G'day allatsea
Yes. There are two factors to the nearology. An extension of the traps / depressions providing opportunity for sulphide accumulates from the intrusive event that gave birth to Nova / Bollinger, and secondly, a repeat of that model elsewhere within collision zones of the Fraser Range Complex.
If you look at world class Voisey, then it is a linear chain of deposits but fairly compact, contained within around 20 - 30 km2, the Finnish nickel belt is larger with a number of intrusives and deposits more widespread. WIN ran a case that their conductor could be a structural extension related to the N/B intrusive. I couldn't see a lot of strength in the argument personally, but smart money, including Creasy, set themselves up with some sort of strategy based on that information.
SIR have said that Bollinger feeds into Nova, inferring that Bollinger is closer to the feeder conduit which is sourced from a deeper reservoir of crustal magma . Bollinger is deeper than Nova. So SIR would likely be looking to find extensions that flowed into Bollinger, I guess at depth seems most likely - and that may well be the end of the nearology story for the specific N/B intrusive event. They would also have an opinion on whether or not Nova may have also fed into something, that has now been eroded or perhaps faulted off. Had BOA hit directly along strike, then the boffins would soon work out how related any nearby along strike hits are to Nova.
So most, if not all players now are looking for a repeat of the model elsewhere in the Fraser Range.
As for the best areas, i.e. potential hosts, then geologically we are concentrating on areas with the necessary mafic / ultramafic intrusives and the geochem / geophysics to support base-metal sulphide accumulation. To say that the discovery of N/B precluded that strategy for intrusives with basal Ni / Cu in the Fraser Range is probably not accurate. Legend, Sirius, Rumble, Pioneer and a couple of others all recognised the potential. And the old timer prospectors knew that area was hot for nickel as well. But since N/B it has become the hottest thing going, similar in a way that Sandfire fired up the volcanic belts in the Byrah Basin some years back. Zillions of dollars spent that failed to find any other VMS outside the 4 or 5 conductors on Sandfire's ground.
Will Nova be the same, i.e. a lonely orphan in a province turned into Swiss Cheese with our money? Only time will tell. Personally I won't be going all in on any of them unless all the indicators of geology, geochemistry and geophysics look good. BOA's "duster" was missing the geochem (IMO). If nothing else the speculation has kept the market alive for a couple of years now and it sure would be exciting for another hit.
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