Petratherm Limited (ASX: PTR) (“PTR” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce a high- grade heavy mineral sand (HMS) discovery at its Muckanippie Project area southwest of Coober Pedy in South Australia (Figure 1). Reconnaissance mapping and surface sampling along with assaying of historic drill core stored at the South Australian Government’s Core Library has identified previously unknown high-grade Titanium mineralisation spanning many square kilometres at two prospect sites, Rosewood and Claypan.
Highlights
- Mapping, surface sampling, and re-assaying of historic drilling has discovered high- grade Titanium rich heavy mineral sands (HMS) over several kilometres at the Muckanippie Project.
- Exceptional sample grades ranging from 10% to 50% TiO2 from two large Prospect Areas. 79% of samples >10% TiO2, with 28% > 30% TiO2
- Titanium is on the critical minerals list for Australia, US and EU and has uses in electric vehicles and battery storage, wind technology, pigments, and as an alloy in steel and superalloys.
- At the Rosewood Prospect, outcropping mineralisation extends over 9 kilometres West to East. Wide spaced drilling confirms HMS extend at least 6 kilometres to the North.
- Re-Assaying of Historical Rosewood drill intercepts include:
- CAR 39 – 20m @ 4.2% TiO2 from 4m, including 4m @ 9.1% TiO2 from 4m
- CAR 38 – 36m @ 4.0% TiO2 from 0m, including 6m @ 7.8% TiO2 from 8m
- An accompanying Exploration Target for the initial planned drill area over the Rosewood Target highlights excellent upside potential.
- At Claypan Prospect, samples of the mineral sandstone horizons assaying >5% TiO2 and up to 31.5% TiO2 have been traced over a 1.5 kilometre trend before passing under cover.
- A historical drill hole, 6 kilometres South of Claypan outcrop, intersected the heavy mineral sand layer assaying 12.1% TiO2, and underlying source rocks were intersected returned grades up to 21.0% TiO2 and 0.44% V2O5.
- A 4000-metre drilling program is scheduled to start early October to test grade and extent of HMS mineralisation and high-grade Titanium-Vanadium basement horizons.
Recent outcrop samples recorded exceptional grades ranging between 10% and 50% titanium dioxide (TiO2) (Table 1 & 2). The mineralisation occurs from or near surface (<10 metres) and is present as heavy mineral bands forming sheet-like Heavy Mineral Sand (HMS) mineralisation. At Claypan significant Titanium-Vanadium mineralisation has also been identified in the underlying basement source rock, and additionally has potential for primary basement mineralisation.
The Australian Government along with the United States, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom designated Titanium as a critical mineral for essential modern technologies, economies and national security. Titanium has uses in electric vehicles and battery storage, wind technology, pigments, and as an alloy in steel and superalloys. The global market size of titanium in 2022 amounted to 28.6 billion U.S. dollars and is forecast to grow over the coming years, to nearly 52 billion U.S. dollars in 20301.
An Exploration Target for the Rosewood Prospect is defined over the initial planned drill area and represents approximately 10% of the total interpreted prospective HMS area. The Rosewood target and grade range reports:
Rosewood Exploration Target (Phase 1 – proposed drill program area)
Cautionary Statement: The potential quantity and grade of the Exploration Target is conceptual in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource, and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource
PTR Chief Executive Officer, Peter Reid Commented:
“The Muckanippie Suite is a rare and highly fertile layered intrusion, and this titanium discovery including high-grade, high value, titanium ores as heavy mineral sands has the potential to be transformational for the Company.
“The mineralisation has been traced over a large-scale area and has significant potential as large tonnage direct shipment ore. The Adelaide to Darwin railway, located just 30 kilometres east of Muckanippie, offers low-cost access to ports and global markets.
“The Company looks forward to drilling in October, which will expand on these significant and exciting findings to define initial grades and extent of the mineralisation”.
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