Graphite, copper, and uranium are amongst the critical minerals at the heart of the world’s transition to a low-carbon economy and with demand increasing, companies like Kingsland Minerals with exposure to that trifecta are perfectly placed to help meet the supply shortfall.

There’s no question the transition to a net-zero economy will be metal intensive, the question is where will the supply come from?

Industry experts say we need over 300 new mines to feed a 500% increase in battery demand by 2035, one heck of a task by anyone’s standards.

But if mining juniors play their cards right, prove up resources, scale, and establish a clear plan to enter production in the timeframe required, explorers could see themselves in a very strong position, especially those in tier-1 jurisdictions like Australia.

 

Maiden uranium JORC resource within nine months of ASX listing

One such company is Northern Territory-based Kingsland Minerals (ASX:KNG), operating in the small mining town of Pine Creek, home to some of Australia’s most significant and highest grade uranium deposits.

The stock listed on the ASX in June 2022 and hit the ground running at the Allamber uranium project with a 30-hole drill program in the second half of 2022 hitting grades up to 16m at 1,425 parts per million U308 from 116m.

In less than nine months, a maiden JORC resource has been revealed – 5Mlbs of U308 with an Inferred Resource of 6.8Mt grading 345ppm U308 at a 150ppm cut off that reflects the shallow nature of mineralisation and its amenability to potential open pit mining methods.

It is testament to the hard yards put in by KNG’s board of directors who between them hold about 100 years of combined experience in the resources sector spanning exploration, production, development, management, and marketing.

KNG’s managing director Richard Maddocks says with the resource estimate now in place there is scope for further expansion with unfinished work such as looking into the mineralisation open along strike and at depth.

“Who knows where the uranium price is going to go in the next year or so, but we are really well-placed to take advantage of it if prices go up,” he explains.

“There’s been a long history of uranium production, exploration, and development in the Northern Territory since the 1950’s, very soon after the second world war when countries like Britain and the USA needed uranium to fuel weapons programs, and after that, nuclear programs,” he explains.

“But not so much in the Pine Creek area, where we are – most of the focus has been on the other side of Arnhem Land so we’re in a nice little area with a fairly broad, supportive history of exploration, no Native Title claims or determinations over the project and with existing infrastructure and support like roads, accommodation, fuel and drilling companies already available.”

 

A bit of graphite potential too

Kingsland Minerals’ Leliyn graphite project is also shaping up as a prospect of significant size and grade potential following the return of historical drilling results with graphitic schists up to 100m wide over 20 km length.

The sampled holes, initially targeting copper and uranium mineralisation, were retrospectively sampled with composite samples from 3m to 13m in length.

Maddocks says the company is particularly excited about the potential at Leliyn, especially since the recent delivery of an Exploration Target between 200Mt and 250Mt grading 8% to 11% total graphitic content for contained graphite of 16Mt to 27Mt.

While no replacement to a JORC resource estimate, the target provides a starting point for the company to carry out further work that will lead to the definition of a mineral resource.

“We are in the final phases of getting approvals for drilling and once that comes through we will be up there as soon as the ground dries from the very, very wet season they have had up there probably in late April or early May,” he says.

“Drilling will focus on a 5km section of the total 20km length of graphitic schists within our tenement package and consist of a ground-based electromagnetic survey to provide more accurate locations of the hanging wall and foot.

“It might also provide information on areas of more intense graphite mineralisation and therefore areas of potential higher grade.”

 

And throw in a bit of copper for good measure

While focus has laid predominantly on the uranium and graphite projects, Maddocks says the Allamber is also prospective for copper, with previous drilling having returned significant assay results from the Hatrick, Nipper, Tarpon, and Ox-Eyed Herring prospects.

Kingsland Minerals plans to carry out geophysical surveys along the granite/intrusive contact which was the focus of previous drilling to test for the presence of massive sulphide mineralisation containing copper.

Previous drilling had intersected such sulphides and the Independent Geologist in the IPO prospectus considers there is potential to delineate additional sulphide mineralisation.

 

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Kingsland 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.

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