Pic: Schroptschop / E+ via Getty Images
Mining
Hyperion Metals has released the maiden resource estimate (MRE) for its Titan Project which it says establishes it as the largest titanium, zircon, and rare earths minerals project in the USA – and confirms Tennessee as a new major critical mineral province.
The Titan project has a total mineral resource of 431 million tonnes at 2.2% total heavy minerals (THM) containing 9.5 million tonnes THM at 0.4% cut-off, with 241 million tonnes (56%) classified in the indicated resource category.
This includes a high-grade core of 195 million tonnes at 3.7% THM, containing 7.1 million tonnes THM at a 2% cut-off.
The THM consists of 12% zircon, 10% rutile, 40% ilmenite and 2% rare earth elements (REE) concentrate, and the mineralisation occurs in a single, large, near-surface deposit.
Hyperion Metals (ASX:HYM) says the combination of the grade, the high value THM assemblage as well as the low-cost jurisdiction and existing infrastructure highlights the potential to build a low-to-zero carbon, world-class critical mineral business in the US.
The US is one of the largest global consumers of finished products containing these metals but is currently 100% reliant on imports – which is the driving force behind securing domestic supply chains for industry.
And the company is confident it could play a key role in securing these supply chains.
“Hyperion’s mission is to sustainably re-shore the production of American critical minerals and metals, and this maiden MRE is a crucial step towards this goal,” Hyperion CEO and managing director Anastasios Arima said.
“The maiden MRE has immediately established the Titan Project as a major, untapped potential source of critical minerals rich in titanium, zircon and heavy and light rare earths.
“The combination of scale and grade of these high value, critical minerals – in a low risk, low cost and low tax jurisdiction – has the potential to drive significant value creation.
“Together with our breakthrough titanium technologies and the strong partnerships we are building with industry, we believe we can deliver a sustainable US critical supply chain that will create long term value for the communities of west Tennessee, future offtake partners and our shareholders.”
The company reckons the Titan project is amenable to low cost and low impact minerals and extraction techniques such as dozer push followed by an industry standard mineral processing flowsheet.
The project also has a major logistical advantage with 150,000km of highway putting Tennessee within a day’s drive of most US consumer markets. The Titan project is also amongst the third largest rail centre in the US and has four commercial airports and 1600km of navigable waterways adjacent to it.
This means it would have a lower carbon intensity supply chain which would also result in lower costs for consumers, including the world’s largest pigment plant, which consumes titanium minerals as a feedstock, and is located around 20 miles away by road.
And the region is a low-cost jurisdiction for renewable power (US$0.06/kWh), biodiesel (US$0.94/l) and labour (US$50k per annum) which are major input costs in typical mineral sands operations.
The MRE is based on 107 drill holes totalling 4,101m – but there’s potential to grow with another 109 drill holes for 3,566m which are in the final stages of analysis and will be incorporated into an upgraded MRE.
Hyperion also expects that accelerated land consolidation will create a platform for ongoing growth of the MRE.
This article was developed in collaboration with Hyperion Metals, 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.
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