Poseidon Nickel has been turning heads since September when it announced its Black Swan nickel mine in Western Australia was showing promise for gold mineralisation.
Now, the results are in on recent assays that are proving Black Swan may just be a golden goose.
The nickel miner carried out an infill soil program in September with several gold trends in its sights.
The top three targets, the Wilson’s, Wattle and Ellison soil anomalies, have returned consistent results, the most promising of which is the Wilson’s prospect that doubled in size with recent testing.
Poseidon chief executive officer Brendan Shalders said the site has never been evaluated for gold to this extent due to its historic nickel focus, and alluded to the company’s imminent merger with Horizon, which is set to create a new mid-cap, 100,000-ounce-per-annum gold producer.
“The positive exploration results reported today at Black Swan will be instrumental in guiding additional low-cost exploration programs including shallow drilling to further evaluate these gold targets,” Shalders said.
“The progress of gold programs at Black Swan is also complementary to the proposed merger with Horizon.
“If the merger proceeds, the combined entity intends to continue these exploration programs which would support any potential future processing of gold ores at Black Swan.”
Nestled firmly in the Goldfield’s region of WA, it’s not necessarily a surprise that Black Swan is showing potential as a double nickel-gold threat.
An expanded focus might be coming at just the right time for Poseidon, who was considering putting the mine into care and maintenance earlier this year.
All that changed when soft nickel prices suddenly skyrocketed in May, leading the miner to take a closer look at what might be lingering just below the surface.
Whether Poseidon decides to chase Black Swan’s gold potential, stick to nickel, or pursue a combination of the two remains to be seen – but the movement is certainly setting the sector abuzz with what the future may hold for the project.
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