Auroch Minerals Limited (ASX: AOU) has signed a binding agreement with Eastern Coolgardie Goldfields Pty Ltd (ECG) to acquire the Nepean Nickel Project located near Coolgardie in Western Australia for a total consideration of $4m in cash ($2.5m) and shares (8.3m @ $0.18). The project contains the historic high-grade Nepean nickel sulphide mine, which produced 32,303t of nickel metal at an average recovered grade of 2.99% Ni between 1970 and 1987.
Historic extensional drilling along strike from the Nepean nickel mine by Focus Minerals Ltd (ASX:FML) in 2008 intersected very high-grade nickel sulphides at shallow depths, including:
- 3m @ 11.78% Ni from 37m
- 3m @ 9.93% Ni from 49m
- 4m @ 6.63% Ni from 46m
- 6m @ 2.82% Ni from 53m
