Chilwa Minerals (ASX:CHW) has received assays from a sonic drilling program conducted at the Mposa deposit, as part of the Chilwa Project in southeast Malawi, which has defined over 1,500m of strike.
Assays have been returned from 46 sonic drillholes for 445.3m, part of the broader 17,000m drilling program.
Some of the results recorded include 6m @ 21.9% total heavy mineral (THM); 5m @ 30.8% THM; and 5m @ 28.7% THM, including 3m % 45.7% THM.
Chilwa Minerals, which has a market capitalisation of $43.66 million, says the mineral sands horizons intersected in the current drilling program are returning thicker zones at “higher grades”, which is believed to be partially due to the improved drilling technique.
Managing Director Cadell Buss says drilling to date at Mposa has defined a relatively uniform mineralised zone that has been tested.
“The results to date show a much more continuous mineralised trend, with mineralisation defined over 150m cross strike distance,” Buss says.
“The program is still in its infancy, with 4,985m drilled so far out of a planned 17,000m campaign.
“The continuous and predictable nature of the higher grade zones provides confidence for the next stages of mineral resource estimation.”
Further results are expected shortly from a third batch of samples, which are currently at the ALS Laboratory in Perth.
Heavy mineral sands are used as raw feedstocks in industrial processes and as products themselves. For example, zircon is used for control rods in nuclear reactors, while rutile is the primary source of titanium for white paints.
Chilwa Minerals is an Australian-based explorer which owns 100% of the mineral sands and rare earths at the Lake Chilwa precinct.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Chilwa Minerals
