Hardey Resources de-risks Queensland vanadium projects
Date: Aug 13, 2018
Hardey Resources (ASX:HDY) has revealed preliminary findings from its pre-acquisition due diligence on VanadiumMining’s (VanMin) four Queensland projects — Sharptooth, Spike, Cera and Petrie.
Encouragingly, these findings confirm that all four projects are situated within an enriched vanadium mineralised zone, with considerable exploration upside. They also suggest potential for modelling a JORC (2012)-compliant Inferred vanadium Resource.
This is a key positive at this early stage of the due diligence review, materially de-risking the four Queensland projects.
Within each project area are significant occurrences of the Toolebuc Formation, which is an oil shale highly prospective for vanadium mineralisation and secondary oil-bearing potential. Common to all four projects is outcropping and below surface occurrences of the Toolebuc Formation.
Notably, the Toolebuc Formation has a shallow, favourable dip and occurs from surface to 5 metres below. Typically, the Toolebuc Formation’s thickness below surface averages 12 metres but this can reach 25 metres in places.
Historic surface sampling and drill-hole assay results within the region confirm this finding. Moreover, HDY’s peers, Intermin Resources (ASX:IRC) and Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR), have confirmed Resources along strike that align with the Sharptooth Project and within the Toolebuc Formation.
Notably, illustrating the extent of mineralisation, IRC has reported a JORC (2012)-compliant total resource for its Richmond Project of 2,579Mt at 0.32% vanadium oxide (0.29% cut-off), while LTR has announced a maiden Inferred Resource of 83.7Mt at 0.30% vanadium oxide (0.29% cut-off).
The Sharptooth Project has five historical drill-holes with vanadium oxide assay values up to 0.32% — this exceeds LTR’s average grade but is in line with IRC’s reading.
Of course, as with all minerals exploration, success is not guaranteed — consider your own personal circumstances before investing, and seek professional financial advice.
