Western Mines Group has initiated plans for a phase five exploration program at its Mulga Tank nickel project in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields. The drilling campaign, comprising 32 holes for 10,000 metres of combined reverse circulation and diamond drilling, is set to begin immediately after the final holes from phase four are completed.
The program employs a dual approach: reverse circulation drilling will infill the resource to firm up broad, shallow nickel sulphides, while deeper diamond tails will search for higher-grade massive sulphides likely hidden in deeper basal levels. A significant portion of the drilling will target previously identified high-grade zones within the main ultramafic complex, where earlier work returned grades between one and two per cent nickel.
Seven reverse circulation holes will target shallow disseminated nickel sulphides, and six additional holes aim to expand the existing open-pittable material. Five more holes will explore new areas up-dip from richer basal zones, which could contain mineralisation exceeding 0.4 per cent nickel, similar to the Kambalda-style ultramafic rocks that have been the foundation of WA's nickel mining since the 1960s.
A single diamond hole, partially funded by the State Government's exploration incentive scheme, will target the depths of the Mulga Tank ultramafic complex on its western margin, searching for Kambalda-style massive magmatic nickel sulphides. Recent electromagnetic surveys have identified several drilling targets along the 1.5-kilometre-long Panhandle ultramafic body, a possible feeder channel for the main complex.
Western Mines has methodically drilled the Mulga Tank Ultramafic Complex since 2024, completing four phases and 71 holes. Of those with geochemical assays, 59 intersected widespread, shallow, open-pittable disseminated nickel sulphide mineralisation. In 2025, the company unveiled a maiden resource of 1.97 billion tonnes grading 0.27 per cent nickel, 131ppm cobalt, 82ppm copper and 17ppb PGEs, containing an estimated 5.3 million tonnes of nickel, 257,000 tonnes of cobalt, 161,000 tonnes of copper and about 1.1 million ounces of platinum group elements.
