Significant grades of nickel-copper-cobalt sulphides confirmed in Aberdeenshire
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Aberdeen Minerals has announced the completion of its first phase of drilling and assaying at the Arthrath Project in Aberdeenshire, where it is exploring for deposits of nickel, copper and cobalt.
These metals are essential to an energy transition in Scotland and the UK but are currently wholly imported from overseas.
The company’s maiden drilling programme involved the completion of seven angled diamond drill holes ranging in length from 130 to 400 metres for a total length of 1715 metres and results validate data from Rio Tinto drilling in 1972 providing confidence in the historical dataset across the Project area.
Arthrath is the largest known nickel deposit in the UK after Nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation was discovered in the late 1960s by Rio Tinto following reports of soil nickel toxicity affecting turnips, and the deposit was subsequently explored during the early 1970s in joint venture with Consolidated Goldfields.
Additional exploration was carried out by AMAX in the late 1970s and in the mid-2000s by Alba Mineral Resource in a joint venture with nickel major Inco (now Vale).
Since the historical work of the 1970s new mineral deposit models have been developed and exploration technologies have improved such that deeper and higher grade discoveries can be targeted.
Fraser Gardiner, Chief Executive Officer of Aberdeen Minerals, commented: “Our maiden drilling programme at Arthrath has been a resounding success.
"The levels of mineralisation have exceeded our expectations and we are strongly encouraged by the evidence supporting an exploration model of increasing sulphides and corresponding metal grades at depth.
"It is now apparent that historical drilling only scratched the surface which makes us very excited about the mineral potential at the project and surrounding district.”
Aberdeen Minerals is grateful to the landowners and community in the project area for their cooperation and support, as well as to Aberdeenshire Council and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) for their constructive engagement ahead of the drilling programme.
The Company also appreciated the visits of local Members of the Scottish Parliament, investors and other stakeholders interested in its work.
The company has retained CSA Global (a division of ERM), an independent mining industry consultancy, to prepare a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate and / or Exploration Target in accordance with the JORC Code 2012 Edition (Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves).
This first modern standard model and report for the Arthrath Project will represent a major milestone for Aberdeen Minerals, and is a key step towards accelerated investment in exploration and development of its projects in north-east Scotland.
The drilling was carried out by specialist contractor Priority Drilling UK Ltd using a single, small footprint drill rig.
Rig supervision, core logging and sampling, and general programme support were provided by Aurum Exploration Services. Collars were surveyed using GNSS by a local surveyor and downhole surveys were measured using a gyroscope instrument.
Sample preparation and assaying services were provided by ALS Global, Ireland.
Full details of the drilling results can be found here.
