Altech Chemicals Limited (ASX: ATC) (FRA: A3Y) believes it will be well placed to upgrade the numbers for Kerrigan kaolin deposit in Western Australia following the completion of latest drilling programme.
The Kerrigan project is located 20kmssouth of the central wheat belt town of Hyden and covers an area of approximately 230 sq.km.
The drilling programme consisted of 27 air core holes for a total of 765m, with all holes drilled vertically to an average hole depth of 28m, with samples collected at one-metre intervals.
Whilst Altech’s flagship Meckering kaolin deposit will provide feedstock for its Johor High Purity Alumina (HPA) plant in Malaysia, Kerrigan hosts a high quality kaolin deposit.
Managing Director Iggy Tan said the completed drilling programme is expected to enable the company to update the Kerrigan mineral resource estimate and assist it in determining the next steps for the project.
Kerrigan announced an initial JORC inferred kaolin mineral resource of 85Mt at an ISO brightness of 85.1% for Kerrigan in 2011.
The Kerrigan project was initially identified as containing high quality kaolin in 1992 by Graphite Holdings Pty Ltd which subsequently drilled the project area, as did CRA Exploration Pty Ltd (CRAE).
At Kerrigan, kaolin forms part of an unusually thick and well-developed weathering profile and is found under overburden of laterite and mottled clays, with overburden thickness ranging from 1 to 12m.
