strategy of targeting significant new mineral discoveries in prospective Tier-1 locations such as its Nabarlek uranium project in the Northern Territory and the Kennedy ionic adsorption clay-hosted REE project in Queensland.

Earn-in agreement

Under the earn-in agreement, the company will have the right to earn an initial 51% interest in the non-gold mineral rights at the two tenements by spending $1m over two years with the SQUID EM survey representing the minimum commitment.

It can then earn a further 24% by spending an additional $2m within two years.

Should DevEx earn a 75% interest and either party elect not to contribute to their respective joint venture costs, then their interest will be diluted.

If an interest reduces to 10% or less the interest will immediately convert to a 1% net smelter return royalty for the sale of any non-gold minerals extracted, produced and sold from the project.

This article was developed in collaboration with DevEx Resources, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

The post DevEx flexes exploration muscle with hunt for Kambalda-style nickel appeared first on Stockhead.

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