Maximus onto “Kambalda style” nickel sulphides at Hilditch West
Maximus Resources says a detailed piece of geological detective work on some drill chips has confirmed the nickel sulphides at its Hilditch West project near Kambalda resemble the nickel sulfides that put Kambalda on the geological map many years ago. The company says the potential source might be an as yet undrilled near-by conductor lurking deeper in the stratigraphy that will take centre stage when the rods start spinning again.
Maximus controls about 48 square kilometres of land across the fertile Spargoville shear zone 20km west of the Kambalda Township. The Spargoville shear zone hosts the very high-grade Wattle Dam Gold Mine that was active up to 2012. Wattle Dam was one of Australia’s highest-grade gold mines and produced around 286,000 ounces of gold at an eye-watering grade of 10.1 g/t. Maximus is seeking to develop several small high-grade operations within its tenements while continuing its search for the next Wattle Dam.
Whilst gold remains a prime target, it would appear that Maximus also has a significant nickel opportunity on its hands. The company interprets the Spargoville Shear zone that runs through its tenements to host a near contiguous belt of nickel deposits including Mincor Resources Cassini nickel deposit, Neometals Widgiemooltha Dome/Mt Edwards projects, Estrella Resources Andrews Shaft Nickel deposit and its own Wattle Dam East and Hilditch nickel prospects.
Pantoro backs Maximus in $12m capital raise
ASX-listed junior gold and nickel explorer Maximus Resources has emerged with a new major shareholder following a strategic investment by ASX-listed gold producer Pantoro in Maximus’ recent well supported $12 million capital raise. The impressive two-tranche placement totalling more than the company’s current market capitalisation speaks to the prospectivity of its Spargoville gold and nickel exploration play about 25km south-west of BHP’s Kambalda nickel operations in WA.
Maximus intends issuing a total of about 176.5 million new shares in two blocks at 0.068¢ apiece to new and existing shareholders, with the second tranche comprising 164.28 million shares subject to the approval of Maximus shareholders. About 63 million of the new shares will be taken up by cornerstone investor Pantoro and Maximus’ issued capital structure will expand to about 316.5 million shares.
After shareholder approval, which Maximus anticipates in early October, Pantoro will have a 19.9 per cent shareholding and then be eligible to nominate a director to the Maximus board. Pantoro looks to be eyeing potential synergies between its 50 per cent-owned Norseman gold project and Maximus’ Wattle Dam gold project within its 108sqkm Spargoville tenure, both located in world-class tier one addresses in the prolific Eastern Goldfields.
Wattle Dam lies about 100km north of Norseman just off the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway.
