Forrestania
Project Description
The Forrestania tenement is located in the Philips River Mineral Field, and situated near the eastern edge of the southern most portion of the Forrestania Greenstone belt. The region is highly prospective for nickel and gold mineralisation.
Location & History
The Forrestania Project is located 90 kms ESE of Hyden and 110 km north of Ravensthorpe within the Phillips River Mineral Field of Western Australia. The tenement is situated near the eastern edge of the southern most portion of the Forrestania Greenstone belt.
The region is highly prospective for nickel and gold mineralisation with Forrestania Nickel/Western Areas’ Cosmic Boy and Diggers Rocks South Open Pit and Underground Nickel Mines located 2.5km NW and 7 km SE respectively from the tenement.
The Forrestania Greenstone Belt Region forms part of the southern extension of the Southern Cross Greenstone Belt and comprises a lower sequence of tholeiitic basalt intercalated ultramafics, thin banded iron formation and chert units, overlain by psammic to pelitic schists that occupy the core of the regionally north-plunging Forrestania Syncline. The Project adjoins the eastern synclinal limb and is east of the nickeliferous UM1a unit that hosts numerous nickel-sulphide deposits along strike.
The Forrestania Project overlies a portion of the prospective Forrestania Greenstone sequence in a region known for its abundance of gold and nickel-sulphide deposits. There is potential for gold and nickel mineralisation within the Project area.
ASX listed Giant nickel company Western Areas – operates the Cosmic Boy, Diggers Rocks South, and Flying Fox Mines nearby GNI’s Forrestania project. Flying Fox, is one of the highest grade nickel mines in the world. Importantly for the Forrestania region and Global Nickel, Western Areas plans to develop five mines at Forrestania by 2011, for a targeted production of 35,000 tonnes per annum of nickel.
Western Areas published the maiden mineral resource for the Spotted Quoll discovery, in 2008 - achieved 34,500 t contained nickel @ 6.3% .Western Areas Ltd, plans to increase the current resource inventory at Flying Fox by 50% to 150,000 tonnes of contained nickel. Western Areas also is on track to commission the stage one concentrator plant at Cosmic Boy by First Quarter 2009.
Latest Activities
A total of 425 auger samples were taken on the Forrestania North and the Forrestania South projects for Global Nickel Investments Limited during a systematic campaign during 2008.
All samples were analysed for a comprehensive suite of elements including gold, silver, iron and other base metals such as copper, lead, zinc and nickel.Results have shown that a strong north south trending nickel anomaly with coincident chromium and cobalt exists in the Forrestania North tenement while the Forrestania South tenement exhibited no real anomalism and subsequently hold little value to the tenement landholders.
The anomaly on E74/346 Forrestania North could be representing a north south trending mafic body typical of Yilgarn type geology. This would explain elevated levels of nickel, chromium and cobalt which can be found in economic quantities throughout the greenstone terrane of the Yilgarn Block.