Australian manganese project development company Accelerate Resources (ASX:AX8) has identified multiple corridors of manganese mineralisation within the central part of the Woodie Woodie North Manganese Project in Western Australia.
A project-wide evaluation undertaken at the project demonstrated the potential for structurally controlled large-tonnage mineralisation.
Based on the evaluation of the distribution of manganese outcrops, structural domains interpreted from high-resolution imagery, regional, and historical geophysical data, as well as a recent project-wide heli-borne mapping program, the company has identified corridors of manganese mineralisation linked to major reverse faults and the linking structures formed between them.
The company says this form of mineralisation is characteristic of the Woodie Woodie Mine corridor.
Accelerate reports the Gum Creek and Parsons Creek corridors are the largest, and are also underexplored. These corridors represent persistently mineralised trends that are analogous to the mineralisation in the Area 42 discovery, and are extensions of the Woodie Woodie Corridor to the south.
As a result of the scale and underexplored nature of these mapped mineralised zones, the company has begun planning for maiden drilling of targets.
Accelerate reports private company Consolidated Minerals’ Woodie Woodie mine is a world-class ‘high-grade’ manganese producer well-known for its premium ‘high-grade’, ‘low-impurity’ manganese product for the last 50 years. The Woodie Woodie Mine Corridor is a cluster of ‘high-grade’ fault-hosted manganese deposits over about 3.5km wide, and extending for some 15km along strike from Radio Hill in the north to Lox mine in the south.
The company says the manganese deposits are primarily hydrothermal in origin with a late supergene overprint. The orebodies range in size from 0.2 million tonnes to 5.5 million tonnes with an average of 0.5 million tonnes.
Historically, more than 56 deposits and over 35 million tonnes of ‘high-grade’ manganese has been mined within the historic Woodie Woodie Mine Corridor. Large-sized deposits such as the Bells, Chris D, and Greensnake with resources of about 5 million tonnes are ‘intimately’ related to north-northwest fault lines and the intense hydrothermal alteration of the host dolomite.
Accelerate reports the 2023 drilling campaign will target both ‘high-grade’ structurally controlled mineralisation, and the supergene enriched surface caps for Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) style mineralisation.
Drilling at Drew’s Find and the mapping across Area 42 has shown the presence of a mineralised manganese system with a vertical exposure of about 130m that represents a ‘significant’ target with the potential to host a large manganese deposit.
Planned resource drilling will target Chris’s Ridge across to Dirk’s Valley to test for potential DSO ore. Additional drilling is also planned to extend the 2022 drilling at Dirk’s Valley, Dale’s Patch, and Nathan’s Flat. Initial scout drilling will be conducted at Chelsey’s Slide, Drape’s Hill, and Citadel.
At the Barra North and South Corridor, Accelerate reports drilling is also planned to extend the known mineralisation at Area 3, and Area 1. Drilling will also follow-up an earlier result of 14m @ 21% Mn at Area 5.
Results from the recent assessment also indicates the Parsons Creek Corridor is a structurally complex area rich in manganese outcrops across 4.5km by 2.5km, which has the size and mineralisation signature to potentially host a large mineralised system. Drilling will target Area 40, Area 41, and Area 46 where ‘substantial’ manganese outcrops occur to gain first-pass knowledge and the potential of the mineralised system.
Accelerate Resources is an Australian company aiming to become the country’s next manganese producer for the electric vehicle (EV) and steel industry.
The company’s portfolio across Western Australia includes the Braeside West and Ripon Hills Manganese Project which includes the Mt Sydney and Woodie Woodie projects, the Pilbara Lithium Project, and the Comet Gold Project.
Images: Accelerate Resources Ltd