im-listed exploration and development company URU Metals has announced the completion of a high-resolution airborne geophysical survey over its Zebediela project area, in South Africa, conducted by Xcalibur Airborne Geophysics.
The survey incorporated both gravity and magnetic data, designed to enhance the understanding of the underlying geological structures of the project.
The airborne data, flown at no cost to the company, has enabled URU to access a comprehensive dataset without diluting shareholder value.
This newly acquired dataset has confirmed key aspects of the Zebediela project‘s geological model, particularly the presence of a long-lived ultramafic magmatic plumbing system connecting the Uitloop I and II bodies.
The survey has further highlighted several major northeast-southwest fault zones, interpreted to be part of a regional fault network, that likely acted as magma conduits and trap sites for sulphide mineralisation.
The airborne data strengthens Zeb Nickel’s exploration thesis that multiple zones of sulphide mineralisation – disseminated, semi-massive and potentially massive – are vertically stacked and associated with a feeder system analogous to those at Ivanhoe Mines’ Platreef project and African Rainbow Minerals’ Nkomati nickel mine hosted in the Uitkomst intrusion.
To deepen the interpretation and support drill targeting within Zone 2 and Zone 3, Zeb Nickel will be submitting the dataset to a consulting geophysical company, which provides geophysical solutions across Southern, Central and West Africa.
The scope of the interpretation will include 3D inversion and voxel clipping to refine imaging of subsurface structure, reprocessing and reinterpretation of both gravity and magnetic inversions, the generation of very high-resolution voxel models over the project area, as well as integrated modelling and reporting, with results intended to define high-priority drill targets in untested parts of the ultramafic plumbing system.
URU believes that this work will directly support the delineation of higher-grade nickel/copper/platinum group metals (PGM) mineralisation in Zone 2, as well as the identification of potential massive sulphide zones in Zone 3, where recent data suggests similarities to the sulphide mineralisation style of the Uitkomst deposit.
“This survey has provided clear confirmation of the structural and geological controls on nickel and PGM mineralisation at Zeb nickel. The presence of a robust feeder system between Uitloop I and II supports our model of vertically stacked mineralised zones and significantly upgrades the prospectivity of both Zone 2 and Zone 3.
This new dataset, combined with our historic drill results, sets the stage for the delineation of a higher-grade nickel/platinum group element resource. Our upcoming drilling campaign will build directly off this work, with the goal of declaring a maiden National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource that reflects the true value of the high-grade sulphide mineralisation we’re seeing across the project,” URU exploration VP Richard Montjoie said on April 11.