White Cliff Minerals Limited (ASX:WCN) ("White Cliff" or the "Company") is pleased to report that significant cobalt mineralisation has been identified at the Ghan Well project near Laverton in Western Australia.

Highlights

- Project review identifies substantial cobalt mineralisation in drilling including:
o 11 metres at 0.15% Cobalt from 25 metres depth
o 8 metres at 0.16% Cobalt from 33 metres depth
o 6 metres at 0.21% Cobalt from 14 metres depth
o 4 metres at 0.27% Cobalt from 27 metres depth

- Prospective ultramafic sequence extends 12 kilometres as yet untested by drilling

- Further project reviews underway

The Company recently reviewed the existing geochemical and drilling database at Ghan Well and has identified multiple cobalt intersections associated with nickel mineralisation within extensive ultramafic rock sequences.

Summary

The cobalt mineralisation occurs as a shallow layer of cobalt enriched manganiferous oxides that form between the smectite clays and the overlying ferruginous clays. High grade cobalt mineralisation typically occurs between 10-30 metres depth and is associated with nickel mineralisation. Results include:

- 11 metres at 0.15% Cobalt from 25 metres depth
- 8 metres at 0.16% Cobalt from 33 metres depth
- 6 metres at 0.21% Cobalt from 14 metres depth
- 4 metres at 0.27% Cobalt from 27 metres depth

In addition, extensive soil geochemical sampling has highlighted multiple cobalt anomalies along the ultramafic sequences which extend for 12 kilometres within the White Cliff tenement. Only a fraction of the ultramafic sequences have been drill tested.

The Company considers that the Ghan Well cobalt project has the potential to substantially increase shareholder value via exposure to the rapidly increasing price of cobalt which is a vital component of Lithium Ion batteries. The current cobalt price is USD $54,500 per tonne (London Metals Exchange Quote, 19 May 2017).

The Company believes that the recent growing trend towards electric vehicles will accelerate over the next ten years and that there will be strong demand for the metals associated with vehicle and technology batteries.

The Company is currently reviewing the entire West Australian tenement portfolio to assess their potential to host lithium ion and electric vehicle battery related energy metals including lithium, cobalt, nickel and vanadium.

Further updates will be provided as this process continues.

Ghan Well Cobalt Potential

The Ghan Well project consists of a central ultramafic sequence ranging from 800 metres to 2,100 metres wide and 12 kilometres long surrounded by felsic and mafic volcanic rock. Due to the properties of ultramafic lava flows, cobalt, nickel and base metals are typically concentrated towards the bottom of the lava flow. Subsequent faulting and folding has transformed horizontal ultramafic lava flows (now rock) into sub-vertical ultramafic rock units.

Cobalt, nickel and base metals occur as concentration's that form along the basal contact of these ultramafic units mainly due to gravity settling while the lava is molten. These flat units have been folded and faulted and are now sub-vertical. Subsequent deep weathering has further enriched the cobalt, nickel and base metals into shallow horizontal layers of mineralisation that correspond with the folded sinuous basal contact of each ultramafic lava flow. This typically results in the cobalt, nickel and base metals mineralisation having complex geometry.

The cobalt mineralisation occurs as a shallow layer of manganiferous oxides that form between the smectite clays and the overlying ferruginous clays. High grade cobalt mineralisation typically occurs between 10-30 metres depth and is associated with nickel mineralisation. Results include:

- 4 metres at 0.27% Cobalt from 27 metres depth
- 6 metres at 0.21% Cobalt from 14 metres depth
- 8 metres at 0.16% Cobalt from 33 metres depth
- 11 metres at 0.15% Cobalt from 25 metres depth

The cobalt mineralisation is closely associated with nickel mineralisation and generally occurs slightly higher in the regolith profile. At Ghan Well there is substantial nickel mineralisation and the cobalt mineralisation discussed above has formed from the same processes. The Company believes that the cobalt mineralisation has the potential to economically extractable in its own right. The proximity of the project to the Murrin Murrin Nickel refinery is likely to strongly impact the possibility of economic development of both the cobalt and nickel mineralisation. While the Company has not yet calculated any mineral resources it is clear that the potential exists for a substantial resource. Current drilling has only tested a small fraction of the mapped ultramafic unit indicating there is potential to locate significant additional mineralisation.

Location and Infrastructure

The Ghan Well project is located in the North-eastern gold fields of Western Australia and is 6km north of Glencore's Murrin Murrin East open pit nickel-cobalt mining operation and 12km south of Dacian Golds Mt Morgan Gold deposit. The project is surrounded by world class mining infrastructure and multiple operating mines. Glencore is currently mining cobalt and nickel from the Murrin East open pit which contained an initial resource of 66 million tonnes at 1.1% nickel and 0.09% Cobalt.

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About White Cliff Minerals Ltd

White Cliff Minerals is a Gold, Copper, Cobalt, Nickel resources and mining company listed in Australia (ASX:WCN). The Company is focused on developing low cost high value mineral deposits that have near term cash flow potential.

Major projects include the Aucu gold deposit that contains 484,000 ounces of gold (3mt at 5.1 g/t) starting at surface and Chanach copper deposit that contains 64,000 tonnes of copper (17.2Mt at 0.37% copper). Both projects have substantial blue sky potential with drilling covering only 5% of the known structures. In Australia the company is developing the Coronation Dam cobalt–nickel deposit where a maiden resource will be announced in the late 2018.

   

Contact

Todd Hibberd
Managing Director
T: +61-8-9321-2233
W: www.wcminerals.com.au
E: info@wcminerals.com.au



Link: Revised - Significant Cobalt Mineralisation Identified


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