Resolution picks up South Australian silica sand AND uranium project

Resolution Minerals is expanding its horizons with the grant of a large landholding in South Australia that is prospective for both high purity silica sands and uranium.

The new George project includes the Etadunna silica sands prospect which has been defined over 1km2 by historical drilling, which returned a top near-surface intersection of 34m grading 99.87% SiO2 (silica) that is open at depth.

Further drilling sampling and a Scoping Study including metallurgical testwork is required at the prospect, which remains open in all directions.

Resolution Minerals’ (ASX:RML) timing is exquisite given that high purity silica sand is in demand for an increasing number of industrial and technological products such as electric vehicles and solar panels – both of which require a high purity level.

George also has the potential to host underlying Kazakhstan-style roll-front uranium mineralisation given its proximity to Heathgate Resources’ operating Four Mile East Uranium mine in the Beverley region and other active explorers along with rock chips returning up to 215 parts per million uranium.

“Resolution Minerals is delighted with the addition of the recently granted SA George Project with dual in-demand commodities of uranium and high-purity silica sands, complementary to the company’s critical energy metals portfolio in a favourable mining jurisdiction,” chairman Duncan Chessell said.

He noted that while the company had generated the George project due to the looming energy crisis, its geologists subsequently identified the HPSS opportunity in the context of increased commodity prices and the essential role played in the renewable energy sector.

“Our geology team, alongside other exploration activities, will undertake a low-cost Scoping Study this year to assess the HPSS potential with drilling, laboratory test work and marketing to evaluate the economic potential,” Chessell added.

“As HPSS is classified as an extractive mineral in South Australia, this could offer a relatively short timeframe for low-cost production.”

Sandy treasure

The George project is prospective for paleo-channel style uranium deposits, also known as Kazakhstan style roll-front mineralisation which makes up almost half of the world’s annual uranium production using low-impact and low-cost in situ recovery.

This deposit style is demonstrated to the east of the George Project in the well-recognised Frome Embayment with existing uranium mines such as Beverly and Four-Mile.

Analysis of the uranium potential will be undertaken in parallel with the HPSS Scoping Study.

Silica sand was unexpectedly encountered by Adavale Resources in 2009.

Petrology reports indicate the sand grains are very fine to fine grain (0.1mm to 0.5mm), polished, transparent, well-rounded and form part of the Eyre Formation.

Initial rotary air blast returned silica assays between 97% and 99% while subsequent reverse circulation holes returned improved quality with values exceeding 99% silica with analysis indicating that the material could be further upgraded through the removal of interstitial clay and iron oxide grains.

Next steps

Resolution will complete a full desktop review over the coming months, which will include the reprocessing of open source geophysical datasets and digitisation of historical drillhole data.

It will also seek to recover any existing historical drill cuttings via the South Australian core library and carry out analysis on the cuttings to confirm the high purity of the silica.

The company is already progressing a heritage survey, environmental approvals and land access notifications which it will follow-up with a reconnaissance trip to assess access and confirm surface geochemistry.

This article was developed in collaboration with Resolution 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.