Firebird Metals (ASX:FRB) reports it has grown the indicated mineral resource by 80% at its flagship Oakover Project, located in the Eastern Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The company reports the indicated resource has increased from 58.7 million tonnes (Mt) to 105.8Mt, using a 7% manganese (Mn) cut-off.
Firebird reports that the ‘impressive’ resource upgrade is a result of the 82-hole 2,828m infill drilling program, completed at the Jay Eye and Karen deposits in October 2022.
The company reports the ‘significant’ intercepts from the drilling program include, hole FRB0278 with 28m @ 10.61% Mn from 2m; FRB0287 with 30m @ 10.67% Mn from surface; and FRB301 with 24m @ 10.01% Mn from surface.
Firebird states these intercepts from the drilling program demonstrate the ‘impressive’ geology of Oakover, highlighted by shallow near-surface and thick mineralisation.
In addition, the infill drilling results have also grown the total Oakover mineral resource from 172.3Mt to 176.7Mt.
Commenting on the resource growth at Oakover, Firebird Metals Managing Director Peter Allen says: “We are focused on establishing Oakover as a major Western Australian manganese operation and this significant milestone announced today is another step towards achieving our primary objective.
“…we look forward to continuing to progress our flagship project throughout a busy 2023 and beyond”
De-risking the development pathway at Oakover through the addition of another 47 million tonnes in an indicated category from Jay-Eye and Karen places us in a strong development position moving forward and we look forward to continuing to progress our flagship project throughout a busy 2023 and beyond.”
Firebird completed a Scoping Study that produced a manganese concentrate based solely on the indicated and inferred tonnage at the Sixty Sixer deposit in July 2022.
This generated a 10-year mine life and a net present value (NPV) of $329 million at a discount rate of 8%, with average earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of about $72.2 million per annum.
Both the Sixty Sixer and Karen deposits mineralisation remains open at depth, with Sixty Sixer open to the northwest and southwest, while Karen is open to the northwest.
Firebird is now focusing on completing its ‘high-purity’ sulphate Scoping Study, which is expected to be finalised and released in Q3 2023.
The company will then look to begin a combined Prefeasibility Study (PFS) on manganese ore and ‘high-purity’ sulphate to summarise a total project study.
Firebird’s Oakover and Hill 616 Manganese Projects are located 85km east and southeast of Newman and cover an area of 375km-square. These 2 projects give Firebird a ‘significant’ total Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 233.5Mt.
Firebird Metals is a West Australian company focused on the exploration and development of its wholly-owned project portfolio, consisting of several ‘highly’ prospective manganese projects in the East Pilbara Manganese Province of Western Australia.
Images: Firebird Metals Ltd
