The Jaguar Nickel Project, located in the Carajas Mineral Province of Brazil, is current classed as a hydrothermal Iron-Oxide Nickel Copper (IONC) deposit with a current resource estimate of 108MT @ 0.87% Ni (Nov 2022). The deposit was discovered in 2007 by Vale S.A. during regional exploration for Ni through geochemical follow up on coincident magnetic and GeoTEM anomalies. The Jaguar Deposit is rare amongst Hydrothermal sulphide deposits, where nickel is not normally the abundant mineral in these mineral systems. This benefits the use of electromagnetics, with mineralisation located within brittle-ductile structures hosted by felsic subvolcanic and granitic rocks, and not typical magmatic type or associated with black shales. Electromagnetic conductors nearly always directly relate to nickel mineralisation Centaurus Metals Limited, taking over the project in 2019, initiated a review of historic geophysical data including surface and downhole electromagnetic data previously acquired by Vale between 2006 and 2010. This remodelling and interpretation of the EM data identified strong correlation between known nickel intercepts from drilling and aligning with interpreted structural controls. The improvement in the interpretation gave Centaurus confidence in the technique as a direct sulphide detection method and was hence used as a primary tool in the company's initial exploration strategy.

Open-Access Online Publication: May 31, 2023