Option to Acquire High Pure Quartz Project in the Northern Territory

Australasian Metals Limited (ASX: A8G, Australasian or the Company) is pleased to advise that the Company has entered into an Option Agreement with Verdant Minerals Limited regarding the Dingo Hole High Pure Quartz Project (EL31078) (Dingo Hole HPQ Project). The acquisition of the highly prospective project will provide Australasian with exposure to the rapidly growing High Pure Quartz (HPQ) sector.

Highlights

• Australasian has signed an option to acquire the Dingo Hole High-Purity Quartz project in the Northern Territory
• High Pure Quartz (HPQ) is defined relative to the IOTA® standard and is a key strategic raw material for global semiconductor and electronics industries
• HPQ resources that can be processed to meet the IOTA® standard are rare globally and growth in AI technologies is resulting in surging demand

Dingo Hole High Pure Quartz Project Highlights:

• Significant outcropping silica mineralisation across the project area with good road access
• Historical geochemical data indicate over 30 surface samples contain greater than 99.94% SiO₂ with only minimal sample preparation prior to assay¹
• 9 historical samples potentially meet IOTA standard with deleterious elements such as aluminium (Al) below 10 ppm and titanium (Ti) and lithium (Li) below 1 ppm

Dingo Hole High Pure Quartz Project

The Dingo Hole HPQ Project (EL31078) is located in the Georgina Basin, approximately 300km southeast of Tennant Creek (Figure 1). The project covers 35.16km² and was subject to limited exploration by Rum Jungle Resources Limited (Rum Jungle, renamed to Verdant Minerals Limited) from 2012 to 2016.

Figure 1 Dingo Hole High Pure Quartz (HPQ) project location in Central Northern Territory

In 2015, Rum Jungle conducted a mapping and rock chip sampling program across the Dingo Hole project. 30 of the Dingo Hole samples tested were found to contain greater than 99.94% SiO₂ with only minimal sample preparation prior to assay (the samples were pre-leached with 20% Hydrofluoric acid at 60˚ for 4 hours and subsequently washed in Milli-Q water). While this is highly encouraging, it is the low levels of deleterious elements such as aluminium, titanium and lithium contaminants that highlight the project’s world-class potential (Figure 2). Nine of 30 ICP-SMS samples from Rum Jungle’s program contained less than the IOTA® standard for deleterious elements aluminium (Al) at 16.2ppm (16,200ppb), nearly all were better than the 200ppb (0.2ppm) IOTA® level for lithium (Li) and all were well below the 1.2ppm (1,200ppb) level for titanium (Ti).

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