ASN’s maiden resource at Ajana has been completed, with mineralisation open along strike both north and south and down dip. Pic: Getty Images
Anson unveils Surprise zinc-lead-silver resource
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- A 103kt resource has been defined at the Ajana project in WA
- Recently discovered critical minerals indium and germanium to correlate with zinc mineralisation
- Additional drilling planned to more accurately define historic working extents
Special Report: While its focus has been firmly placed on lithium extraction in the United States, Anson has branched out, turning its attention also to a maiden resource at its Ajana base metals project in Western Australia.
Anson’s maiden resource for Ajana has been restricted to the recent shallow drilling program and does not include critical minerals such as gallium, indium and germanium which have been discovered on the project.
Anson Resources (ASX:ASN) has defined a maiden 103,000t resource at Ajana, located in WA’s Mid West, grading 2.7% lead, 0.45% zinc and 1.3g/t silver.
Since the commencement of the MRE interpretation, critical minerals (gallium, indium and germanium) have been discovered which appear to be associated with the mineralisation.
These have not been included in the MRE as additional sample intervals are being assayed and metallurgical testing is to be completed.
Auralia Mining Consulting carried out the MRE block modelling and the interpretative work using a 1% lead cut-off.
The currently defined extents of the interpreted mineralisation are expected to be increased by further drilling along strike using both diamond core and reverse circulation.
Elevated zinc grades in footwall
ASN says the zinc does not appear to correlate well with the lead values and in the drilling data it can be seen that elevated zinc grades often appear in the footwall.
This aspect was investigated to determine if it was practical to define separate zinc envelopes, but ASN concluded that there is not sufficient sectional and strike continuity seen in the drill data to allow a sensible interpretation to be generated.
ASN believes this can be improved by a proposed future drilling programs along strike, using both diamond core and reverse circulation.
31 exploration targets to analyse
Numerous targets have been identified at the Ajana area using historic geophysical and geochemical data.
Soil sampling programs have been completed over a large area of the tenements and was completed over an area covering approximately 60 km.
The program identified additional zinc, lead and copper exploration targets which run parallel to the Surprise deposit.
There is still much more left to uncover and analyse with 31 sulphide drill targets identified in a Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetic (VTEM) aerial survey flown over the entire Ajana Project area several years ago.
The interpreted north-northeast trending dolerite dykes and the north-northwest crosscutting faults correlate with the WA State aeromagnetic imagery.
ASN is continuing to make strides with its exploration and development plans in the Paradox Basin of the USA as well, where it has defined a large lithium carbonate brine resource in historic oil fields that with DLE could be among the most environmentally friendly sources of lithium in the world.
A US$330m letter of intent was signed with America’s export credit bank to support the construction of a future production facility in Utah.
This article was developed in collaboration with Anson Resources, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
