Suvo moving to acquire White Hill silica sand project in WA

Special Report: Suvo Strategic Minerals (ASX:SUV) is expanding its silica sand portfolio with the proposed acquisition of the White Hill project that is highly prospective for high purity silica sand.

The acquisition of exploration licence E70/4981 in Western Australia’s Muchea region just 50km north of Perth provides the company with the potential to explore for high quality silica sand that targets different end user markets from its existing asset portfolio.

Adding interest, the licence not only shares the western boundary with VRX Silica’s (ASX:VRX) Muchea silica sand project, which has an Inferred and Indicated resource of 208 million tonnes grading 99.6% silica, it also hosts a continuation of the aeolian dune system found within VRX’s project.

White Hill is also strategically located next to the Brand Highway, with existing rail cart logistics in place and direct access to the Kwinana bulk terminal.

“To secure such a large tenement of land that is prospective for high quality silica sand for such a minimal upfront outlay is a significant outcome for our shareholders and strengthens our already impressive silica sand assets,” executive chairman Robert Martin said.

“Our neighbours to the East have reported significant high quality grades over large volumes and we believe that the dune system that is producing this continues through this tenement.

“We are excited to progress this project and to test its potential to provide material suitable to meet the stringent requirements for high end materials including inputs for specialty glass for solar panels and mobile phone, as well as high-capacity lithium-ion (Li-ion or LIB) rechargeable batteries.”

Silica sands market

Suvo notes that according to Up Market Research, the Asia Pacific Silica Sand Market was valued at about US$5.3bn in 2019 and is projected to reach US$8.3bn by 2027.

This is due to rising demand for glass containers as well as from the construction, foundry, chemical production and other industries.

Growth of the glass and construction sectors, which are reliant on silica sand, has been hampered by the difficulties caused by COVID 19 which has limited transportation and production across the globe.

This has led governments to actively try and increase production of the commodities and get revenue generation back on track, which is forecast to provide growth to the silica sand market.

Silica sand is also used in solar panel production and specialty glass for electronic components.

This article was developed in collaboration with Suvo Strategic 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.