Merino is looking to be a prize molybdenum play for Taiton

Taiton’s Merino prospect within its Highway project in South Australia is shaping up to be a prize possession, with assays of porphyry-style rock chips returning both molybdenum and silver.

The assays of up to 1,300 parts per million molybdenum and 27ppm silver from the brecciated, veined, surface rock chips as well as the alteration and mineralisation signatures suggest that the prospect could be a Climax-type molybdenite porphyry.

This is potentially very significant for Taiton Resources (ASX:T88) as Freeport McMoran’s Climax molybdenum deposit in Colorado is the world’s archetypal high-silica alkali rhyolite-granite molybdenum porphyry deposit that has produced nearly 1 million tonnes of molybdenum over 100 years.

Molybdenum has also outperformed all other metal commodities this year so far with prices current at US$90.50/kg compared to US$9/kg for copper.

Supply shortages are also expected to extend into 2025, which could drive prices higher.

Induced polarisation and magnetotellurics geological surveys are currently underway at the Merino prospect.

Analyses and modelling of data, and interpretation of results with regard to Climax-style porphyry mineralisation will provide targets for drill hole locations.

“Today’s announcement is additional evidence that Taiton is unravelling a new mineral system in our Highway Project in South Australia,” managing director Noel Ong said.

“Field sampling is now supporting our belief that we have a hydrothermal magmatic porphyritic source of mineralisation.

“The nature of the Merino prospect is now clearly an overlooked province with clear sight of mineralisation. We have historical drilling showing strong molybdenum mineralisation and now, we are clearly seeing a distribution in outcropping samples.

“In summary, our work is showing that the Merino prospect and potentially the whole Highway Project, has been incorrectly classified in terms of age, mineralisation fertility and geology.”

Other exploration

Taiton has also started an aeromagnetic survey at the Lake Barlee in Western Australia where a previous drone magnetic survey over the Lake Barlee greenstone belt delineated magnetic anomalies and detailed structural interpretation at two high-priority gold in greenstone target areas.

This new survey will extend the previous survey along the strike extent of the greenstone belt to the tenement boundary. It will then refine and prioritise targets for drilling.

This article was developed in collaboration with Taiton 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.