Arrow Minerals appoints new chair as Independence Group advances project in Fraser Range
Arrow Minerals Ltd (ASX:AMD) has pulled out a chair at the head of its boardroom table for director Dr Frazer Tabeart as the company focuses on its Strickland gold and Plumridge nickel projects in Western Australia.
Plumridge Nickel Project is 49%-held and found in the Albany-Fraser Province of Western Australia, in the same region as its 51% partner on the project, Independence Group NL’s (ASX:IGO) (FRA:IDZ) portfolio of Fraser Range projects.
Strickland Gold Project is wholly owned by Arrow.
READ: Arrow Minerals appoints new chairman
Arrow executive director of five years Tabeart became the company’s chairman last Friday, being appointed as an independent chairman under ASX corporate governance rules.
Tabeart is also managing director of Alaskan copper-gold explorer-developer PolarX Ltd (ASX:PXX) (FRA:PX0) and an executive director of Botswana energy and resources company African Energy Resources Ltd (ASX:AFR) (FRA:BP6).
During the December quarter, a 4,000-metre drilling program was completed at the T6 prospect at Strickland and high-priority targets were identified for Plumridge.
While the majority of Strickland’s T6 drill results have been received, a portion remains pending from the T2d prospect.
READ: Arrow Minerals confirms nickel-copper potential of the Plumridge Nickel Project
At Plumridge, three high-priority electromagnetic (EM) targets are planned to be drilled in the June quarter of this year with partner Independence Group (IGO).
The Arrow-IGO JV was entered into in January last year, with IGO able to take its stake in the project to 90% by sole-funding $5 million of exploration expenditure by January 2022.
Aircore drilling program
During 2018, IGO completed 768 aircore drill holes for 34,596 metres, covering about 70% of the Plumridge project area.
Drilling to date has confirmed Plumridge is highly prospective for nickel-copper sulphides, with the identification of mafic/ultramafic intrusions with cumulate textures.
An aircore drill sample featuring magmatic sulphides pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and pentlandite
IGO plans to drill a further 231 holes, commencing in March 2019, to provide coverage of the entire Fraser Complex within the joint venture area.
Electromagnetic surveys
IGO has three EM targets identified for high-priority reverse circulation (RC) drill testing in the June quarter — Mosaic, Narwhal and Perle targets.
EM targets over regional magnetics – Mosaic, Narwhal and Perle
In mid-2018, IGO began an airborne EM survey using fixed-wing time-domain EM technology SPECTREM to identify basement conductors and map cover thickness.
About 20% of the project area has been flown, with the SPECTREM survey to resume in March 2019. Significant conductors will then be followed up with ground EM surveys.
READ: Arrow Minerals survey reveals priority drill targets at T1 and T2
Arrow managing director Steven Michael said: “The Fraser Range Complex remains highly prospective for nickel-copper sulphides, as highlighted by the Silver Knight discovery announced by the Creasy Group in mid-2018.
“IGO is in a unique position to apply knowledge gained from studying the Nova deposit and exploring over 15,000 square kilometres of exploration licences in the area, to the Plumridge Nickel Project.
“In its first year at Plumridge, IGO has completed a considerable amount of exploration, resulting in the identification of clusters of mafic/ultramafic intrusions with cumulate textures and, in at least two cases, magmatic sulphides.
“Also, IGO has been able to capitalise on previous exploration work, including the HeliTEM survey completed in 2017, to identify several high-priority EM targets, which will be ready for drilling in 2Q 2019.”
IGO also has a Fraser Range project with Orion Minerals Ltd (ASX:ORN) (JSE:ORN).
Quarterly results
Arrow used $1.4 million on operating activities in the December quarter, spending $1.2 million on exploration and evaluation.
The company had $86,000 net cash from investing activities and ended December 31 with $2.4 million cash. It expects $700,000 of cash outflows in the March quarter.
Major shareholders
Arrow had 306,976,322 shares on issue on September 12, held by its 1,773 shareholders.
The company’s top 20 shareholders had 34.92% of the company at the time.
Among its major shareholders, significant shareholder Independence Group had the largest stake, holding 11.23%.
Havelock Mining Investment Ltd had 3.62% while the second superannuation fund of Mark Creasy-linked Croesus Mining Pty Ltd rested on 3.45%.
The Croesus Mining significant stake had been estimated at 5.03%.
— with Amanda Ellis