Given its starting with only about 30,000t emphasises the company's strong belief it has some very prospective nickel sulphide ground on its hands.

Not to mention its exploration capabilities.

Current drilling is at the Nepean project near Coolgardie, historically Australia's second nickel mine and an underground operation that ceased in the late 1980s when the nickel priced plumbed about US$4000 per tonne.

Speaking on a Hidden Gems webinar this week, Auroch managing director Aiden Platel noted mineralisation at depth at Nepean had been cut by a flat lying pegmatite, broadly similar to the case at Flying Fox when it was originally mined by Outokumpu.

According to Platel, the subsequent (and current) owner of Flying Fox, Western Areas, drilled, discovered and mined more than 100,000t of nickel below the pegmatite and Outokumpu workings.

Results from Nepean are expected to start flowing in later this month.

Drilling is also planned at The Horn near Leinster and Saints, northwest of Black Swan/Silver Swan, with Auroch about to lock in an RC/diamond core rig for the next 12 months and hire three geologists.

Saints is where the bulk of Auroch's current tonnes are found, with 1 million tonnes at 2% nickel and 0.2% copper representing 21,400t of contained nickel and 1600t of copper.

Platel made the point there are five processing plants within trucking distance of Auroch's portfolio.

Cash at the start of the year of $3.2 million was added-to by the exercise of $1.3 million options last month.

A further $4 million worth of options expiring near the end of 2021 are well in the money.

Shares in Auroch were up 2% to 25.5c in afternoon trade, capitalising the company at $68.5 million.