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Arcadia Minerals Limited (ASX:AM7, FRA:8OH), the diversified exploration company targeting a suite of projects aimed at Tantalum, Lithium, Nickel, Copper and Gold in Namibia, is pleased to announce that Snowden Optiro has provided the Company with an Independent Geological Report titled “Report for Orange River Pegmatite Geology and Resource Estimation of the D, E and F Pegmatites, Project Number JB018308, May 2022” 1 which consist of a revision of a Mineral Resource Estimate, announced by the Company on 23 September 20212 , for the Company’s 80% owned Swanson Tantalum exploration project situated in Tantalite Valley, Namibia.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Revision of September 2021 Mineral Resource delivers a new estimate including a total indicated and inferred resource of 2.59Mt (an increase of 115%) at an average grade of 486 ppm Ta2O5 (an increase of 17.9%), 73 ppm Nb2O5 and 0.15 % Li2O.
- Total in situ metal content of 1,257 tonnes (represents an increase of 154%)
- Mineral Resource Categorisation:
- Indicated Resource: 1,439Mt at an average grade of 498 ppm Ta2O5, 72 ppm Nb2O5 and 0.14 % Li2O,
- Inferred Resource: 1,145Mt at an average grade of 472 ppm Ta2O5, 75 ppm Nb2O5 and 0.17 % Li2O
- To date only 15 of the more than 200 known pegmatites present over Arcadia’s three licenses have been explored.
- Mineral Resource Estimate conducted over 10 (of 15) outcropping opencastable shallow pegmatites located at Swanson, namely the D0, D1, D2, E2, E3, E4, E6, E7, E8 and F1.
- Public domain information from 11 Tantalum operations from around the world were used to benchmark the Swanson project against other Tantalum projects. The weighted average grade of these 11 deposits is 233 ppm Ta2O5, indicating that the Swanson Project grades are significantly above its global peer group and of the highest grades in the world.
- The Mineral Resource Estimate is to form the basis of a feasibility study currently underway (expected to be completed in September 2022).
- Mineral Resource is based on an exploration program that includes:
- 283 channel / chip samples and
- 52 diamond boreholes on a 50m grid spacing
Philip le Roux, the CEO of Arcadia stated:
“When the company commenced the phase 2 drilling program at Swanson the primary objective was to increase the previous JORC resource of 1,214Mt @ 412 ppm Ta2O5 we set out to increase the resource to more than 2.5 million tonnes. It is very pleasing to announce that we’ve achieved this goal and more, by attaining an 18% higher grade than what was reported under the maiden Mineral Resource published in September 2021. The results bode well for the Company’s upcoming feasibility study, which is already underway with an outcome expected by September 2022.”
Jurie Wessels, the Executive Chairman of Arcadia stated:
“With this impressive result our priority for the Swanson project has progressed towards the feasibility study, with the aim to demonstrate that the production of a 25% Ta2O5 concentrate is feasible and to prove that Swanson will become the cash generator we envisioned it to be for Arcadia. Additionally, we’ll aim to explore the abundant pegmatite swarms scattered throughout our licenses in Tantalite Valley to possibly replicate the resources we discovered at Swanson and thereby increase more value for our shareholders.”
Revised Mineral Resource Estimate
Through its 80% owned subsidiary Orange River Pegmatite (Pty) Ltd (“ORP”) Arcadia ownsthe exploration rights to three EPL’s (5047, 6940 and 7295). The total amount of pegmatites mapped by the South African Council of Geoscience over the three ORP EPL’s amount to more than 200 pegmatites (see Figure 1). All indications are that the same mineralisation model present in the 15 pegmatites explored to date at Swanson could be applicable to these pegmatites.
Fifteen individual pegmatite bodies > 1 m thickness within the Swanson Pegmatite Swarm
were identified as high priority and were then targeted for mapping, sampling and drilling.
This area was delineated, and a high-resolution drone survey was undertaken to assist with
the planning of the exploration program. The pegmatite units were clustered and named “A”
to “F” in a west to east direction as shown in Figure 2.
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This article includes content from Arcadia Minerals, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
AM7:AU
Quarterly Activities Report – June Quarter 2022
HIGHLIGHTS
- Bitterwasser Lithium Project: Final assay results for remaining 32 of the 64 holes drilled over the Eden Pan on a 500m grid received
- Bitterwasser Lithium Project: Regional investigation into Bitterwasser Lithium-in-clay and Lithium-in-brines minerals system defined extensive tectonic rift-related fault structures in a closed basin (the Kalkrand half-graben), similar to Clayton Valley in Nevada1
- Kum-Kum Nickel Project: Historical core samples obtained during investigation were sampled and returned the first known record of PGE and Au mineralisation in the ultramafic units of the Tantalite Valley Complex. The best results indicated mineralisation of2:
- 0.71% Ni, 0.28% Cu, 0.84 g/t Pd and 0.4 g/t Pt in orthopyroxenite
- 0.58% Ni, 0.30% Cu, 0.69 g/t Pd, 0.31 g/t Pt and 0.26% Au in orthopyroxenite
- Swanson Tantalum Project: Mineral Resource update delivers an estimate for a total indicated and inferred resource of 2.59Mt (an increase of 115%) at an average grade of 486 ppm Ta2O5 (an increase of 17.9%), 73 ppm Nb2O5 and 0.15 % Li2O.3 An Environmental Clearance Certificate and Mining Licence was also issued for the project.
1 Refer to ASX Announcement dated 09 May 2022 titled “Regional study advances work program for district scale Lithium in brines”
2 Refer to ASX Announcement dated 09 May 2022 titled “Kum-kum nickel project mineral systems approach results”
3 Refer to ASX Announcement dated 06 May 2022 titled “JORC Mineral Resource at Swanson Tantalum project doubles in size
SUMMARY OF MINING EXPLORATION FOR THE QUARTER
Bitterwasser Lithium Project
Assay results for the outstanding 32 drill holes from the 64-hole follow-up auger drilling campaign completed on 9 February 20224 over the Eden Pan was received during the quarter. All the drill holes commenced in the mineralised Upper Brown Clay Unit and every hole, except two drill holes where thin clay units were intercepted at the edges of the Eden Pan, were sampled from top to bottom up to a depth of 9.60m. Notably, the entire sequence of the drill holes sampled (i.e. Upper Brown Clay Unit and Middle Green Glay Unit) returned lithium mineralisation5.
The Middle Green Clay Unit, lithologically named the Middle-Unit (MU), comprises the dominant lithological unit from which the maiden Mineral Resource6 was derived. This green clay unit was intersected in 18 of the 32 drill holes from which assay results were received and extended from a depth of 1.4 m below surface to the maximum End-of-Hole (EOH) depth of 9.60m. A total of 43 holes from the 64-hole follow-up auger drilling campaign intersected the Middle Green Clay Unit at similar depths.
Figure1: Stacked cross section of the Eden Pan depicting drill-hole interpretation with reference to the existing Mineral Resource (green layers) and clay units intercepted in the follow-up auger drilling program.
4 Refer to ASX Announcement dated 10 March 2022 titled “Encouraging lithium drilling assay results at Bitterwasser”.
5 Refer to ASX Announcement dated 2 May 2022 titled “Final Lithium Drilling assay results at Bitterwasser”.
6 Refer to ASX Announcement dated 3 November 2021 titled “Arcadia acquires lithium project with JORC Mineral Resources”.
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This article includes content from Arcadia Minerals, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Kum-Kum Nickel Project Mineral Systems Approach Results
HIGHLIGHTS
- The Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Stellenbosch concluded a Minerals Systems Approach investigation over the Kum-Kum Ni-Cu-PGE Project Licenses
- During the investigation several historical documents containing exploration results over the Kum-Kum Project were discovered, which reported best historical borehole intersections from three boreholes drilled by Rio Tinto Exploration, Tantalite Valley Minerals and Southern Sphere between 1972 and 1976 as follows:
- 16.00 m @ 0.65% Ni, 0.16% Cu
- 6.00 m @ 0.61% Ni, 0.30% Cu
- 2.44 m @ 0.62% Ni, 0.30% Cu
- Historical core samples obtained were sampled and returned the first known record of PGE and Au mineralisation in the ultramafic units of the Tantalite Valley Complex. The best results indicated mineralisation of:
- 0.71% Ni, 0.28% Cu, 0.84 g/t Pd and 0.4 g/t Pt in orthopyroxenite
- 0.58% Ni, 0.30% Cu, 0.69 g/t Pd, 0.31 g/t Pt and 0.26% Au in orthopyroxenite
- The primary magmatic sulphides comprise of coarse-grained pentlandite, pyrrhotite, and chalcopyrite
- Whole rock geochemistry highlights the geochemical similarities between the TVC and the Kum-Kum complexes. The TVC crystallized as a mafic/ultramafic layered intrusion and likely from a primitive mantle-derived parental magma.
Philip le Roux, the CEO of Arcadia stated:
“Historical drilling results reporting high values of Nickel and Copper mineralisation attracted us to the Kum-Kum Project. From the work done by the team from the University of Stellenbosch it is evident that PGE and Au mineralisation is also present and that we are looking at a geological environment that possibly could contain a stratiform Ni-Cu-PGE disseminated sulphide ‘reef’ horizon. The prospect of possibly discovering a polymetallic (Ni, Cu, Au & PGE’s) deposit has increased the allure of the KumKum Project for us, which we will eagerly follow up with further exploration. The results of the study will assist the Company to focus its exploration efforts in order to define drill targets.”
Mineral Systems Approach Results
The Tantalite Valley Complex (TVC) has been subject to a geological study by a team from Arcadia and the University of Stellenbosch involving two field sampling campaigns (8 days; 94 field samples collected) augmented with detailed consideration of historical drill core segments (57 samples), and supporting data from historical records, hyperspectral mapping, and stream sediment sampling.
Collected field- and core- samples were subjected to a suite of analytical protocols including reflected- and transmitted-light optical petrography, whole-rock major and trace element chemistry, precious metal assays, sulphur isotope analyses, scanning electron microscopy with associated spectrometries and in-situ Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) of individual sulphide grains. Together, these results provide novel insights into the known mineralisation and prospectively of the TVC.
The TVC is a ~7 km long by 3.3 km wide and roughly oval-shaped mafic-ultramafic complex representing a fault-bound block inside a dextral Pofadder Shear Zone (PSZ) that cuts across southern Namibia. Existing geochronology places the TVC as a ~1.2 Ga intrusion and roughly coeval with a Kum Kum Klippe mafic complex that is located roughly 40 km south-east and along the strike of the PSZ.
Whole rock geochemistry highlights the geochemical similarities between the TVC and the Kum Kum suite, but with the former uniquely showing much stronger geochemical evidence for overwhelmingly cumulate rocks. This implies that the TVC crystallized as a significant mafic/ultramafic layered intrusion and likely from a primitive mantle-derived parental magma that originated from a metasomatized mantle.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Arcadia Minerals, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
