Currie Rose Resources Announces Updated Mineral Resource Estimate At Its North Queensland Vanadium Project
Currie Rose Resources Inc. (TSXV: CUI) (“Currie Rose” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce an updated independent mineral resource estimate (“MRE”) for its Cambridge Vanadium Deposit that forms part of the North Queensland Vanadium Project (“NQVP”) situated within the “Vanadium Hub” approximately 450 km west of the port of Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
Highlights:
Indicated Resource of 61.33Mt @ 0.34% V2O5. The initial 2018 MRE contained no indicated mineral resources.
Inferred Resource increased by 61Mt to 144.87Mt @ 0.33% V2O5, representing a 72% increase from the initial 2018 resource.
Updated resource estimate based on 65 drill holes, using 30 drill holes not included in the initial 2018 resource.
Estimated Molybdenum (MOO3) grade of 239.7ppm, up 51.8ppm ~28% increase.
The updated MRE is based on “reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction” and is constrained in a Lerchs Grossman (LG) open pit shell that was constructed using $AUD 23,152/tonne ($USD 7.5/lb) for V2O5. The MRE has an effective date of October 27, 2022 and is based on historical drilling from 2008 to 2019.
Additionally, the North Queensland Vanadium Project has multiple characteristics that are positive for potential future development. These include:
Existing road access on the western edge of the deposit.
Close to rail and power infrastructure.
Mineralization is flat lying and outcrops at surface in places.
Large property with multiple exploration targets.
Cambridge Deposit covers ~ 2,500Ha (or 2%) of the 124,000Ha package.
Mike Griffiths, CEO, President and Director, said: “With this update, we have more than doubled the in-situ metal, improved the overall grade and elevated a substantial amount of resources to Indicated Resource status. We believe that NQV Project presents a massive opportunity to make our mark in the ever-evolving battery and energy metals markets. Vanadium redox flow batteries will soon begin to play an integral role in supporting power grids and bridging the gap of reliable alternative sources of energy. There are plenty of exploration catalysts to communicate with shareholders over the next several quarters as we set on our path to de-risk the NQVP.”
The NQVP is the merger of the Toolebuc and Flinders River Vanadium Projects and is situated approximately 450km west of the port of Townsville. The NQVP covers an area of approximately 124,000 Ha and is close to rail, road and power infrastructure.
The Cambridge vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) mineralisation is located within marine sediments of the Early Cretaceous Toolebuc Formation, a stratigraphic unit that occurs throughout the Eromanga Basin in Central Northern Queensland. The Toolebuc Formation is a flat-lying, early Cretaceous (Albian ~100 Ma) sedimentary package that consists predominantly of black carbonaceous and bituminous shale and minor siltstone, with limestone lenses and coquinites (mixed limestone and clays). The Cambridge MRE is situated within the flat lying Toolebuc Formation.
65 aircore drill holes totalling 1,577 m were completed to delineate the Cambridge Deposit between 2008 and 2019 by Horizon Minerals/Intermin Resources in 2008 (“Horizon/Intermin”) and Liontown Resources Ltd in 2019 (“Liontown”). The drilling defined one flat lying horizon of V2O5 and MoO3 mineralization ranging in thickness from 2 m to around 15 m covering a lateral area of 5.8 x 4.3 km.
About the Mineral Resource Estimate
Modelling was conducted in the Map Grid of Australia (MGA) coordinate space relative to the Geocentric Datum of Australia (GDA) 2020, and MGA zone 54 (EPSG:7854). The mineral resource block model utilized a block size of 100 m (X) x 50 m (Y) x 2 m (Z) to honour the mineralization wireframes. The percentage of the volume of each block below the bare earth surface and within the mineralization domain was calculated using the 3D geological models and a 3D surface model.
The Cambridge Deposit drill hole database consists of 58 drill holes that intersect the interpreted mineralization wireframe. The V2O5 and MoO3 assays were composited to 1m composite lengths, and the estimation utilized 575 composited samples. All intervals within the interpreted wireframe were visually checked to ensure the flagging process was completed correctly.
The MRE is based on the combination of geological modelling, geostatistics and conventional block modelling using the Ordinary Kriging (“OK”) method of grade interpolation with locally varying anisotropy variogram models.
For grade estimation, 1m composites were used to create the interpreted mineralization boundaries. A lower cut-off grade of 0.12% V2O5 was used to define the domain outline. This lower cut-off was chosen as a natural inflection in the V2O5 assay population. A single mineralized domain was defined. Block tonnes were estimated using 1.8 g/cm3 for mineralized material.
The V2O5 and MoO3 grade estimations were completed independently of each other and were completed using OK. The search ellipsoid size used to estimate the V2O5 and MoO3 grades was informed by the modelled variograms for each variable. Block grade estimation employed locally varying anisotropy, which uses different rotation angles to define the principal directions of the variogram model and search ellipsoid on a per-block basis.
Blocks within estimation domains are assigned rotation angles using a modelled 3D mineralization trend surface wireframe. The estimation was performed using three estimation passes whereby each successive pass utilized a less restrictive sample search strategy for block estimation.
The search radii for the first estimation pass equals half of the variogram ranges. The second pass increases the search distance to the variogram range. The third pass further expanded the search distances up to twice the variogram range. Over 95% of the blocks were estimated within the first two estimation passes.
The resource is classified according to the CIM “Estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Best Practice Guidelines” dated November 29th, 2019, and CIM “Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves” dated May 10th, 2014. Mr. Dufresne believes the North Queensland Vanadium Project – Cambridge Deposit has the potential for future economic extraction.
Data Verification
Currie Rose has not yet conducted any drilling on the North Queensland Vanadium Property. In 2018, Optiro Pty Ltd. completed an independent MRE report of the Cambridge Deposit, which is now superseded and is considered a historical estimate.
The QPs reviewed recent reports and other documents including a recent independent mineral resource estimate report (“Cambridge Resource”) authored by Optiro Pty Ltd. (2018), a summary report by Mike Griffiths of Currie Rose (2021), and a number of ASX news releases (by Liontown Resources Ltd.). The Optiro Report documents a historical MRE that the QPs consider to having been compliant with recent CIM guidelines (2014) at the time it was constructed.
The Optiro Cambridge MRE was calculated based on 35 aircore holes completed in 2008 by Intermin. Mr. Dufresne and Mr. Steven Nicholls of APEX, both QP’s reviewed the MRE and the underlying data. Liontown completed a total of 30 aircore holes in 2019 that are not included in the historical Optiro MRE but are available, well documented and were utilized in the current MRE.
The 2019 Liontown drill holes were drilled after the completion of the Optiro MRE and hence the MRE is now considered historical. The QPs have reviewed all the reports, the data that backs up the reports and the recent MRE data including drillhole data, wireframes and block models and confirm that the work and data are of a good standard and suitable for use for the calculation of a current MRE.
The drilling by Liontown in 2019 on the Cambridge Exploration License 26494 has confirmed the presence of vanadium mineralization in twin holes in the Cambridge Resource area identified in the Optiro (2018) Report and has likely extended the mineralization envelope.
Mr. Nicholls of APEX has performed a property visit and has reviewed the assay data for the seven twin drill holes in comparison with the historical Intermin drill holes, and the results returned show comparable V2O5% assay results between the two sets of data.
About Currie Rose Resources Inc.
Currie Rose is a publicly traded battery metals explorer and developer focused on identifying high-value assets in mining-friendly jurisdictions. The Company’s immediate focus is the advanced North Queensland Vanadium Project in Queensland, Australia.
www.ferroalloynet.com
