Solstice Minerals launches nickel drill run at its Ringlock Dam project in Kalgoorlie WA

Microcap ($16m) explorer Solstice Minerals (ASX:SLS) has fired up the drills today to kick off nickel drilling at its Ringlock Dam project, based in the Eastern Goldfields of Kalgoorlie, WA. 

Solstice Minerals listed on the ASX in May this year and has since done its best to weather a turbulent 2022. The company listed with shares worth 24c; today, shares are trading at 16c. 

Solstice’s Ringlock Dam project comprises two different licences; one for Ringlock Dam and another for Lake Goongarrie some 80km north-northwest of the established WA mining hotspot. 

Together, both licences cover an area of some 234km2; granite-greenstone formations define the profile of local underlying geology, part of the prolific Kalgoorlie Terrane. 

Ringlock is located 30km northwest from Poseidon Nickel’s (ASX:POS) nickel plays (the ‘Silver Swan’ and ‘Black Swan’ deposits.) Poseidon has this week kicked off operations to “re-start” its Black Swan project. 

Confirming old data 

Solstice minerals, meanwhile, launches its late-2022 drilling campaign to “confirm the historical drill assay data from the 1960s and 1970s [at Ringlock Dam.]” 

Historical drill intercepts returned hits for high-grade nickel, however, results were pulled from significant depths. 

Investor information provider Undervalued Equity classifies high-grade nickel as that in concentrations above of 2%. 

Compare that to the following historical results at Ringlock: 

• 8.0m @ 2.4% nickel from 113m depth 

• 2.8m @ 2.9% nickel from 166m depth 

• 4.0m @ 2.3% nickel from 104m depth 

• 4.0m @ 1.4% nickel from 145m depth 

All four results were pulled from four different drillholes on-site. The company will now proceed with drilltesting to verify those results. 

Using a more modern system 

“The current drill program and subsequent DHEM surveys using a modern, more powerful system,” Solstice Minerals chief Alastair Morrison said. 

“The Ringlock Dam area has been overlooked for many years and we believe represents an exciting opportunity.” 

Morrison added the company is drilling nickel with a view to entering the battery metals supply chain. (Nickel, along with copper, is an emerging battery metal.) 

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