Venture Minerals Limited (ASX: VMS) has intersected further high-grade in new drilling at the Mount Lindsay Tin-Tungsten Project in Tasmania.
Drilling was targeting high grade zones within the existing deposit and has successfully intersected 93m of mineralisation.
The intersection in ML339M from preliminary assays included a high-grade zone of 12m at 1.7% Tin (Sn) Eq from 113 m.
The drill programme, designed to confirm the continuity of high-grade zones and provide additional metallurgical samples, is part of the company’s updated Feasibility Study for an underground mine.
The significant intersections from ML339M included the following: 93 m @ 0.5% Sn Eq from 107 m including, 12 m @ 1.7% Sn Eq from 113 m, or 54 m @ 0.6% Sn Eq from 113 m, and 30 m @ 0.5% Sn Eq from 170 m, and 22 m @ 0.6% Sn Eq from 236 m.
Venture continues to drill additional holes on the Main Skarn’s High Grade MacDonald Shoot, this will be followed by similar targeted drilling on the No. 2 Skarn’s High Grade Radford Shoot.
The preliminary assay results from ML339M where from a nearby laboratory that generated results using a similar analytical technique for some of the suite of elements that are routinely assayed for on Mount Lindsay drill core, the pulps will now be submitted to the preferred laboratory to provide assays for the missing elements and to check the values reported here using the analytical method chosen for the JORC complaint resource.
The underground Feasibility Study will advance previous scoping study work and includes additional drilling (currently in progress) to further confirm the continuity of the High-Grade MacDonald (named after Tom MacDonald who discovered the Main Zone at Mount Lindsay in 1909 Shoot in the Main Skarn, and the High-Grade Radford Shoot in the No.2 Skarn.
Current drilling will also provide material for finalising a cost effective, gravity-focused, processing flowsheet to concentrate the high-density minerals cassiterite (tin oxide – 79% Sn) and scheelite (81% WO3).
Additional work will include further detailed engineering studies to firm up the mine design and updating of the permit to reflect the change in mining and processing strategies. The company is still in the process of building a dedicated team to manage the Study program.
The Mount Lindsay Project is already classified by the Australian Government as a Critical Minerals Project with an advanced Tin-Tungsten asset, which is significantly enhanced by the recent discovery of two new skarn zones, one within the Renison Mine Sequence in the Mount Lindsay area and the other along strike from Mount Lindsay’s main tin deposits.
Managing Director Andrew Radonjic, said Mount Lindsay is already one of the largest undeveloped tin projects in the world, containing in excess of 80,000 tonnes of tin metal and within the same mineralised body a globally significant tungsten resource containing 3,200,000 MTU (metric tonne unit) of WO3. Tin is now recognised as a fundamental metal to the battery revolution and new technology.
The International Tin Association is predicting a surge in demand driven by the lithium-ion battery market, of up to 60,000tpa by 2030 (world tin consumption was 328,400t in 2020
“The first hole of the new drilling programme at Mount Lindsay, for the recently started underground Feasibility Study, has seen the MacDonald Shoot deliver further High Grade Tin and Tungsten assay results to confirm the continuity of this High Grade Zone,” Mr Radonjic said.
“Additional drilling on the Main Skarn’s High Grade MacDonald Shoot, followed by similar targeted drilling on the No. 2 Skarn’s High Grade Radford Shoot, is expected to return more High-Grade results which will increase the confidence in the resource supporting an underground development.”
The MacDonald and Radford Shoots provide a great foundation for the first stage development for the Mount Lindsay Tin-Tungsten Project whilst exploration will look to extend the life of the asset to a multi-decade opportunity, in keeping with other major mines on the West Coast of Tasmania.”
For further information please visit: https://www.ventureminerals.com.au/
