Petratherm has raised $8.1m to rapidly advance the Muckanippie project in South Australia. Pic: Getty Images
Petratherm reels in whopping $8m, fast-tracking titanium drilling at Muckanippie
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- Proceeds of the placement will be used for exploration drilling at Petratherm’s Muckanippie project
- Drilling is set to take place within two weeks
- Minerals and metallurgical analysis will follow
Special Report: An $8.1m capital injection from investors has provided a funding boost to Petratherm’s drilling plans at the Muckanippie titanium HMS project in South Australia.
The placement was strongly supported by existing and new investors, including several funds and institutions with directors and management contributing a total $270,000, subject to shareholder approval.
Over the past six months Petratherm (ASX:PTR) has rapidly advanced the Muckanippie project but in the last four weeks alone, the company has announced drilling results which confirmed high-grade, titanium-rich Heavy Mineral Sands (HMS) mineralisation extending over a 15km2 area at the Rosewood prospect, reported a new style of extremely high-grade HM mineralisation within saprolitic clays at several other sites, and posted positive results from HM sizing analysis from representative samples at Rosewood.
Mineralogy results to date indicates Rosewood HM sands have on average >95% Valuable Heavy Mineral content, composed primarily of high value titanium ores – rutile product and pseudorutile.
Phase 2 drilling to kick off this month
PTR CEO Peter Reid the company is extremely pleased with the strong support for the placement, which places Petratherm in a well-funded position.
“The Rosewood Prospect at Muckanippie has successfully demonstrated high-grade HM mineralisation over a continuous 15km2 area which remains open for expansion in multiple directions,” he said.
“Concurrently, we have also received excellent results from first pass mineralogy and particle sizing, indicating the presence of high value minerals with potential for conventional processing.
“Phase 2 drilling is commencing this month and will be rapidly pushing forward on all aspects of exploration and mineral and metallurgical analysis to continue advancing the project quickly.”
Muckanippie is an early-stage greenfields project located in the northern Gawler Craton of South Australia.
Recent exploration has uncovered significant concentrations of titanium-rich heavy mineral sands over large areas, which are associated with the weathering of a major intrusive complex, the Muckanippie Suite.
The Muckanippie Suite has also been found to be highly prospective for other critical minerals including PGEs and vanadium.
What next?
Funds from the placement will be allocated towards restarting aircore drilling, with a drill rig currently booked to commence on March 16 for a program of 6000m.
Drilling operations will test extensions of the HM mineralisation beyond the defined outline at Rosewood, conduct broad spaced infill drilling to better characterise grade and thickness, obtain bulk samples for metallurgical work and test new sedimentary saprolitic titanium targets.
This article was developed in collaboration with Petratherm, 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.
