Dundas Minerals confirms nickel potential at WA Albany-Fraser Orogen play

Dundas Minerals (ASX:DUN) has confirmed that nickel remains a strong and promising lead at its ‘Central’ target in southern WA, part of the company’s Albany-Fraser Orogen polymetals project. 

In late September, initial readings of collected samples from exploration activities were sent off to a laboratory for analysis. Initial scanning technology conducted by the company provided readings for: nickel, copper, silver, and cobalt. 

While those initial scans showed promising indications for all four metals, follow-up assay work has proven that nickel remains the strongest potential commodity on-site. 

Compared to early readings, assay results from the lab showed that copper, cobalt, and silver were all lower than previously indicated in early scans. 

However: nickel has proven to beat expectations at Central, with assays confirming there’s higher concentrations of nickel in the company’s samples than reported by the company last. 

The confusion over grades is perhaps why Dundas’s share price has taken a bruising in morning trade, but ultimately, the results confirm that trace elements of nickel mineralisation are present on-site, a promising indication for the future of exploration at Albany-Fraser Orogen. 

What happened? 

Dundas highlights that it sent a total of 37 samples to a lab in Perth reflecting the equivalent of 1m of core each, with each sample weighing roughly 2.5kg. 

Parts per million readings for copper and silver as determined by the assays were lower than previously reported by Dundas, so too was cobalt. Cobalt readings from the lab, Dundas notes, were “much lower.” 

All the same, the finding is still an encouraging data point for the geotechnical team. 

Technical note 

Dundas highlights that the manufacturer of its early scan machinery has advised the company “calibrate against the actual assay pulps and results from 22CEWB001 to assist in aligning future readings closer to assay.” 

Dundas says it is taking this technical note on board as a matter of importance. 

“In future,” the company adds, “Dundas will not quote numerical pXRF reading results in public announcements until it has a higher degree of confidence that for any reading announced, there is likely to be a strong correlation.” 

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