Estrella Resources Ltd. estimated a JORC 2012-compliant maiden resource for the 5A deposit at its Spargoville nickel project in Western Australia of 127,000 tonnes at 1.9% nickel and 0.15% copper.

Using a 0.5% nickel cutoff, the resource contains 2,370 tonnes of nickel and 190 tonnes of copper, and a majority of the nickel is within 100 meters of surface and amendable to open-pit mining, the company said Oct. 18.

It estimated the resource after a detailed assessment of historic drilling and inclusion of significant high-grade nickel sulfide drilling results.

The deposit is open at depth below the nickel sulfide drill intercepts allowing the potential for an increase in the current resource with further drilling.