Hardey Resources encouraged by Queensland vanadium acquisition due diligence findings
Pre-acquisition due diligence on Vanadium Mining’s four Queensland projects confirms they are all within an enriched vanadium mineralised zone.
Hardey Resources (ASX: HDY) has unveiled the details of its due diligence assessment of four vanadium projects it plans to acquire in Queensland.
Last month, the mineral exploration junior announced it had entered into a share sale agreement to acquire VanMin, or Vanadium Mining Pty Ltd, which owns six vanadium projects across Queensland and the Northern Territory.
Under the deal, Hardey was granted a 40-day option to acquire 100% of VanMin’s issued capital, subject to due diligence.
The company today reported “highly encouraging” early due diligence findings, including the confirmed prevalence of the Toolebuc formation across the projects.
Toolebuc is an oil shale that is highly prospective for vanadium mineralisation and has secondary oil-bearing potential.
Hardey said the findings confirmed the four Queensland projects all lie within an enriched vanadium mineralised zone with significant exploration upside.
In addition, the company’s geology team believed there was adequate historic drilling and sampling data to potentially geologically model a JORC 2012-compliant inferred resource, which materially de-risks the projects.
The findings were substantiated through the review of geological and drilling data, as well as the evaluation of exploration carried out by neighbouring operators Intermin Resources (ASX: IRC) and Liontown Resources (ASX: LTR).
The company is planning to conduct further work to ascertain if a JORC resource could be determined from this historic data, before progressing due diligence on the Northern Territory assets.
VanMin’s projects
VanMin’s four Queensland projects – Sharptooth, Spike, Cera and Petrie – are located in the Mount Isa region in the west of the state.
The projects are in close proximity to Intermin’s Richmond project, which has an inferred mineral resource of 2579Mt at 0.32% vanadium oxide with a cut-off grade of 0.29% vanadium oxide.
VanMin’s other two projects – Wollagalong and Chisholm – are located near Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory.
These projects are contiguous with the Mt Peake vanadium-titanium-iron project operated by TNG (ASX: TNG), which has a total resource at 160 million tonnes at 0.28% vanadium oxide with a cut-off grade of 0.29% vanadium oxide.
Establishing a vanadium footprint
Hardey currently holds the Burraga copper-gold project in central western New South Wales, as well as the Cheela gold-silver-zinc-lead and Horseshoe South copper-gold projects in Western Australia.
In a strategic move to capitalise on growing demand from the renewable battery sector, the company has shifted its focus to vanadium.
It is currently conducting pre-acquisition due diligence on the high-grade historic Nelly vanadium mine in Argentina. Last week, Hardey said it was “highly encouraged” by the confirmation of readily accessible stockpiles as well as visible evidence of unexploited mineralisation.
The move to acquire the six Australian vanadium projects further complements the Nelly transaction and aligns with the company’s ambition to evolve into an emerging vanadium supplier to the renewable energy sector.
Hardey’s stock rose 20% to A$0.006 on the news by afternoon trade.