Sirius starts drilling again
A week after getting the all-clear from an independent expert over plans to buy Mark Creasy out of the Nova-Bollinger project, Sirius Resources said yesterday it would resume drilling for more ground-breaking nickel-copper discoveries in the Fraser Range.
Sirius, the stand-out mineral success story this decade, has been conspicuously quiet on the exploration front as it tried to negotiate a deal with Mr Creasy to consolidate ownership of Nova-Bollinger, which is owned to 30 per cent by the prospector. That changed yesterday when Sirius said it would drill several areas in the Fraser Range, including the Western Trend target within the Nova mining lease application.
Drilling late last year at Western Trend had intersected near-surface nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation and Sirius said yesterday it would also carry out a deep penetration electromagnetic survey of the entire lease application area, down to depths of about 600m, early next month.
The original Nova find, backed up by Bollinger, fuelled hope Sirius was highly likely to make more discoveries as soon as it resumed exploration.
After independent expert BDO last week declared Sirius' plan to buy out Mr Creasy for about $200 million in scrip and cash as "not fair but reasonable", Sirius shareholders are expected to vote in favour of the deal on May 9.
Nova-Bollinger is big enough to justify a mine and a feasibility study is scheduled for completion in June. Additional discoveries will boost the project's viability.
Sirius shares yesterday eased 7¢ to $2.53.
