Rafaella Resources Limited (ASX:RFR) has received promising results of the recently completed underground mineral resource estimation as carried out by Rafaella’s Geology and Mineral Resources Department, for the Santa Comba tungsten and tin project.
The Spanish project is held by Rafaella’s wholly owned Spanish subsidiary, Galicia Tin and Tungsten SL (GTT).
Investment Highlights
- Total JORC compliant underground (UG) MRE at Mina Carmen of 291kt @ 0.95% WO3 and 0.23% Sn (0.53% WO3 cut-off), an increase of 24%,
- Mina Carmen North (Quarry area) of 57kt @ 0.94% WO3 and 0.01% Sn (0.53% WO3 cut-off) based on GTT’s drilling campaigns.
- Mina Carmen South remains unchanged from 2016 with 234kt @ 0.95% WO3 and 0.28% Sn (0.53% WO3 cut-off), based on historical data.
- Deeper drill intersections of the main vein “Restrevas North” demonstrate that WO3 grade increases at depth, thus providing an exciting Exploration Target.
- The MRE shows strong increase of Sn (cassiterite) within the vein system towards Mina Carmen South, up to average grade of 0.42% Sn for Vein F5 in Mina Carmen South.
- Substantial Exploration Targets calculated for both Mina Carmen North and Mina Carmen South demonstrating further upside for underground operations.
“The geology team at Santa Comba has spent considerable time reviewing and updating the underground data, correlating historical records, measuring the accessible underground veins and studying the results from recent drill campaigns to greatly enhance the company’s knowledge of the underground resource,” Managing Director Steven Turner said.
“Santa Comba was a historical operation until 1985 producing clean concentrate from high-grade veins. Work to reopen the permitted underground operations continues in parallel to the open pit study work.
“This mineral resource upgrade and importantly the exploration target is highly encouraging, as it demonstrates substantial upside for the underground operation.”
Following the acquisition of GTT in August 2019, Rafaella completed additional drilling at the project which resulted in a significant upgrade to the Open-Pit MRE. The updated MRE was based on 64 diamond (ddh) drillholes (8,209m; 2,496 samples) and 24 reverse circulation (RC) drillholes (2,908m; 877 samples) which included the 2016 drilling.
In April 2021, RFR completed a diamond drill programme with 37 ddh for a total of 5,808.35m. Additionally, the geotechnical drillhole 20GTF003 drilled in 2020, has been included in the 2021 drilling campaign for resource modelling for a total of 38 ddh and 5,958.85m.
In August 2021, RFR announced an updated JORC (2012) Open-Pit MRE of 9.97Mt @ 0.16% WO3 and 100ppm Sn (0.05% WO3 cut-off) with a 42% increase in the Measured and Indicated categories with respect to the previous MRE. The underground Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 234kt @ 0.95% WO3 and 0.28% Sn (0.53% WO3 cut-off) remained unchanged.
During the second half of 2021, the Geology and Mineral Resource department of RFR focused on the underground vein system of Mina Carmen developing detailed 3D models of the main veins.
The data available for UG MRE purposes at Mina Carmen covers 2 different logical zones or prospects, referred to as Zone Mina Carmen North and Zone Mina Carmen South.
For further information please visit: https://rafaellaresources.com.au/
