The Camelwood and Musket Nickel deposits - Discovery of a new Nickel Sulphide camp in the North-eastern Goldfields of Western Australia

Abstract

The Camelwood and Musket nickel sulphide deposits are significant recent discoveries, located within the Mt Fisher Greenstone Belt, in the northern goldfields region of Western Australia. Camelwood was the first deposit to be discovered, in December 2012, from a reverse circulation (RC) drilling campaign designed to test a coincident airborne electromagnetic (AEM) and geochemical anomaly. The original objective of the AEM surveys was to detect massive sulphides known to be associated with gold mineralization at the old Mt Fisher gold mine. However, a number of discrete, late-time EM anomalies were identified along an interpreted ultramafic sequence on the eastern boundary of the greenstone belt. The EM anomalies represented classic nickel sulphide mineralisation targets. Ground time-domain electromagnetic (TEM) surveys, down-hole TEM (DHTEM) surveys, and extensive drilling have been carried out since then, resulting in a JORC compliant resource at Camelwood (1.6Mt @ 2.2% Ni) and the discovery of the Musket deposit. The application of the AEM method was instrumental in the discovery of the Camelwood nickel deposit. Systematic use of ground and down hole geophysical methods has been valuable in delineating the resource at Camelwood and in the discovery of the Musket deposit. The discovery of Camelwood and Musket proves the potential of the Mt Fisher Greenstone belt to host significant nickel sulphide mineralisation.