Rumble Resources (ASX:RTR) has confirmed a “potentially significant” tungsten discovery at the Western Queen Project in Western Australia.
Assay results have been received from selected drill pulp samples from seven holes drilled in 2021, returning 12m @ 0.56% tungsten oxide, including 2m @ 2.48% tungsten oxide; and 3m @ 0.69% tungsten oxide, and 2m @ 1.55% tungsten oxide.
The pulp assays also complement the high-grade intersection in a previously reported drillhole, which returned up to 18.35% tungsten oxide.
Rumble Resources, which has a market capitalisation of $30.25 million, says these latest assays are largely coincident with a continuous tungsten anomaly outlined over a 2km area defined from drillhole X-ray fluorescence data, and parallel the Western Queen Shear and known gold mineralisation.
The company adds that the width and grade tenor of the tungsten assays received at Western Queen suggest that the project could host a “significant” tungsten resource.
CEO Peter Harold says the discovery of tungsten has shown the optionality that the company has in its extensive tenement portfolio.
“This is brilliant work by our exploration team and we look forward to receiving further assays from the substantial amount of existing drill core and pulps,” Harold says.
“Best case scenario, positive results from this future analysis could allow us to calculate a resource without any additional drilling.”
Rumble Resources now plans to further analyse historical drilling, including reverse circulation drill pulps and a substantial diamond core library held in storage for tungsten, which will likely constitute the bulk of the data required to classify an initial resource estimate, if one can be determined.
Once the company has investigated re-assaying of all pulps with anomalous portable XRF tungsten from the previous gold resource drilling programs, Rumble Resources will investigate the previous diamond core completed by the company, and by historic operators, for intervals of tungsten mineralisation.
Tungsten is classified as a critical raw material and is subject to high supply risk and high economic importance. The supply of tungsten currently sits at 78,000 tonnes per year and is considered to be highly dependent on China, as it produces 81% of the world’s supply.
In Australia, tungsten is currently produced on a small scale at King Island by Group 6 Metals (ASX:G6M) through its Dolphin Tungsten Mine.
Rumble Resources is an Australian-based mineral explorer primarily focused on its emerging zinc-lead-silver sulphide discovery in the Earaheedy Basin of Western Australia.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Rumble Resources
