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Resources Top 5: Mineral sands monster Thunderbird is a go, WA lithium exploration kicks up a gear
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- Forrestania Resources will raise $2.7m to drill namesake “Tier 1 lithium exploration project” in WA
- Sheffield and JV partner Yansteel make final investment decision to develop Thunderbird mineral sands project
- A lithium exploration program is “progressing ahead of expectations” at Kula Gold’s Brunswick project
Here are the biggest small cap resources movers in early trade, Friday October 7.
FORRESTANIA RESOURCES (ASX:FRS)
FRS will raise $2.7m (before costs) to drill the company’s namesake “Tier 1 lithium exploration project” in WA.
The placement will be done at 15c per share, a 13% discount to the last closing price, and a 25% discount to the 10-day VWAP.
“Today’s announcement that funding has been secured for drilling and exploration at Forrestania is an exciting development for the Company and the geology team and underpins the Company’s belief in the project as a Tier 1 lithium exploration project,” CEO Angus Thomson says.
“This is an exciting time as we move towards lithium-focused drill programs and our ongoing soil sampling programs to refine existing anomalies and identify new areas to explore.”
Forrestania is prospective for significant lithium, gold and nickel discoveries, FRS says.
An initial RC drill program of ~1,500m has been planned for the December quarter, which will test lithium targets at Bounty East and the Gem Mine (part of the broader Gemcutter prospect).
Drilling in 2016 at Gemcutter returned 34m @ 3.1% Li2O from the Giant Pegmatite prospect, ~1km north of the Gem mine.
The $8.5m market cap stock is up 25% over the past week, and 8% over the past month.
REWARD MINERALS (ASX:RWD)
(Up on no news)
This WA potash play is focused on the Kumpupintil Lake project, which hosts “Australia’s largest high-grade brine SOP deposit in a region with the highest evaporation rate”.
In August, RWD – after years of testing — announced the development of new processing tech which could “significantly improve the game for the SOP industry”.
The company has since lodged an international patent and commenced a scoping study for Kumpupintil Lake based on the new technology.
The study is expected to be completed early in 2023 and demonstrate substantially improved project economics.
“Further, as the new Reward process has flexibility for recovery of SOP from many lake and sea water derived potash brines, Reward has commenced initial discussions with several operating and developing solar salt/potash companies in Australia to examine the potential for involvement with these entities and a commercial outcome for Reward,” it says.
The $23m market cap stock is up 5% over the past month.
SHEFFIELD RESOURCES (ASX:SFX)
SFX and JV partner Yansteel have made a final investment decision to develop the monster Thunderbird mineral sands project in northern WA.
The $484m project is now fully funded through to first production — which remains on target for Q1 2024 — through senior debt facilities of $315m and equity investment of $169m.
Site construction activities are more than 40% complete, SFX says.
With an estimated mine life of +36 years, Thunderbird boasts the world’s largest high grade zircon reserve.
It will produce 6.5% of the world’s supply once it is up and running.
Zircon’s primary use is in the ceramics industry to make things like tiles and plates opaque.
But it also has a high melting point and is corrosion resistant, making it useful in the manufacturing process for foundry moulds, refractory bricks, and molten metal moulds.
And it’s increasingly being used in new-age electronics, as well as engines and spacecraft.
China is the largest user of zircon, consuming almost half of global supply for its massive construction industry.
The $172m market cap stock is up 17% over the past week, and 13% over the past month.
OLYMPIO METALS (ASX:OLY)
(Up on no news)
OLY — formerly a failed hemp stock called Croplogic — re-listed as a WA gold, nickel, and lithium explorer in May this year after raising $6m at 20c per share.
In August, it identified numerous pegmatite intersections in historic drilling at its Mulwarrie project near Kalgoorlie, in the same province as Red Dirt’s (ASX:RDT) Mt Ida lithium project.
Mapping and sampling of newly identified areas were “to commence immediately”, it said 16 August.
Later the same month OLY defined a couple of priority gold targets at the Halls Creek project.
“Our on-field exploration and systematic data-compilation have highlighted several areas at the Rubens and Figaro prospects that are under-explored and require follow-up drilling,” OLY managing director Sean Delaney said 29 August.
“The Olympio exploration team will be back in the field in this week, refining these drill targets and working towards our maiden drill program in Q4 this year.”
The $7.8m market cap stock is slightly up on its relisting price.
KULA GOLD (ASX:KGD)
A lithium exploration program is “progressing ahead of expectations” at the Brunswick project, near the world-class Greenbushes lithium mine in WA’s southwest.
KGD is turning up extensive prospective areas and as a result the scheduled program is being extended “to ensure that as many as possible are systematically mapped and sampled”.
Samples are being submitted to the laboratory for assay weekly and results and analysis will be reported in due course, the company says.
In late September KGD announced plans to raise $1.8m to fast-track its WA lithium exploration and “assess new opportunities in the sector”.
The $10m market cap stock is up 40% over the past week, and 33% over the past month.
