Azure Minerals (AZS) - New, and Ancient, Global Nickel Discovery

Azure Minerals Ltd. is an ASX-listed junior mining company focused on the advancement of its Andover Nickel-Copper-Cobalt project, located in Western Australia. The company was previously advancing its various Mexican projects between 2006 and 2020 but re-aligned its focus after it acquired four nickel, copper, cobalt and gold projects in Pilbara, Western Australia.Azure Minerals Ltd. at the end of September 2022 held a Market capitalisation of approximately AUD$ 84 million dollars. The total amount of shares on issue of the company is approximately 311 million with 5.25 million options outstanding. The company also sat with a cash position at the end of September 2022 of AUD$ 8.9 million.

The Andover project of the company is a 70 km2 land package, located 35 km southeast of the city of Karratha and has shown significant nickel, copper and cobalt sulphide mineralisation. The project is a joint venture with the Creasy Group, with Azure Minerals Ltd. owning a 60% interest in the project. Azure Minerals Ltd. has also conducted various de-risking initiatives at the Andover project to date, including proving that the deposit sits within a competent host rock. The company has also conducted mine engineering studies on the project including the review of potential surface infrastructure locations, portal locations and other support infrastructure.

The company on the 2nd of November 2022 announced assay results from drilling initiatives undertaken at the Ridgeline deposit of the Andover project. The assay results show broad high-grade nickel, copper and cobalt sulphide mineralisation zones. The highlights of the exploration drilling include a mineralisation intercept of 31.8 m at grades of 1.41% Ni, 0.88% Cu and 0.06% Co from a depth of 434.1 m in drill hole ANDD0172. Drill hole ANDD0172 also included a mineralisation interval of 12.1 m at grades of 1.77% Ni, 1.21% Cu and 0.08% Co as well as 15.3 m of mineralisation at grades of 1.40% Ni, 0.80% Cu and 0.06% Co. The company is also underway with the creation of a mineral resource estimate for the Ridgeline deposit.

Azure Minerals Ltd. on the 14th of November 2022 announced that it had accelerated the lithium exploration at the Andover project. The company announced that the helicopter pegmatite sampling program, intending to fast-track lithium exploration, had succeeded in collecting 230 samples. The exploration was also successful in identifying various outcropping spodumene-rich pegmatites which are up to 1,200 m in strike length and up to 200 m across. The company plans to launch its first lithium-specific drill program in the future with its nickel sulphide drilling initiatives ongoing.

Company and Recent share price performance

Azure Minerals Ltd. at the end of September 2022 held a Market capitalisation of approximately AUD$ 84 million dollars. The total amount of shares on issue of the company is approximately 311 million with 5.25 million options outstanding. The company also has a cash position of AUD$ 8.9 million as of the end of September 2022.

The company experienced an increase in its share price after announcing that it had sold its Mexican assets and would in the future focus on the Western Australian portion of its portfolio. The mineralisation results the company announced for its Andover project also added to the share price increase. Tony Rovira, the Managing Director of Azure Minerals Ltd. explains that the announcement of the Andover project mineralisation also coincided with an upswing in the nickel market and led to market excitement. The excitement however resulted in unrealistic share prices across the board which could not be sustained.

“When we initially announced the discovery of the Andover nickel mineralization, it was at a time when the nickel market was running really hot and there was a large degree of super excitement, probably over exuberance if you like, and that certainly sent our share price way up. As you say, it has come back down now and it's probably overshot on the downside. Somewhere in between the highs and the lows is where we should be at the moment. We did hit AUD$ 1 and we went back down to below AUD$ 0.20c, we are up about AUD$ 0.30c on the share price today, which gives us a market cap at the moment of about AUD$ 90 million to AUD$ 100 million.”

Andover project

The Andover project of the company is a 70 km2 land package, located 35 km southeast of the city of Karratha and has shown significant nickel, copper and cobalt sulphide mineralisation. The project has access to various infrastructures including airports, port access, railway, grid power, sealed highways and support services. The project is a joint venture with the Creasy Group, with Azure Minerals Ltd. owning a 60% interest in the project. The company released a maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Andover project in March of 2022, which shows highlights of 4.6 million tons of mineralisation at a grade of 1.11% nickel (Ni), 0.47% copper (Cu) and 0.05% cobalt (Co), with 80% of the MRE being in the indicated category. The project also contains a high-grade component of 2 million tons of mineralisation at a grade of 1.41% Ni, 0.49% Cu and 0.06% Co.

The mineralisation of the project is a layered mafic-ultramafic intrusion which contains magmatic nickel-copper sulphide mineralization within it. The project also hosts the Ridgeline nickel, copper and cobalt sulphide deposit, which starts 200 m away from the Andover deposit. The company has intersected various high-grade, massive nickel and copper sulphide mineralisation that have been returned from various drilling initiatives at the project.

The Andover project also holds lithium mineralisation, as announced by the company in October 2022. The project hosts more than 130 outcropping pegmatites in an 8 km long mineralisation corridor.

Rovira explains the development of the Andover project to the identification of the lithium mineralisation contained therein as follows.

“We have been exploring and focused very much on the nickel story for the last 2 years, but probably 12 months ago, when the lithium phase really started to take off, and a lot of companies were identifying lithium in pegmatites, I asked our geological team if there were any pegmatites out there. At the beginning of 2022, they went out and did some regional mapping and sampling where they identified quite a few pegmatites outcropping at the surface. Over the past 6 months, it's been an intense program of mapping and sampling across the Andover project, across the entire project area. That has involved both remote sensing work and also boots-on-the-ground exploration as well”

Azure Minerals Ltd. has also conducted various de-risking initiatives at the Andover project including proving that the deposit sits within a competent host rock. The mine engineering studies conducted on the project include the review of potential surface infrastructure locations, portal locations and other support infrastructure. Azure Minerals Ltd. has also completed preliminary underground infrastructure designs, as well as preliminary stope optimisation studies.

Andover Project Exploration

The company on the 2nd of November 2022 announced assay results from drilling initiatives undertaken at the Ridgeline deposit of the Andover project. The assay results show broad high-grade nickel, copper and cobalt sulphide mineralisation zones. The highlights of the exploration drilling include intercepting a mineralisation interval of 31.8 m at grades of 1.41% Ni, 0.88% Cu and 0.06% Co from a depth of 434.1 m in drill hole ANDD0172. Drill hole ANDD0172 also included a mineralisation interval of 12.1 m at grades of 1.77% Ni, 1.21% Cu and 0.08% Co as well as 15.3 m at grades of 1.40% Ni, 0.80% Cu and 0.06% Co. Azure Minerals Ltd. are underway with the creation of a mineral resource estimate for the Ridgeline deposit.

Azure Minerals Ltd. on the 14th of November 2022 announced that it had accelerated the lithium exploration at the Andover project. The company announced that the helicopter pegmatite sampling program, intending to fast-track lithium exploration, had succeeded in collecting 230 samples.

The exploration has also been able to identify various outcropping spodumene-rich pegmatites which are up to 1,200 m in strike length and up to 200 m across. The company is underway with the preparation of its first lithium-specific drill program with its nickel sulphide drilling initiatives ongoing.

The exploration initiatives at the Andover project consist of a Nickel exploration team as well as a Lithium exploration team according to Rovira. Each team has specific timelines and goals, with the lithium exploration team underway with surface work initiatives to enable an exploration drilling program in 2023.

“We've got a nickel-focused team and a lithium-focused team. The lithium-focused team have been on the ground for the last 6 months. There are some really good-looking targets out there, so we need to fine-tune those with more surface work and then we'll be in there drilling in the first quarter of next year.”

Future

Rovira explains that even though the lithium mineralisation discoveries at the project have added to the potential of the project, the company will in the future continue with its nickel exploration initiatives. The company has identified various targets that are planned to be drill tested.

“Obviously, nickel is still very much the focus. We're still diamond drilling the nickel-copper-cobalt sulphide targets we've got. We've got targets that have been generated through mapping, sampling and identifying gossans, we've got the geophysical targets. We've got a lot of targets ahead of us that need drill testing. That nickel exploration program will be ongoing for as far as we can see and we will probably be drilling for the next 12 months as well.”

The company will continue with utilising one exploration drilling rig, with Rovira explaining that it allows the company to follow a focused approach regarding target drilling.

“We had 3 diamond rigs working there when we were doing the resource drill out, but when we pivoted back to just doing exploration drilling on the specific targets, we just wanted 1 rig as we don't want to put it in the wrong place.”

Azure Mineral Ltd. aims to publish a pre-feasibility study (PFS) or a definitive feasibility study (DFS) upon completion of its planned scoping study aimed to be published by the end of Q1 2023.

“We've got metallurgy, mine planning, geotechnical work, tailings, storage and mineral processing design. All of those components have been either completed or are very close to being completed. All of those are being combined into a scoping study, which we hope to be in a position to release publicly towards the end of the first quarter of next year. We'll get the scoping study out, and let's assume that it has a successful outcome, we'll be pushing straight forward into doing either a PFS or a definitive feasibility study.”

To find out more, go to the Azure Minerals website