VRX Silica (ASX:VRX) announces it has a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for its Boyatup Silica Sand Project, located 125km east of Esperance.
The company reports that Boyatup has an Inferred Mineral Resource of 60 million tonnes @ 97.8% SiO2, with the MRE based on a drilling program of 46 hand-held auger and 160 vacuum drillholes to a depth of 3-4m for a total of 312m.
The estimate has utilised a comprehensive collation of assays and Particle Size Distribution (PSD) on the drill samples collected from the program that was conducted in March 2022.
VRX’s share price rose by 6.06% to $0.175 as of 9am AWST.
Addressing the release of the mineral resource estimate, VRX Silica Managing Director Bruce Maluish said: “The Boyatup mineral resource has confirmed our belief that this is a significant silica sand project for VRX. This maiden mineral resource estimate has added significantly to our current inventory, bringing our total silica sand resources to 1.12 billion tonnes.
“The Boyatup mineral resource has confirmed our belief that this is a significant silica sand project”
The sand identified at Boyatup is different in nature to our existing identified deposits and can open up new supply markets that differ from our other Projects. Boyatup ultimately will export through the Esperance Port meaning production is not limited to the logistical constraints of the Kwinana and Geraldton Ports.
The Esperance Port is capable of handling Cape sized vessels of up to 200,000 tonnes. VRX continues to investigate other silica sand opportunities in Australia as it progresses its approvals processes at its Arrowsmith and Muchea Silica Sand Projects.”
In March 2022 VRX completed a drilling program targeting a potential silica sand deposit at the Boyatup Project located 125km east of the Port of Esperance.
Drilling intersected ‘high-quality’ silica sand which has been assayed and modelled and resulted in a maiden mineral resource estimate for the project.
A comprehensive metallurgical test work program is planned to determine the specification of the potential products that can be produced from the in-situ sand resource at Boyatup.
VRX reports that initial work suggests that the potential products are different from those from the other VRX silica sand projects, due to the different particle size, shape, and quality.
Once the potential products that can be produced are identified a marketing study will be completed to determine the focus to maximise the economic value of the project.
Images: VRX Silica Ltd
