Additional Gallium and barium mineralisation has been identified at Ajana. Pic via Getty Images.
Gallium, barium add value to Anson Resources’ Ajana zinc project
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- More high grade critical minerals found from historical drill results at Anson Resources’ Ajana project
- Results indicate a possible mineralised strike length of >8km
- Assays show up to 34.4g/t gallium and high grades of barium
- Gallium is a soft metallic element used in semi-conductors, other technologies
Special Report: Extensive high-grade gallium and barium have been identified from historical drilling samples at Anson Resources’ Ajana zinc project in Western Australia.
Ajana is within an established mining province which contains several historical copper, lead and silver producing mines dating back to 1850.
A recent maiden 30 hole, +1,000m drill program by Anson Resources (ASX:ASN) delivered high-grade hits with a hole at the Surprise prospect returning a top intersection of 12m @ 3% zinc, 1% lead and 1.75g/t silver.
Drilling at Ethel Maude, which focused on shallow, high-grade zinc, lead and silver mineralisation, also delivered significant results topping up at 20m @ 0.8% zinc, 0.71% lead and 5.75g/t silver.
Yet what makes the project so attractive is its high-value mineral by-products.
Anson Resources’ (ASX:ASN) recently discovered critical minerals such as gallium, indium, germanium and barium at Ajana.
Gallium is a soft metallic element used in semi-conductors, blue ray technology light emitting diodes (LEDs), mobile phones and nuclear engineering.
Indium is recovered from sphalerite, a zinc-sulphide mineral, widely used in the aerospace, defence, energy and telecommunications sectors. Currently the US is a 100% net importer of indium.
Germanium is used in fibre optics, infra-red optics, high brightness LED’s, as well as semi-conductors and solar panels.
High grade critical minerals identified
High grade gallium (Ga) and Barium (Ba) has now been discovered in numerous historical drillholes at two additional prospect areas, 8km to the north of the recent drilling at the Ethel Maude and Surprise prospects.
Gallium was identified in all 26 holes drilled for 2,721m for up to 34.4g/t Ga, and the mineralised zones through the entire downhole drill intervals and across the breadth of the prospects.
ASN says those figures have the potential to represent a significant economic addition to all of Anson’s prospects in the Ajana area.
A third gallium-rich location, the “Chequers” prospect 1km south of the Mary Springs prospect and 6km north of Surprise has also been identified by reviewing historical drilling.
Assays indicate grades of 23g/t gallium and 419g/t barium from surface to 46m down hole and a possible strike length of >8km of known critical minerals mineralisation recorded from drill holes at Ethel and Surprise.
The prospect, in all three holes drilled, has high grade gallium intersections down the entire lengths.
“We’re extremely fortunate to be able to identify other prospects for barium, gallium, germanium and indium at Ajana without the need to invest in soil geochemical test work and drilling programs,” ASN CEO Bruce Richardson says.
“Assay results from the Mary Springs, Chequers, Surprise and Ethel Maude prospects indicates that there’s great potential to develop a mine to produce lead, zinc, silver and the strategic minerals barium, gallium, germanium, and indium.
“We will continue to review drilling reports and other data to further develop the Ajana project opportunity.”
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.
