Auric wraps up Chalice West drilling; assays for gold, lithium, nickel and REEs due mid-Dec

Auric Mining (ASX:AWJ) shareholders are likely to be keeping a close eye on watchlists in the week ahead with the company currently awaiting receipt of data for over 1875 aircore drill samples to be tested for gold. 

A further 375 samples will be tested for nickel, lithium, and rare earths—all components for battery and high-tech supply chains. 

The samples have been sent off as the company concludes its drilling activities at the Chalice West Project in WA, nearby Auric’s Higginsville-Widgiemooltha gold play. 

Underexplored potential

The project is named Chalice West due to its proximity to the now mothballed Chalice gold mine, located just to the northeast, which produced 672Koz of gold over a seven year period. 

Auric ultimately hopes the geology underpinning the success of that development is replicated in the greenstones found at Chalice West. Drilling targeted these formations which the company describes as “unrecognised.”

Drilling was carried out by Resolute Mining in 1993 and then again several years later by the same entity; that drilling identified gold anomalies 3.5km apart.

Picked up in May 

Auric took on the two permits comprising Chalice West back in the first half of 2022 and has since been focused on wrapping up the maiden drill run on-site, with that milestone hit earlier this week. 

Auric took the tenements from Mineral Business, a privately held WA resources company. 

Auric also stands in line to acquire 100% of Mineral Business on a three year schedule if it meets exploration spend requirements of $1m by the end of 2025 and pays $2.5m in cash or shares equivalent. 

Mineral Business will retain a 2% net smelter royalty on any gold produced. 

Share purchase plan 

Auric finished up the September quarter with $0.62m in cash, so it might not be surprising the microcap recently launched a share purchase plan to the market to raise $1.25m 

The results of that SPP will be announced to the market on the 29th of November.

Auric Mining's three month charts as of Friday when the announcement was published