Black Canyon (ASX:BCA) has acquired a 51% stake in a package of eight manganese-prospective, granted exploration licences in the East Pilbara after satisfying exploration spend requirements as part of a farm-in deal with Carawine Resources (ASX:CWX).
The $1.5 million milestone sees Black Canyon formally take over management of the 793km² ‘Carawine JV’ package, and provides the green light for an additional $2.5 million in exploration expenditure over three years that will allow the miner to increase its stake to 75%.
Speaking on the news Black Canyon Executive Director Brendan Cummins said: “Earning 51% interest in the Carawine JV represents a significant milestone for the Black Canyon team and its shareholders. With a dominant land holding and clear strategy to discover and develop manganese assets, the Company has been extremely active across a number of work fronts in the first year as a listed Company.
“The initial focus has been the Flanagan Bore Project and we have been successful in discovering and expanding the known manganese mineralisation footprints”
The initial focus has been the Flanagan Bore Project and we have been successful in discovering and expanding the known manganese mineralisation footprints and we look forward to delivering what we expect to be a substantial Mineral Resource update for LR1 and FB3 in the coming weeks.”
Black Canyon had executed a binding Heads of Agreement with Carawine Resources in December 2020 that provided exclusive farm-in rights to the Carawine JV.
The company reports that ‘aggressive’ exploration and development work has been carried out at the JV’s flagship Flanagan Bore Project, which included RC and diamond drilling programs completed in late 2021, along with geological and geophysical data acquisition and ethnographic and archaeologic heritage surveys.
Map of the Carawine JV tenements in relation to the Woodie Woodie and Butcherdird manganese operationsAs a result of this, a maiden Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate was delivered for the project’s LR1 deposit, containing 15Mt @ 11.3% Mn.
Moving forward, an IP geophysical survey is underway across the Oakover East tenements, tasked with investigating a potentially buried ‘high grade’ hydrothermal-style manganese mineralisation target situated 35km along strike from the Woodie Woodie Manganese Mine.
Images: Black Canyon Limited
