Norwest drills into wide, titanium-rich zones at West Arunta

Norwest finds titanium-rich zones at along with silver-base metal mineralisation at West Arunta
Company believes Malibu and Dales discoveries could quickly become high-valued assets
Follow-up work is planned

Special Report: Thick zones of highly anomalous titanium have been encountered at Norwest Minerals’ West Arunta project following a 43-hole reverse circulation and aircore drilling program across the Malibu prospect.

The discovery is located right near the margins of the prospect’s high-gravity geophysical anomaly and within the large graben structure to the southeast.

RC drilling tested the centre of the high-gravity anomaly at Malibu intersecting sediment hosting titanium grading between 0.7% to 1% TiO2 along the full length of each RC drill hole, measuring up to 102m.

At the margins of the gravity anomaly, softer sediments were penetrated by aircore drilling with thick layers of sediments grading 1.5% to 3% TiO2, suggesting the weathered titanium-bearing material may have been transported from the high-gravity zones and concentrated in the surrounding areas.

Norwest (ASX:NWM) is particularly interested in the graben structure, which is a 500m-wide valley with potential to concentrate large amounts of titanium-rich sediments.

These latest results follow the discovery of wide, silver-lead-zinc copper zones intersected in all seven RC holes at the Dales Gossan outcrop in December last year.

Dales Gossan is positioned on the northwest-southeast trending regional Sandman fault which extends over 40km across the company’s Arunta West project tenement.

The outcrop is 100m long and up to 1m wide and was identified in 2020 by field mapping and pXRF rock chip analysis.

Malibu prospect drilling across geophysical, geochemical and structural targets. Pic: NWM

Sizeable resource potential

NWM CEO Charles Schaus said the company’s grassroots exploration work is paying off.

“Reconnaissance drilling has intersected significant intervals of shallow titanium mineralisation at our Malibu prospect and returned wide, near-surface zones of silver-base metal mineralisation from the Dales Gossan prospect,” Schaus said.

“With mineralisation still open in all directions, follow-up exploration work has the potential to quickly grow both prospects into sizeable resources.

“Considering most of these metals sit near the top of the USA’s list of critical minerals, the Malibu and Dales discoveries could quickly become high-valued and sought after company assets.”

Energy transition technologies

Along with being listed as critical minerals, both silver and titanium are in-demand materials for a growing list of defence and energy transition technologies.

Silver has been dubbed the ‘unsung hero of the energy transition’ with its use in solar photovoltaic cells given its high electrical conductivity and thermal efficiency.

Titanium is a low-density metal with high mechanical strength, melting point and resistance to corrosive elements, making it a perfect material for strengthening steel, leading to quieter and more durable electric car parts.

It is also used in turbine blades, piping and other critical generator components.

What happens next?

Norwest is currently organising to have the titanium-bearing aircore and RC drill samples classified to determine their genesis, quality and heavy mineral content.

Follow-up RC drilling across the 500m wide Malibu graben is warranted with peers such as Encounter Resources (ASX:ENR) and WA1 (ASX:WA1) experiencing success with critical mineral findings across major structures in the region.

A detailed review of all historical exploration work has kicked off along the Sandman fault.

This article was developed in collaboration with Norwest Minerals, 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.