Image: Centaurus
Centaurus Metals has achieved positive exploration results from the Jaguar nickel sulphide project in Brazil’s Carajás mineral province – just months into acquiring the project from Vale.
Centaurus completed the mine’s acquisition in April, with the project containing a non-joint ore reserves committee (JORC) global foreign resource of 40.4 tonnes at 0.78 per cent nickel for a total of 315,000 tonnes of contained nickel.
Centaurus reported on Thursday that diamond drilling at Jaguar Central and Jaguar North deposits had returned “exceptional results,” highlighting the consistency of shallow sulphide mineralisation across multiple deposits.
The most significant results at Jaguar Central included 67.3 metres at 1.2 per cent nickel and a 40.5 metres at 1.35 per cent nickel from shallow depths.
Both the Jaguar Central and Jaguar North deposits extend over a strike length of more than 400 metres with the high-grade mineralisation remaining open in both directions and down-dip.
Centaurus managing director, Darren Gordon said the new results demonstrated the quality and scale of the Jaguar Project.
“It’s quite rare to see such consistent grades and widths across so many shallow deposits which would be amenable to extraction via open pit mining, before possibly moving underground in the future,” he said.
Centaurus is on track to deliver a maiden JORC resource at Jaguar by the end of June, with the latest results marking the final assays that will be entered into the database.
While Brazil’s COVID-19 situation appears to be escalating, Centaurus stated that it did not expect any impacts to the timing of its maiden mineral resources estimate or its ability to move ahead with scoping and pre-feasibility studies.