Venture Minerals (ASX:VMS) says new drilling at the Mount Lindsay Tin-Tungsten Project in Tasmania, Australia continues to deliver “exceptional” intersections of high grade mineralisation whilst targeting high grade zones within the existing Main Skarn deposit.
The intersection in ML343M included a high-grade zone of 23.2 m @ 1.6% Sn and 0.03% WO3 from 75.8 m or 3 m @ 4.1% Sn and 0.1% WO3 from 90 m.
The drill program, designed to confirm the continuity of high-grade zones and provide additional metallurgical samples, is part of the company’s updated Feasibility Study for an underground mine.
The significant intersections from ML343M included:
- 2 m @ 0.8% Sn and 0.2% WO3 or 1.0% Sn Eq from 75.8 m including 45 m @ 1.0% Sn and 0.2% WO3 or 1.2% Sn Eq from 147 m,
- 2 m @ 1.6% Sn and 0.03% WO3 or 1.7% Sn Eq from 75.8 m,
- 9 m @ 2.5% Sn and 0.03% WO3 or 2.6% Sn Eq from 90 m,
- 3 m @ 4.1% Sn and 0.1% WO3 or 4.3% Sn Eq from 90 m.
The outstanding assays from the rest of recently announced ML340M have now been received increasing the original intersection of 147 m @ 1.0% Sn and 0.2% WO3 (
“The new drilling at Mount Lindsay continues to deliver outstanding tin intersections within the high-grade MacDonald Shoot beneath historical tin workings,” Managing Director, Andrew Radonjic, said.
“The value of Mount Lindsay today continues to grow having already more than 80,000 tonnes of tin metal in JORC complaint resources at a time of record Tin prices.
“Venture looks forward to completing this Feasibility Drilling shortly and ramping up our exploration efforts with drilling scheduled to test multiple high priority targets over the coming months within Australia’s premier tin district on the West Coast of Tasmania.”
The underground Feasibility Study will advance previous scoping study work and includes additional drilling (currently in progress) to further confirm the continuity of the High-Grade MacDonald Shoot in the Main Skarn, and the High-Grade Radford Shoot in the No.2 Skarn.
Current drilling will also provide material for finalising a cost effective, gravity-focused, processing flowsheet to concentrate the high-density minerals cassiterite (tin oxide – 79% Sn) and scheelite (81% WO3).
The company recently engaged BHM Processing Consultants to manage the Metallurgical part of the Study. Additional work will include further detailed engineering studies to firm up the mine design and updating of the permit to reflect the change in mining and processing strategies.
Venture continues to build a dedicated team to manage the Study program and to that end has just engaged a Resource Development Geologist.
The Mount Lindsay Project is already classified by the Australian Government as a Critical Minerals Project2 with an advanced Tin-Tungsten asset, which is significantly enhanced by the recent discovery of two new skarn zones, one within the Renison Mine Sequence in the Mount Lindsay area and the other along strike from Mount Lindsay’s main tin deposits.
Mount Lindsay is already one of the largest undeveloped tin projects in the world, containing in excess of 80,000 tonnes of tin metal and within the same mineralised body a globally significant tungsten resource containing 3,200,000 MTU (metric tonne unit) of WO3.
The Australian Government is supporting the Critical Minerals Sector through several initiatives including the establishment of a A$2 billion finance facility announced in September to be administered by Export Finance Australia which Venture is working to access for the project.
Tin is now recognised as a fundamental metal to the battery revolution and new technology.
The International Tin Association is predicting a surge in demand driven by the lithium-ion battery market, of up to 60,000tpa by 2030 (world tin consumption was 328,400t in 2020).
