Taiton’s Kingsgate acquisition could be a route to near-term molybdenum production

Taiton is acquiring the Kingsgate project, which has proven high-grade molybdenum mineralisation
Previous work includes extensive exploration and trial mining
Molybdenum is now considered a critical mineral in Australia

Special Report: It is no secret that Taiton Resources is interested in molybdenum, so it should come as no surprise that the company has applied for exploration licences over the advanced high-grade Kingsgate project in NSW.

Taiton Resources (ASX:T88) has long been a proponent of the metal that is used as an additive in alloy steels to improve strength, toughness, and weldability for a range of applications in manufacturing processes such as carmaking, shipbuilding and construction, as well as being used in the mining, chemical, oil & gas and energy industries.

Molybdenum is an irreplaceable critical component within the production of steel and stainless steel. This is why Taiton believes in the future of the metal.

Taiton has certainly proven its commitment by launching exploration at its Highway project in South Australia, which is thus far the only exploration project in the world looking for a primary molybdenum deposit.

The company’s belief in molybdenum was recently vindicated by the Australian Government which added the metal to its short list of resource commodities deemed to be “critical minerals” essential to our energy and security requirements.

For T88, this means that it would be eligible to apply for – though not guaranteed to receive – industry support programs like the $4 billion Critical Minerals facility to support the financing and development of projects.

Molybdenum itself has seen its value rise since 2010 to just over US$20/lb and is expected to grow further with Future Market Insights forecasting the market size will climb from an estimated US$315bn in 2023 to US$500bn in 2033.

Taiton Resources asx T88 — ELA 6699 and ELA 6702. Pic: Supplied (T88)

Near-term production potential

Given the recent developments, T88’s decision to apply for exploration licences ELA6699 and ELA6702 that have a total area of 309.8km2 is exquisitely timed.

The two licences cover the advanced Kingsgate project that saw extensive work by Auzex Resources between 2006 and 2010.

Kingsgate’s mining centre mine was the second largest producer of Molybdenum in Australia between the early 1880s and late 1920s with data sourced from Auzex indicating that a total of 350t of molybdenum and 200t of bismuth was produced.

This was enough to draw Auzex to carry out exploration including multiple drill programs in and around the historical mine workings, carrying out metallurgical studies, a scoping study, feasibility study and trial mining.

All this activity confirmed the high-grade nature of the molybdenum and bismuth mineralisation at Kingsgate with drilling identifying individual mineralised zones within larger mineralised zones.

Likewise, trial mining was successful in stockpiling substantial amounts of high-grade material and defining additional high-grade molybdenum pipe mineralisation that was not previously noted.

Bismuth appears to be finely disseminated throughout the pipe and immediate wall rock while molybdenum is very coarse, with up to fist-sized clumps of mineralisation.

Additionally, two structurally controlled zones of intense quartz-sericite alteration and mineralisation were recognised in the pit with the distinctive green colour of the alteration – which is associated with mined quartz pipe mineralisation – expected to aid in the visual identification of mineralisation when mining.

Exploration plan

Given the amount of work already completed at Kingsgate, T88 has every reason to believe that it has the potential to be a near-term production asset.

In recognition of this potential, it will review the historical dataset and reports while planning a field site visit to assess the area and meet the various stakeholders to further understand the project pending the final grant of the tenements.

One of its first objectives will be to investigate a process to establish a maiden JORC resource to advance the project towards a production phase.

“Taiton started with the conviction that the search for Molybdenum is a critical process and this is now confirmed with the inclusion into the Australian Critical Minerals list,” executive director Noel Ong said.

“The Kingsgate high-grade molybdenum project has a lot of historical work completed and this will allow Taiton to work more efficiently to take the project to the ultimate goal of creating a producing asset. Taiton is excited to work meticulously to make this project work.

“The historical drilling and subsequent work by Auzex Resources Limited between 2005 and 2009 show the robustness of the project. The fallout of the 2009 financial crisis and the subsequent perceived low value of molybdenum over the last 10 years has meant that Taiton is the beneficiary of the settling dust.

“The advanced work by Auzex with the completion of a Feasibility Study clearly shows that there is potential within the existing cluster of high-grade molybdenum quartz pipes and also, outside the known pipes to discover more molybdenum.”

He added that the company was confident that making Kingsgate stand on its merits was only a matter of process in the next quarter and that it was preparing itself to take advantage of the future decarbonisation environment as the economics and the future demand for molybdenum continue to improve.

This article was developed in collaboration with Taiton Resources, 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.