Auroch Minerals Limited announced it has commenced its exploration activities for 2022. Saints Nickel Project At the Saints Nickel Project (Saints) in Western Australia (Auroch Minerals 100%), a major diamond drill programme will commence next week. The programme will comprise 3,700m of infill drilling at both the Saint Patricks and Saint Andrews prospects, with the aim to upgrade the classification of the current Saints Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 1.02Mt @ 2.0% Ni for 21,400kt of contained nickel1 from Inferred to Indicated category.

Included in this programme are two additional large-diameter drill-holes for metallurgical testwork samples . Both the new MRE and the metallurgical testwork results will provide important inputs for the Scoping Study currently underway at the Saints Nickel Project. A second programme comprising a further 2,000m of drilling has been planned to follow the initial infill programme, and aims to test for strike and down-plunge extensions to the known nickel sulphide mineralisation at Saints.Arden Zinc-Copper Project: At the Arden Zinc-Copper Project (Arden) in South Australia (Auroch Minerals 90%), diamond drilling has recommenced at the Ragless Range Zinc Prospect.

RRDD009 was the first of four planned diamond holes drilled to test the southern extent of a large gravity target and anomalous geochemistry identified by previous drilling and surface sampling. Drilling was delayed due to heavy rainfalls and initial progress was slow due to challenging ground conditions which resulted in RRDD009 being abandoned at 60m when the rod string becoming bogged and sheared off in fractured limestone. A second vertical drill-hole (RRDD010) was then collared next to the first hole and drilled to 267.5m.

The hole drilled mostly through the Wirrapowie Limestone unit with minor iron-rich banding at 203m and 225m. The source of the gravity anomaly does not appear to be explained by results from RRDD010; however, the hole could not be pushed deeper due to poor ground conditions. In order to overcome the programme delays, a second diamond rig was sourced and commenced drilling vertical hole RRDD011 in the centre of the gravity anomaly (Figures 2 & 3).

Drilling has progressed well, with RRDD011 currently at 338m in limestone. The hole is being extended to 400m to try and intersect the prospective lower contact of the Wirrapowie Limestone with either the Woodendina Dolomite or the Parachilna Sandstone. Pending results of this drill-hole an additional angled hole may be drilled on the central section targeting the gravity anomaly closer to previous drill hole RRDD007 which intersected 12.8m @ 4.96% Zn from 53m including 3.65m @ 15.47% Zn from 62.15m.

Nepean Nickel Project: At the Nepean Nickel Project (Nepean) in Western Australia (Auroch Minerals 80%), a ground dipole- dipole IP survey over the Nepean North Prospect will resume shortly. The IP survey is being completed on a 200m by 100m grid with twelve of nineteen lines now completed. Results from the survey to-date have been positive with strong chargeability features identified below the weathering profile on every line surveyed.

One of the anomalies is over 1.3km in strike length and is potentially associated with a dolerite/gabbro east of the Nepean ultramafic unit, thus representing an attractive target for orogenic gold mineralisation. A second chargeability anomaly was identified over three survey lines on the eastern basal contact of a prospective ultramafic unit and thus presents a nickel sulphide target for follow-up drill testing. Assay results have been received for the second drill-hole NPDD013 at the Nepean Deeps Prospect.

The 12.5m of disseminated and matrix to semi-massive sulphides intersected from 576.8m were pyrrhotite dominant, and although both pentlandite (nickel sulphide) and chalcopyrite (copper sulphide) were observed in the semi-massive to matrix sulphides, the assays have confirmed no significant intersections3, suggesting the tenor of the nickel sulphides was much lower than that observed within the historic Nepean mine area. The sulphides were intersected within a 76.15m intersection of ultramafics from 534.65 ­ 610.80m down-hole, which is interpreted to be the underexplored Sill 1 ultramafic directly west of the mine sequence, and were interpreted to be the cause of the down-hole electromagnetic (DHEM) conductor 1A/1B, the uppermost of three DHEM targets identified by the first Nepean Deeps drill-hole NPDD008. Two diamond holes NPDD014 and NPDD015 were completed in December to test regional DHEM conductors at the Little Eagle and Spoonbill Prospects at Nepean.

Assays for both holes are pending; however, no nickel sulphides were observed in the drill core.