Galileo Mining preparing for new drill programs at Fraser Range and Norseman projects

Galileo Mining Ltd (ASX:GAL) is all but set to kick off new rounds of drilling at its flagship Fraser Range nickel-copper-cobalt and Norseman nickel-cobalt-palladium projects in Western Australia. It has received approvals for diamond drilling at the Delta Blues 1 and 2 prospects at Fraser Range, while impressive results from soil sampling at Norseman are due to be followed up by an extensive 10,000-metre aircore drilling campaign. It is only outside forces holding Galileo back at the moment, with labour shortages and competition for drill rigs causing unfortunate delays. Ready to go Galileo managing director Brad Underwood said fresh drill work would begin as soon as possible. “While labour shortages have pushed back timing on the campaign, we have all other preparations in place and I look forward to updating the market once drilling begins,” he said. “We are pleased with our progress at both the Fraser Range and Norseman projects during the June quarter. “The modelling of EM data at DB1 and DB2 shows Delta Blues is an exciting prospect with extremely conductive targets suggesting the presence of sulphide mineralisation. “Our job now is to get on the ground and start our drilling campaign to establish the cause of the conductors. “At Norseman, results from our continuing review of the project shows outstanding prospectivity for palladium in the region. “The existing drill results demonstrate the quality of the project and have provided the basis for a new understanding of the mineralising processes, leading to the development of robust drill targets with the potential for a significant palladium discovery and we will be aggressively pursuing this exceptional opportunity going forward.” Underwood said Galileo was “fully funded” for the upcoming exploration programs at Fraser Range and Norseman. Fraser Range Project Galileo identified two high priority nickel targets at DB1 and DB2 which will be tested with the upcoming initial program of 1,000 metres of diamond drilling. The company has made a strong case for potential mineralisation at the drill targets by implementing electromagnetic (EM) surveying, aircore drilling, magnetic modelling and gravity interpretation. Independent geophysical modelling of the DB1 EM data confirmed a highly conductive body near-surface, while modelling of the DB2 EM data verified a highly conductive body with a shallow depth in the range of 125 – 185 metres. “Our shallow aircore drilling demonstrated that we have the right rock types in the area, and we are now ready to test the modelled conductors to determine whether they are related to nickel and copper,” Underwood said. “Subsurface conductors can have several sources and it is up to the drill rig to establish what we have in the ground.” Norseman Project High palladium and rhodium assay results were identified in the database of previous reverse circulation (RC) drilling beneath and adjacent to existing cobalt resources. 35 RC drill holes had anomalous palladium greater than 0.4 g/t in regolith and 16 RC drill holes had anomalous palladium greater than 0.2 g/t in fresh rock. The best palladium results from weathered rock were: 48 metres at 0.89 g/t palladium, 0.45 g/t platinum, 0.1% copper and 0.37% nickel from 3 metres including 5 metres at 2.1 g/t palladium, 1.4 g/t platinum, 0.13% copper and 0.23% nickel from 31 metres. Best results from fresh rock were: 27 metres at 0.58 g/t palladium, 0.12 g/t platinum, 0.13% copper and 0.18% nickel from 123 metres including 3 metres at 1.1 g/t palladium, 0.19 g/t platinum, 0.23% copper and 0.26% nickel from 135 metres. Soil sampling is underway, with more than 500 samples collected from a 1,800-metre sample program thus far. The initial samples cover a highly prospective area at the Mission Sill prospect between two zones with maximum palladium in soil values of 0.31 g/t and 0.16 g/t palladium. A 10,000-metre aircore drilling program is planned to follow up existing palladium and nickel targets with the present sampling expected to generate further targets for testing in the same drill campaign. Reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling is expected to be undertaken after the completion of aircore drilling. - Daniel Paproth