Bedrock Conductor Identified at Harts Range
New Frontier Minerals Limited has announced the identification of an untested bedrock conductor at its Harts Range Project in the Northern Territory, modelled by Southern Geoscience Consultants from publicly available Geoscience Australia data. This conductor, located approximately 240 metres below surface and 3.5km south of the Kings Cross magnetic anomaly, is considered prospective for copper-nickel mineralisation and is within 40km of a similar conductor identified by Litchfield Minerals. The company plans further exploration including mapping, sampling, and reviewing existing datasets to assess this high-priority target.
Select text to share a quote on X · sign in to keep highlights & notes in your NFM notes
New Frontier Minerals Ltd (LSE and ASX: NFM) is pleased to advise that independent modelling by Southern Geoscience Consultants ("SGC") has defined a bedrock conductor within the 100% owned EL 34147, which is part of the Company's Harts Range Heavy Rare Earths, Niobium and Tungsten Project ("Harts Range" or the "Project") in the Northern Territory.¹
The conductor was modelled from publicly available Geoscience Australia AusAEM airborne electromagnetic ("AEM") data as a single, flat-lying plate approximately 240m below surface. It is located 3.5km south of the Kings Cross magnetic anomaly (Figure 2), within the belt that BHP Xplor-backed research reframed in June 2026 as a district-scale copper-nickel mineral system and remains untested.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Southern Geoscience Consultants has independently modelled a bedrock conductor, approximately 240m below surface within NFM's 100%-owned Harts Range tenement EL34147¹
- The newly identified conductor is located approximately 3.5km from the Kings Cross target, where NFM has received government approval to commence drilling of a discrete magnetic anomaly interpreted at a similar depth⁴
- Southern Geoscience concluded the modelled conductor is prospective for copper-nickel mineralisation, identifying a compelling new high-priority exploration target within the project area¹
- The modelled conductor is located within 40km of the C2 conductor identified through BHP Xplor-backed research by Litchfield Minerals Ltd (ASX: LMS), which has redefined the Harts Range region as an emerging district-scale nickel-copper-PGE province¹, ³
- The target remains untested, with no ground electromagnetic surveys or drilling completed over the conductor to date and warrants further follow up¹
- The target was generated from Geoscience Australia's publicly available pre-competitive AusAEM dataset, with no data acquisition costs ¹, ²
Chairman Gerrard Hall commented: "The Southern Geoscience AusAEM assessment provides further independent support for the emerging exploration potential of our Harts Range Project. The identification of a bedrock conductor at depth, interpreted from airborne electromagnetic modelling, is particularly encouraging given its proximity to the recently announced BHP Xplor-backed Litchfield Minerals C2 conductor. While this is an early-stage geophysical target, the results reinforce our view that Harts Range has the potential to host a much broader mineral system than previously recognised. Importantly, the study demonstrates that airborne electromagnetic data can successfully identify concealed bedrock conductors within the belt, providing New Frontier with an effective tool to prioritise future exploration."
THE MODELLED CONDUCTOR - A BEDROCK SOURCE AT DEPTH
Southern Geoscience Consultants completed an assessment of Geoscience Australia's publicly available AusAEM dataset across the Harts Range Project to identify potential bedrock conductors prospective for copper-nickel mineralisation. The assessment involved extracting the airborne electromagnetic survey line covering the project area, including a 5km buffer surrounding the tenement, reviewing the electromagnetic response for conductive anomalies, and undertaking two-dimensional (2D) plate modelling of the most significant anomaly (Figure 2). The modelling identified a concealed bedrock conductor at an interpreted depth of approximately 240 metres below surface and strikes 679 meters in a north-northwest direction, representing a high-priority exploration target for follow-up ground geophysical surveys and drilling.
The newly identified conductor further supports the emerging district-scale potential of the Harts Range belt. This is consistent with the BHP Xplor-backed research released by Litchfield Minerals Limited (ASX: LMS) in June 2026, which concluded that the region contains the key geological ingredients required to host large copper-nickel sulphide systems, including deep mantle-derived structures, repeated magmatic events and established copper and nickel sulphide mineralisation along major crustal-scale pathways.³
HARTS RANGE - A DISTRICT BEING REDEFINED
Litchfield Minerals Limited (ASX: LMS) reported the results of the BHP Xplor-backed research in full in June 2026. Its centrepiece was C2 - a strong deep conductor interpreted at approximately 10km depth directly beneath the Blackadder-Baldrick Ni-Cu-PGE prospects, which Litchfield describe as a direct link between deep conductive architecture and known sulphide mineralisation. Just as significant was the conclusion that conductors of that style are not resolved in coarser regional datasets, so further conductors may remain undetected across the belt, including in ground that has already been explored.³ SGC places NFM's modelled conductor (on 100% NFM tenure, EL 34147) within 40km of the C2 conductor identified through BHP Xplor-backed research by Litchfield Minerals. The Litchfield Minerals work provides encouragement for copper and nickel related deposits to be found throughout the belt.¹
NEXT STEPS
NFM's forthcoming Harts Range work programme is to include:
- Review of NFM's existing magnetic, radiometric and geological datasets across southern EL 34147 for coincident structure, lithology and magnetic response
- Reconnaissance mapping and rock chip sampling along the projected surface position of the conductor
Progress the Mining Lease Application (ML 100479) and regulatory requirements over the Big One Deposit
- Receipt and reporting of Mt Storm assay results, with follow-up surface sampling to evaluate its potential as a satellite target to the Big One Deposit
- Review geological targeting and technical evaluation at the Big One Deposit to assess opportunities to extend known mineralisation and support future resource growth
- Continue collaboration with Austral Resources on the proposed toll treatment pathway and other exploration-stage workstreams
REFERENCES
1 Southern Geoscience Consultants, 2026. SGC4781 - Harts Range AusAEM Assessment (V2). Unpublished report prepared for New Frontier Minerals Limited, July 2026.
2 Geoscience Australia. AusAEM airborne electromagnetic survey data, Line 1170001, Publicly available via the Geoscience Australia Exploration for the Future programme.
3 Litchfield Minerals Limited (ASX: LMS), 2026. "Harts Range: Defining a New Copper-Nickel Discovery District". ASX Announcement, 18 June 2026.
4 New Frontier Minerals Limited, ASX announcement: "Drilling Campaign Approved at Harts Range Project", 10 November 2025.
5 Mithril Resources Limited, 2009. Drilling Update Huckitta Project. ASX Release, 7 October 2009 (as reported by Litchfield Minerals Limited, 18 June 2026).
This announcement was approved for release by the Board of New Frontier Minerals Limited.
Cleaned text: letterheads, contacts and legal notices removed. View the original announcement ↗ · Company filings. Not investment advice.