Estrella Resources Limited announced the receipt of assays from CBDD064 (Figure 1, Table 1), a diamond drillhole targeted below the existing workings at the Company's 100% owned Carr Boyd Nickel and Copper Project, located approximately 80km NNE of the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Western Australia. The Carr Boyd Mine (Figure 2 and Figure 3) was worked between 1972 and 1977 by Great Boulder Mines
and then Western Mining Corporation (WMC) before being closed due to lowering nickel prices and WMC's commitments elsewhere. In total 210,000 tonnes at 1.44% Ni and 0.46% Cu were extracted via a 214m deep, three-compartment shaft. However, despite this extensive history, the source of this high-grade mineralisation has never been fully explained. The mineralisation has historically proven to be relatively simple to mine, with a 10% nickel concentrate produced that was high in iron and sulphur whilst being very low in deleterious elements. Recovery was good at 79% given the ore was treated at the converted Fimiston Gold Plant when flotation of nickel sulphides was still at an early stage of development. Modern flotation technology the company believe will dramatically increase recoveries. The remaining JORC2004 resource stands at 636,000t at 1.4% Ni and 0.5% Cu (8,800 NiT and 3,100 CuT), one of the levels with remaining mineralisation can be seen in Figure 3. This resource was calculated in 2007 by Resource Evaluations Pty Ltd. based upon historical mine mapping and additional drilling. Further confirmatory drilling will need to be conducted by Estrella to produce a re-interpretation and JORC2012 compliant resource. Estrella has partnered with the CSIRO to determine if the Carr Boyd mineralisation was derived from
remobilising sulphides from a pool of sulphides located on the T5 basal contact. If proven, the mineralisation represents a bleed-zone from something much larger at depth and would confirm the Company's model regarding the potential for the Carr Boyd Layered Igneous Complex to host large-scale nickel-rich sulphide trap sites. Geological work by Estrella and the CSIRO, assisted by drilling, downhole electromagnetics and seismic should be able to resolve this link. The company has recently collared CBDD067 which is targeting the T5 basal contact south and at depth below the T5 Discovery. The rationale behind this drilling is to get better downhole electromagnetic (DHEM) coverage south and below the currently identified mineralisation. The DHEM response from the known T5 mineralisation is very strong and tends to mask additional sulphides away from the main conductors, such
as that seen in CBDD042A, where massive breccia sulphides were intersected yet there was no DHEM response. Additionally, the structural information gained from drilling this hole will enable a better understanding of the possible late off-set controls on the T5 Mineralisation. This hole will be completed in the next few weeks, around the same time as Topdrive Drillers Australia (the drilling contractor at Carr Boyd) takes receipt of a brand new UDR drill rig which will be commissioned at Carr Boyd towards the end of March. The Company retired the use of an RC rig as it was not achieving the targeted drill metres. The availability of two diamond rigs will enable Estrella to quickly advance its Phase 5 exploration program, which will use a combination of diamond drilling and DHEM to blanket the highly prospective T5-Broonhill, Mossgiel and Gossan Hill Prospects, where the company has already identified mineralised pyroxenites along the basal contact (Figure 4). Additionally, see ASX announcement dated 31 January 2022 titled "Carr
Boyd Exploration Program Encounters Sulphides in Both the Mossgiel and Gossan Hill Pyroxenites.