McLaren Minerals (ASX:MML) could consider bringing on board an offtake partner as it continues advancing its namesake titanium project in Western Australia.
Speaking to Mining.com.au on the sidelines of the RIU Sydney Resources Round-Up being held from 6-8 May, Managing Director Simon Finnis says the company is well-positioned in the mineral sands market with a 280 million tonne resource.
“Our job is to turn that into an operating mine that makes money,” Finnis tells this news service.
“As a junior exploration company one of the keys to unlocking the capital side of things is to introduce an investor – that might be an offtaker, which is a strategic, logical, and good thing to do.
“If you look at the fundamentals for this project – it’s an ilmenite project, demand for ilmenite is very strong and it’s in Western Australia – we all love mining in Western Australia – where else would you be?”
McLaren has two prime targets – one is China due to the amount of sulphate ilmenite exported to China, which is made into pigment. The other is the Middle East through its smelters. Finnis says sulphate ilmenite can be upgraded as it is very high in iron.
“That will be an attractive target – the next step for us will be to finish the testwork. Once that is done, we will have some samples to go to market with,” he adds.
Speaking on market sentiment at the conference, Finnis says the market is “choppy at best, ugly at worst”, however McLaren is in a strong position with a 280Mt at 4.8% HM mineral resource (inferred and indicated).
“Really, this is a very straightforward project that I usually get involved in and we just want to build it,” Finnis says.
Finnis has over 35 years’ mining experience, including more than 10 years operating in the minerals sands industry. Between 2001 and 2007, he worked on the Pooncarie Mineral Sands Project in New South Wales, taking it from feasibility, through construction, and into production.
From 2012 to 2014, Finnis was CEO of the US$650 million Grand Cote Mineral Sands Project in Senegal, West Africa. In 2015, Finnis joined Metro Mining (ASX:MMI) as CEO to design, develop, and operate the Bauxite Hills Project in Queensland.
“That’s my history, that’s what I like to do and the board’s exactly the same – all we’re going to do is do it again,” Finnis tells Mining.com.au.
“That’s my history, that’s my experience. And we have put a good board together to realise that.”
The $5.23 million market capitalisation company in late April completed an aircore drilling program focused on refining its current strategy and resource modelling as part of three phase work roll out.
The program began on 28 January and will provide valuable data towards three phases of work. McLaren says the first phase includes a five-tonne bulk sample that was collected early in the program and has been dispatched to IHC Mining’s laboratory in Queensland for testwork.
The testwork will confirm the proposed flowsheet and help refine the operational slimes removal strategy. This work is expected to take six to eight weeks to complete.
The second phase includes targeting areas within the existing heavy mineral resource in the inferred and indicated category. This program has been designed to support a potential upgrade in confidence, particularly in expanding the indicated category, which currently totals 79 million tonnes @ 6% heavy mineral.
Finnis says the third phase will include ongoing evaluation and resource modelling.
McLaren Minerals is an exploration company focused on the future development of our high-value McLaren titanium project in the Eucla Basin of Western Australia. Titanium is considered
a critical mineral and is essential for aerospace, defence, and energy technologies.
Mining.com.au is an official media partner at this year’s RIU event.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: McLaren
