Heavy Minerals’ maiden drilling expands footprint of Port Gregory garnet project
Maiden drilling at Heavy Minerals’ flagship garnet project in WA has intersected high-grade mineralisation.
Maiden drilling by Heavy Minerals (ASX: HVY) at its flagship Port Gregory garnet project in Western Australia has intersected high-grade mineralisation and significantly expanded the project’s footprint.
Extension drilling of 83 holes for a total 2,927.8 metres was completed to the end of January over an area 40% larger than the original exploration target.
All holes drilled were vertical and targeted the dunal sand package which sits on top of the regional Tamala Limestone.
The work uncovered a large, thick mineralised sand package not previously identified or included in past exploration targets.
Notable intersections at a cut-off grade of 2% total heavy minerals (THM) were 9.3% THM over 12m from surface; 7.7% over 15m from surface; 5.7% over 27m from 1m downhole; and 5.7% over 19m from surface.
The mineralisation is open to the north and south and will be targeted for follow-up drilling to determine its extent.
Importance of results
Heavy Minerals executive director and chief executive officer Nic Matich said the importance of the results “cannot be underestimated”.
“Extending the footprint by this amount with high-grade, shallow mineralisation, significantly bolsters the prospectivity of Port Gregory,” he said.
“As additional work enhances our understanding of the project, we are seeing more similarities with other active garnet operators in the region like GMA Garnet Group and Resource Development Group (ASX: RDG).”
Mr Matich said a total of 2,293 samples were submitted to Diamantina Laboratories for assay by wet screening and THM float/sink methods using tetrabromomethane.
Visual and empirical estimates for the garnet and ilmenite proportion of the THM were “very encouraging” and reportedly similar in composition to those from the company’s 2021 campaign.
February results
Assays announced in February were similarly encouraging, with numerous intercepts exceeding expected grades modelled in the development of Heavy Minerals’ exploration target.
Notable intersections at a cut-off grade of 2% THM were 17.9% THM over 13m from surface; 11.3% over 22.5m from 12m downhole; 13.3% over 12m from surface; 12.9% over 14m from surface; and 39.5% over 3m from surface.
The garnet percentage in heavy mineral fraction ranged from 65% to 75% and was significantly higher than the 46% reported by GMA, which was originally used by Heavy Minerals to generate the Port Gregory exploration target.