Terra Metals (ASX:TM1) has returned a maiden resource estimate for its Dante Project in the West Musgrave region of Western Australia.
Phase three is set to start immediately and the company will streamline poof drilling at multiple reef corridors to identify resource growth and search for potential discoveries.
Metallurgical optimisation work is now underway to support future Scoping and Feasibility Studies. Reconnaissance exploration is expected to continue to expand the strike of known reef
systems.
CEO Thomas Line says achieving a resource estimate within 12 months confirms that the Dante Project is a “globally significant critical metals discovery”.
“Not only have we exceeded our previous exploration target, but the quality of the mineral system – its scale, near-surface continuity, metallurgical performance, and growth potential – positions Dante as a strategic, long-life critical metal asset on a global scale,” Line says.
“With phase three drilling about to commence and the mineral system remaining open wide, we see a clear path to rapid, low-cost resource growth, and potential further discoveries across this vast, underexplored province.”
Phase three will target Reef 1 North, Reef 2, and Reef 1 South prospects with infill and extensional drilling before Terra will test outcropping mapped reefs and electromagnetic targets identified across the broader Dante trend.
High resolution airborne magnetics has been planned on the recently acquired HRM tenements
(Dante West).
The project has a total resource of 148 million tonnes @ 14.8% titanium dioxide, 0.54% vanadium pentoxide, 0.18% copper, and 0.33 grams per tonne of platinum group elements from its maiden estimate.
This contains around 22 million tonnes of titanium dioxide, 800,000 tonnes of vanadium pentoxide, and 270,000 tonnes of copper.
Platinum group elements contain a total estimate of 1.6 million ounces including 400,000 ounces of gold, 880,000 ounces of platinum, and 330 palladium.
The area has an indicated resource of 38 million tonnes @ 18.4% titanium dioxide, 0.73% vanadium pentoxide, 0.23% copper, and 0.72g/t platinum group elements.
Each tonne has a discovery cost of about $0.07 according to this estimate from an area of less than 10% of the total mapped mineralised trend which remains open along strike and at depth.
Pivot Mining Consultants’ Ken Lomberg completed the resource estimate with assistance from metallurgist Evan Kirby for the metallurgical testing.
The Dante Project, located in the West Musgrave region of Western Australia, hosts a “globally significant”, multi-metal discovery within the Jameson Layered Intrusion — part of the Giles Complex, a mafic-ultramafic system comparable in scale and style to South Africa’s Bushveld Complex.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Terra Metals
