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Astute Metals NL (ASX: ASE) (“ASE”, “Astute” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce a significant upgrade of the Mineral Resources at its 100%-owned Governor Broome Heavy Mineral Sands Project in the South West of Western Australia.
Key Highlights
- Substantial 18% upgrade in Governor Broome Project Measured and Indicated resource tonnes following successful in-fill drill programs.
- Combined 93.4Mt of Resources now in the high- confidence Measured (28.4Mt) and Indicated (65Mt) Resource Categories
- Latest Mineral Assemblage results demonstrate high-value mineralogy at the Jack Track Deposit, including:
- Combined Jack Track-Jack Track East assemblage of 68% Primary Ilmenite, 14% Secondary Ilmenite, 4.5% Rutile, 10% Zircon, and 0.8% Monazite, for a 97% VHM content
- Updated Mineral Resource Estimate and Mineral Assemblages to be incorporated in Governor Broome Project Scoping Study
Astute Executive Chairman, Tony Leibowitz, said:
“The completion of this Resource upgrade marks another key step forward in our value-realisation strategy for Governor Broome. Successful in-fill drilling programs completed earlier this year have resulted in a substantial uplift of the higher confidence Indicated and Measured categories. This means these Resources can be included in the upcoming Scoping Study and will ultimately be available for conversion to Ore Reserves. With this key resource upgrade now finalized, the data will be handed over to our consultants for inclusion in the Scoping Study – which remains on track for completion in Q1 2024.”
Background
The 100%-owned Governor Broome Heavy Mineral Sands Project is located in the mineral sands-rich coastal areas of the South West of WA. The Project is, by sealed road, located about 95km south of Busselton, 105km south of Iluka’s processing plant at Capel, and 135km from Bunbury Port and from Picton, where Doral Australia has a heavy mineral separation plant. The area is well serviced by electrical infrastructure with a 132kV line located just 5km to the north and a three-phase power line passing through the Project.
Resource Development
The Governor Broome Project has been systematically de-risked by Astute over a number of years. Recent work includes the successful separation of marketable zircon, ilmenite, zircon and monazite products from bulk sample testwork for the Jack Track (eastern) part of the Project1. This updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) has resulted in a substantial 18% upgrade in higher-confidence Measured and Indicated resources from a previous 79Mt of Indicated Resources to 28.4Mt of Measured and 65Mt of Indicated Resources. This update in Mineral Resources incorporates the results of Astute’s 502-hole air- core drilling programme that was carried out earlier this year, designed specifically to upgrade the category of Mineral Resources.
The upgraded resources are being included in the current Scoping Study, which is scheduled for completion in Q1 2024. The locations of the various Project deposits are shown on Figure 1, and a summary of the Project’s Mineral Resources is shown in Table 1. The deposits within R70/58, for which these revised resources are reported, are shown in Figure 2. Details of the various resources are given in Table 3.
Figure 1. Governor Broome Project tenements and Mineral Resources.
Figure 2. Resources within and adjacent to R70/58.
Table 1. Governor Broome Project Resources – at 2% HM lower block-cut-off grade2
Note that the above figures have been appropriately rounded. The Fouracres Resources estimated at a 3% Heavy Mineral (HM) lower block-cut-off grade Governor Broome and Jack Track Resources estimated at a 2% HM lower block-cut-off grade
Geology and Mineralisation
The Governor Broome Project mineralisation is hosted in unconsolidated beach sands occurring on the Scott River Coastal Plain. The geological character of the mineralisation is like that of other heavy mineral deposits occurring along the Swan Coastal Plain, which have a long history of mining and processing. The mineralisation is hosted in beach placer facies sediments of the Pleistocene aged Barlee Shore-line on the southward facing Scott Coastal Plain.
The host unit to the Jack Track Deposit mineralisation, and that of the other deposits in the eastern section of R70/58, is the Warren Sands, which do not contain significant clay.
A sub-surface Bunbury Basalt headland is present to the west of the Jack Track Deposit (see Figures 1 and 2). The characteristics of both the Warren Sands-hosted mineralisation and of the underlying Beenup Beds, are markedly different on either side of the headland. To its east, both the Warren Sands and the immediately unconformably underlying Beenup Beds of the Cretaceous Warnbro Group are very fine grained, as are the heavy minerals.
To the west the grain sizes are larger, with most of the mineralisation within R70/58 also being within the Warren Sands, but its lower portions are hosted within the Beenup Beds. The Beenup Beds sediments are of two main facies in the area: clayey sands and organic clays. The clayey sands contain medium- to coarse-grained, angular to sub-angular, unconsolidated quartz and minor feldspar grains. The clay content, which is variable, tends to increase downward. Generally, it contains between 1% and 8% of valuable HM. Common accessory minerals are garnet, pyrite, and fine coal fragments.
The mineralisation that has been reported as Mineral Resources is based upon a minimum heavy mineral content of 2% over a thickness of 2m and a maximum Slimes content of 20% in any one intersection.
Exploration
The Jack Track Tenement, R70/58, has been explored with air-core drilling by Metal Sands in 2007, Astro in 2012, by Iluka in 2015, and by Astro in 2022 and 2023. Those holes within R70/58, or marginal to it and within the vicinity of the modelled mineralisation, are summarised in Table 1. The holes used in these revised Jack Track Deposit resource estimations are listed in Appendix 2.
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This article includes content from Astute Metals NL, 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.
High grade Assay Results Continue at Youanmi
- The latest batch of assays have been received from the 11,000m drilling program (both diamond core and reverse circulation) at the high gold-grade Youanmi Gold Project, located centrally in Western Australia’s prolific gold fields
- The recently-completed infill/exploration program aimed to improve resource confidence and open up corridors for resource growth; to underpin the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS), and, additionally, provide sample material for ongoing metallurgical optimisation test-work for the DFS program
- Latest highlights from the program include:
- RXDD131: 4.38m @ 19.07 g/t Au from 387.98m,
- incl. 1.73m @ 41.43 g/t Au from 389.96m
- RXDD119: 4.56m @ 14.60 g/t Au from 220.64m
- RXDD115: 2.99m @ 21.11 g/t Au from 249.88m
- RXDD119: 4.0m @ 7.37 g/t Au from 162.0m
- RXDD132: 7.19m @ 3.90 g/t Au from 263.61m
- RXDD133: 2.83m @ 6.53 g/t Au from 431.00m
- RXDD128: 3.82m @ 4.51 g/t Au from 364.59m,
- incl. 1.73m @ 8.22 g/t Au from 364.59m
- incl. 1.73m @ 8.22 g/t Au from 364.59m
- RXDD122: 0.95m @ 13.50 g/t Au from 204.44m
- §These results further demonstrate the continuity of high- grade gold mineralisation along the Youanmi greenstone belt belt, and the potential for resource growth both at depth and along-strike, with discovery potential to the south
- 35,000m Step-up drill campaign well underway with the plan to bring forward ounces and increase the mine plan
The program focused on converting Inferred stopes at Pollard, United North and Youanmi Main to higher confidence Indicated classification and providing material for metallurgical testing for the upcoming Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) – on track for H2 CY25.
This final consignment of diamond assay results are the fourth batch of assays results returned from the drill program and have been entirely drilled from the Pollard, Youanmi and United North areas (Figure 1).
Rox Resources’ Chief Executive Officer, Phillip Wilding, commented:
“It’s pleasing to round out the 11,000m RD and DD drilling program with another batch of excellent intercepts.
“More importantly, the program has significantly improved our knowledge of the high grade and underexplored Youanmi ore system, and shown that mineralisation remains open at depth.
“Next steps are to convert Inferred areas of the Resource to the higher confidence Indicated classification, and finalise key intercepts of sample material for metallurgical test work to feed into the Youanmi DFS.
“We are excited to have commenced the 35,000m Step-up program to potentially bring forward ounces in the mine plan and significantly increase the size of the Pollard ore zone.”
Youanmi Major Growth Drill program
Resource drilling has focused on converting selected Inferred stopes in the current Mineral Resource of 16.2Mt at 4.4g/t Au for 2.3Moz (Indicated: 10.7Mt at 4.5g/t Au for 1.6 Moz : Inferred 5.5Mt at 4.2g/t Au for 0.7 Moz) 1 to higher confidence Indicated classification at Pollard, United North and Youanmi Main as shown in plan on Figure 1. The drilling has also provided both sample material for metallurgical testing and valuable geological data for the pending Definitive Feasibility Study (“DFS”) planned for second half of 2025.
Figure 1: Plan view of the Youanmi Gold Project featuring drill hole collar locations and 2024 Resource outline overprinted on aerial photography
Outside of the immediate resource area, drilling was also conducted on near-mine exploration and focused on the Youanmi South prospect area, or Paddy’s Lode, first reporting high-grade intercepts in 20232. The drilling at Paddy’s has complimented the Company’s exploration strategy moving south along the Main Lode Shear Zone (MLSZ) and adding additional gold ounces to the Resource. Youanmi South has the potential to grow the Resource above the 103kozpa Production Target outlined in the recently completed Pre-Feasibility Study (“PFS”)3.
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This article includes content from Rox Resources 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.
Drilling Commenced at Viani in Fiji
HIGHLIGHTS
- The Phase 1, three-hole diamond drilling program has commenced at the Viani Project, Fiji and will test for extensions to the quartz vein gold mineralisation at depth.
- Phase 1 is expected to be completed in early 2025, with plans for additional drilling under the same program dependent on the initial results
- The Viani Project (SPL1513) covers an area of approximately 200km2 and is largely underexplored.
- At the Dakuniba prospect within Viani, low sulphidation epithermal high-grade gold mineralisation has been mapped over >3km strike length.
- Diamond drilling completed by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 1995 to 1997 intersected high-grade gold in low sulphidation epithermal quartz veins, including 0.6m @ 27.6 g/t Au.
Alice Queen’s Managing Director, Andrew Buxton said,
With drilling underway, Alice Queen is positioned to test the epithermal gold-style mineralisation identified in historic drilling at the Viani Project. Weather permitting, we anticipate completing the Phase 1, three-hole diamond drilling program in early 2025. Following this, our exploration team will mobilise the drill rig to the Sabeto Project in Fiji to maintain the momentum of this campaign. To deliver timely results to shareholders, we intend to accelerate the analysis of the drill core at ALS Brisbane.”
Image 1 – Diamond drilling at Viani
Details
Geology
The geology of the Viani Project (SPL 1513) comprises olivine basalts and volcaniclastics of the Natewa Volcanic Group which are intruded by andesite sills and dykes. In the 1940s, gold mineralisation was found by local prospectors near the village of Dakuniba. At Dakuniba, low sulphidation style epithermal gold occurs in quartz veins, and silicified rocks along a 3km long NE trending zone.
In 1995-1997, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) drilled six diamond holes at Dakuniba and intersected high-grade gold in chalcedonic, crustiform, colloform banded quartz veins at depths of 50m to 100m below surface (i.e. MJVFV-5 intersected 2.2m @ 11.3 g/t Au, incl 0.6m @ 27.6 g/t Au at 121m downhole). This high-grade gold mineralisation is open in all directions.
Proposed Drill program
The initial Phase 1 drill program at Viani (see Table 1) will comprise three diamond drillholes designed to test continuity to the epithermal gold mineralisation previously intersected in JICA drillhole MJVFV- 5 (2.2m @ 11.3 g/t Au) (see Figure 2). The drilling will test for extensions to the gold mineralisation at depth and along strike.
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This article includes content from Alice Queen 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.
