Alien Metals (AIM:UFO), the AIM-listed minerals exploration and development company, said joint venture partner GreenTech Metals has completed a heritage survey with the Ngarluma Traditional Owners over priority exploration areas at the Munni Munni PGE-Cu-Ni project in the West Pilbara, Western Australia.
The survey clears proposed drill locations and access routes, and GreenTech said drilling will begin immediately once site preparation is complete.
The programme will target extensions to shallow copper mineralisation at the Ferguson Reef and high-priority copper targets along the basal contact of the Munni Munni intrusion.
The survey follows its commencement in August, which Alien flagged to the market at the time.
Alien holds a 30% interest in Munni Munni, free carried through to completion of a bankable feasibility study, and separately holds 37.9 million shares in GreenTech, equivalent to an approximate 10% stake in GreenTech's issued share capital.
"Completion of the heritage survey is an important milestone at Munni Munni, clearing the way for GreenTech's next phase of drilling, which will test extensions to the shallow copper mineralisation at Ferguson Reef as well as high-priority targets along the basal contact of the intrusion," said Vince Fayad, executive director of Alien Metals.
The basal contact targets build on an independent geochemical review published by GreenTech, which had identified a high-priority copper-nickel-PGE zone along with a separate copper-vanadium-titanium anomaly, work that fed into the fixed-loop electromagnetic survey conducted ahead of drill planning.
GreenTech said it is planning further heritage survey work at Munni Munni to support future exploration activity.