Following a strategic review of its operations, Pinnacle Minerals (ASX:PIM) has elected to offload certain non-core assets in Western Australia, South Australia, and Canada in an effort to rein in discretionary spending.
The Perth-based explorer has now surrendered — or is in the process of surrendering — the Holly, Bobalong, and Tambellup projects in WA, White Knight in SA, and the Lac Rug and Lac Bigniba properties in Canada.
Although Pinnacle says it will continue to assess complementary project acquisitions, the reduction of tenure means current Chairman William Witham will move to a role as non-executive Chair.
“The board has taken appropriate actions to conserve capital by reducing discretionary expenditure, relinquishing non-core projects, whilst maintaining key projects and board expertise,” Witham says.
“Pinnacle continues to provide shareholders with exposure to high-impact, future-facing commodities including lithium (Adina East), uranium and rare earths (Wirrulla), and heavy mineral sands (Capel).”
Presumably with that in mind, the company has engaged Wallis Drilling to undertake a 93-hole aircore drilling program — expected to total 2,000m — at its Capel Project in south-west WA. The program is expected to take up to nine days to complete, with samples to be sent to Diamantina Laboratories in Perth for analysis.
Previous exploration at Capel by Iluka Resources (ASX:ILU) in 2010 found moderate-grade heavy minerals from surface on several drilling lines, and Pinnacle believes there is potential for economically viable mineralisation within the tenement.
“Executing the first drilling program of 2024 on a brownfields project where previous exploration has defined thick heavy minerals sands mineralisation is an exciting time for the company,” Managing Director Nic Matich says.
“We have progressed from access agreements to the drilling campaign within five months and look forward to investigating synergies with other operators in the region should the exploration campaign be successful.”
Should the program identify a mineral resource, Pinnacle says it will conduct a concept study, the results of which will be used to guide Capel’s development.
Write to Oliver Gray at Mining.com.au
Images: iStock
