The Conversation (0)
Alvo Minerals Limited (ASX: ALV)(“Alvo” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the commencement of the maiden drill program at the recently acquired Bluebush REE Project (“Bluebush”), located on the northern half of the Serra Dourada granite, host of the Serra Verde Ionic Clay REE deposit (“Serra Verde”) (see Figure 1). Serra Verde boasts a Mineral Resource1 of 911Mt @ 1,200ppm Total Rare Earth Oxide (“TREO”) and a Mineral reserve of 350Mt @ 1,500ppm TREO, and is believed to be the only Ionic Clay project in construction outside of China.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Maiden auger drill program commences at the recently acquired Bluebush Rare Earth Element (“REE”)
- Project located in Central Brazil, utilising Alvo’s in-house truck mounted auger rig.
- Auger drilling will be focused on testing the depth and lateral extensions of existing mineralisation as well as extensive sampling of the saprolite to confirm ionic clay mineralisation.
- Early-stage exploration work completed by the vendors has confirmed high-grade REEs at shallow levels with values up to 4,500ppm TREO in alluvials and 2,350ppm TREO in saprolite (clay).
- Saprolite results recorded a very high magnet rare earth split averaging 35% (MREO/TREO)
- Historical auger drilling focused on surface alluvials with an average hole of 3.6m
- Alvo truck mounted auger drill rig has capacity up to 30m depth
- Drilling will commence at the Fazendinha, Ferradura and Boa Vista prospects, where previous drilling intercepted REE mineralisation from surface to end of hole (EOH), including:
- 5m @ 1,139ppm TREO (36% MREO) auger ERRO072AGR from 1m to EOH (Fazendinha)
- 13m @ 928ppm TREO (33% MREO) auger ERRO017AGR from 0m to EOH (Ferradura)
- 6m @ 1,188ppm TREO (37% MREO) auger ERRO273AGR from 1m* (Boa Vista 01)
- Alvo will use its auger drilling expertise that has seen 666 auger holes for 6,044m completed at the Palma VMS Project since mid-January 2023. Previous owners drilled a total of 258 auger holes for approximately 930m.
Rob Smakman, Alvo’s Managing Director commented on the Bluebush Project:
“When we listed on the ASX in October 2021 we commenced our maiden diamond-drill program at the Palma VMS Project within three days, now we are commencing our maiden auger drill program at the Bluebush REE Project within a week of the acquisition. We haven’t slowed down since IPO and aren’t planning on it.
“The auger drill program is the first phase of due diligence as we test the depth profile of the REE mineralisation hosted in the saprolite (clay) and send samples to the laboratory to confirm Bluebush is a true ionic clay deposit. We are confident in the likelihood of the results as Serra Verde to the south is on the same granite formation and exhibits similar characteristics of REE mineralisation identified by the previous owners of Bluebush.”
Figure 1 Alvo's auger rig drilling at Bluebush REE Project. Note the piles of samples representing saprolite intercepted in the hole (each pile represents a metre of advance).
The maiden drill program will initially commence at northern prospects Fazendinha and Ferradura (see Figure 2), that intercepted rare earth mineralisation from surface to end of hole (EOH), including2:
- 5m @ 1,139ppm TREO (36% MREO) auger ERRO072AGR from 1m to EOH (Fazendinha)
- 13m @ 928ppm TREO (33% MREO) auger ERRO017AGR from 0m to EOH (Ferradura)
- 6m @ 1,188ppm TREO (37% MREO) auger ERRO273AGR from 1m* (Boa Vista 01)
The owners of Bluebush drilled a total of 258 auger holes for approximately 930m (average 3.6m depth) (see Figure 3). The auger drilling would often stop once the saprolite clay horizon was intercepted as the primary targets were the alluvials (and partly due to restrictions of the handheld equipment) and as such, the routine sampling of these horizons often ended in mineralisation.
Alvo will utilise its in-house auger drilling expertise that has seen it drill 666 auger holes for 6,044m since mid- January 2023 completed at the Palma VMS Project to rapidly progress the Bluebush REE Project.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Alvo 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.
ALV:AU
Loyal to Acquire the High-Grade Highway Reward Copper Gold Mine
Key Highlights
- Loyal secures binding option to acquire the Highway Reward Copper Gold Mine in Queensland, Australia - one of the world’s highest-grade copper mines, with past production totalling 3.65Mt at 5.7% Cu and 260kt at 4.5 g/t Au.
- The acquisition is the first step in Loyal’s 2025 Strategic Plan to broaden its critical minerals portfolio into copper.
- No exploration has been conducted on the granted mining leases since operations ceased in July 2005 despite a ~680% increase in copper prices and a ~1,256% increase in gold prices since the 1997 feasibility study.
- Significant increase in copper and gold prices, combined with the previous exclusion of gold in sulphides from the mine plan, highlights the enhanced remnant copper-gold potential.
- Exploration potential for new discoveries both along strike and at depth, as previous mining only reached depths of 220 metres for open pit and 390 metres for underground operations, with limited exploration beyond mined zones.
- With $4.4 million in funding, Loyal is well-positioned to revisit the high-grade Highway Reward Copper Gold Mine by deploying modern exploration techniques. With global initiatives to enhance energy grids and no USA tariffs on Australian copper, the outlook for copper is strong and unencumbered.
Loyal‘s Managing Director, Mr. Adam Ritchie, commented:
"We are thrilled to secure this incredibly rare opportunity for our current and future Loyal investors. The Highway Reward Copper Gold Mine, considered one of the highest-grade copper mines in the world, is now primed for a revisit after 20 years of dormancy.
The granted mining leases of the Highway Reward mine provide an amazing speed to market opportunity - especially when both copper and gold are near all-time highs. The short-term and long-term opportunities at Highway Reward are exciting, considering the significant growth in commodity prices since the 1997 feasibility study. Copper is driving our electric future and gold continues to play an important role in our global economy.
Whilst a lot has changed in the past 28 years, the unwavering demand for copper and gold has only intensified. This is truly an amazing opportunity to unlock and showcase the immense potential of this forgotten mine. With modern technology and innovative mining techniques, we believe the Highway Reward Copper Gold Mine will provide exceptional value and returns to our Loyal shareholders."
Figure 1 Highway Reward Copper Gold Mine: Located 37 km south of Charters Towers within the Mount Windsor Volcanic Belt. Accessible via an all-weather highway, 172 km from the Port of Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
The Highway Reward Copper Gold Mine is located only 37 km from the active mining town of Charters Towers in Queensland, Australia, within the Mount Windsor Volcanic Belt. This area is renowned for its rich history in copper and gold mining, with strong social license support for mining activities. It features large-scale mining operations such as, Newmont’s 3.2 Moz Mt Leyshon gold mine and Yuxin Holding’s 3.4 Moz Pajingo gold mine. The region is close to the polymetallic, Thalanga Processing Plant and the Mount Carlton Processing Plant, with road and rail to Glencore’s Mount Isa copper hub, Townsville copper refinery and the Port of Townsville.
With the growth in commodity prices and advancements in exploration and mining technologies, the potential for remnant copper-gold mining has significantly improved. Previous mining operations targeted copper within chalcopyrite, while gold associated with both chalcopyrite and pyrite was excluded from the mine plan. With lower copper equivalent cut-off grades (copper & gold), higher continuity of copper-gold can be drill tested to demonstrate the reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction and mineral resource potential.
Graph 1: Highway Reward Copper Gold Mine - mining ceased in July 2005: 28 Years of Commodity Growth
Significant potential will be assessed and areas tested for copper-gold extensions to subvertical trends, that may exist below current mining levels at the Highway Reward Copper-Gold Mine. The previously mined, copper-gold rich pipes will also be assessed for drill testing along strike (Figure 2). Previous mining and surface mapping geological observations illustrate that high- grade copper-gold pipes have been identified in dacite, rhyolite, and volcaniclastic host rocks, therefore strong prospectivity exists for discovering additional pipes beyond the historically mined zones in all rock types on the property, except recent overlying sediments that conceal the basement host rocks (Figure 2). No modern advanced geophysical techniques or data processing methods have yet been applied to assess this potential.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Loyal Metals Limited, 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.
