The 2024 Diggers & Dealers Emerging Company Award winner WA1 Resources (ASX:WA1) has a $100 million war chest to advance key workstreams developing the Luni niobium deposit.
Luni sits within its West Arunta project in Western Australia and has a resource estimate of 200 million tonnes of 1% niobium pentoxide.
On 11 July 2024, WA1 raised $60 million via a placement with the company’s cash now being used to define a “shallow enriched blanket of high-grade niobium mineralisation”. In January the company also raised $40 million in equity.
More than 250 holes have been drilled at Luni, with ongoing resource drilling to better define high-grade zones and increase resource confidence The mineral resource starts between 30m and 70m below surface and has been defined to a maximum depth of 190m, with an average thickness of 30m.
The inferred mineral resource estimate (MRE) contains 200Mt @ 1.0% Nb2O5. The MRE contains a subset of 53Mt at 2.1% Nb2O5.
It’s touted as the most significant niobium discovery in more than 70 years.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: WA1
