Lawlers Nickel JV
Apex has entered into a joint venture with mining contractor Carey Mining (the ACJV), and the ACJV has reached agreement with Barrick Gold Corporation to earn a 70% interest in the nickel rights on approximately 120 square kilometres of Barrick’s tenements in the Lawlers district of the Northeastern Goldfields of Western Australia.
The Barrick tenements are part of Barrick’s Lawlers Gold Operations, and contain over 40 strike kilometres of relatively unexplored nickel sulphide prospective ultramafic rocks in the heart of a World Class nickel province, where it is surrounded by Jubilee Mines’ Cosmos, Prospero and Sinclair nickel deposits, BHPB’s Perseverance and Rockys Reward nickel mines, and LionOre’s Waterloo nickel mine.
Importantly, no effective nickel sulphide exploration has been undertaken on these tenements since Selection Trust explored the area thirty years ago. Since that time, nickel sulphide exploration has been very limited, with most exploration focussing on nickel laterite and gold.
A 1300 sample soil geochemical survey was undertaken during the March 2007 Quarter over three target zones. These areas were selected on the basis of favourable geology and favourable element ratios in previous, less systematic surveys. Platinum group element (PGE) data obtained from this survey will augment the data collected by previous explorers. The outcomes of this survey will assist in the selection of areas for electromagnetic (EM) geophysical surveys to be conducted in the second quarter. The areas sampled include the Four Corners, Hollywood and Catoe targets.