In its announcement, Sirius released the latest batch of assay results from an ongoing drilling campaign at Nova aimed at defining its limits.

Infill drilling intersected 24.68m of mixed sulphides from 327.9m.

Other assay results received include 47.2m grading 1.86% nickel and 0.57% copper from 298m, including 36m grading 2.23% nickel and 0.65% copper from 309.2m, including 3.05m at 6.1% nickel and 1.31% copper from 309.2m.

Further hits included 16.6m grading 1.31% nickel and 0.54% copper from 307m, including 2.2m grading 4.02% nickel and 1.18% copper from 321.4m.

In the update, Sirius said electromagnetic surveying to the north of the fault at Nova had not defined a continuation of the EM conductor associated with the Nova deposit where expected.

“A potentially deeper EM response has been detected but it is not possible to model this due to the masking effect of the Nova deposit itself,” Sirius said.

The company will now test conductor 5, which looks more promising at it appears to be related to zones of disseminated sulphides previously discovered.

The exploration update did little to spur the company’s share price, instead sending it downwards.

At 12pm AEDT, Sirius shares had fallen 16.2% to $A2.74.

The company’s shares peaked above $3 for the first time on November 2 and had travelled upwards to $3.27 yesterday after gaining 6.9% on no news.

Before the market hype surrounding the nickel discovery kicked off, Sirius shares sat at about 5c at the end of June.

Nova is situated within the Fraser Range joint venture project, located about 40km north of the Eyre Highway on the Nullarbor Plain.

Sirius has a 70% stake in the JV, while the Creasy Group, owned by prospector Mark Creasy, holds the balance.