Dart Mining (ASX: DTM) has revived its hunt for antimony in Victoria in light of the metal’s recent price appreciation on the back of China’s decision to imposing export controls over the silvery-white metal.
The company has this morning confirmed it has completed a review of the antimony prospectivity at its Rushworth project and tenements within the Tallandoon goldfields of Victoria – a region boasting a rich history in antimony production.
Management says the Rushworth project is surrounded by significant antimony prospectivity, including TSX-listed Mandalay Resources’ Costerfield gold-antimony mine and operations run by ASX-listed neighbours, Southern Cross Gold and Nagambie Resources.
Nagambie recently reported a maiden resource including 17,800 tonnes of contained antimony. The company holds tenements covering a large area to the east of Dart’s Rushworth project and has a joint venture (JV) agreement with Southern Cross over its Whroo and Redcastle gold and antimony fields that lie immediately to the south of Rushworth.
The company’s share price jumped from a low of just 0.7c in late July to an intraday trading high of 3c just a month later – a spike of more than 328 per cent – on the back of the antimony content at its Victorian mine, which is says has Australia’s highest grades.
Rushworth lies on the eastern boundary of central Victoria’s Melbourne zone. It is in a geological region with a long history of antimony production, with antimony being the State’s second-most notably produced metallic commodity after gold.
The antimony found in the area is understood to be associated with a mineralising event that occurred some 380 million years ago and is focused on the boundary between the Bendigo and Melbourne geological zones. The event is believed to contribute largely to the mineralisation associated with the exceptionally high-grade gold-antimony shows at Costerfield, Fosterville and Southern Cross’ Sunday Creek deposit.
Intriguingly, Dart notes that the known structural trends of the Whroo, Redcastle and Costerfield mineralisation all extend into its greater Rushworth project and applications. Additionally, it notes that grab samples from close to its Tallandoon goldfields project have returned antimony grades as high as 6.48 per cent.
The Company has long regarded antimony as a valuable commodity and is happy to see the increased recognition the critical mineral is now receiving. The company’s commitment to antimony exploration is well-documented, with the application over the extension of the Whroo, Redcastle and Costerfield mineralised trends well-advanced and sampling conducted in 2020 and 2023 returning positive antimony results.
Dart Mining Chairman James Chirnside
The company has an exploration license application over a prospective region of the Melbourne zone field, north of the Redcastle and Costerfield antimony resources. Following native title considerations, management remains confident the tenement will be granted – as early as October – and then field reconnaissance programs and sampling will begin in a bid to uncover the ground’s gold-antimony prospectivity.
China is the world’s biggest producer of antimony with a 56 per cent market share. The country’s decision to control exports of the critical mineral has been viewed, in part, as a tit-for-tat response to the increasingly confrontational stand by the United States’ Biden administration against China gaining an upper hand in the AI and chip manufacturing sectors.
It has also come as China is looking to safeguard its strategic reserves of antimony – a critical mineral used extensively in solar panels, military applications and electronics – given its significantly-reduced domestic production in recent years.
For all of the above reasons and an already surging demand for antimony, the commodity’s price is sitting at near all-time highs of US$24,000 (AU$35,600) per tonne.
Dart has also recently set its sights on its wider gold prospects and much further north than the frosty goldfields of Victoria it recently acquired the 118,000-ounce Triumph gold project in Queensland for $1 million in cash and $1 million in shares. Sitting 70km north-west of the 2.8 million-ounce Mt Rawdon mine and 80km south-east of the massive 8 million-ounce Mt Morgan mine, the immediate project area has a rich history, with gold first discovered there in 1871.
The project covers an interpreted intrusion-related system and sits primarily within the Norton Tonalite. With geology characterised by gold and silver mineralisation hosted in quartz-sulphide veins – and featuring substantial pyrite and arsenopyrite content – management believes the project has the potential to host both high-grade vein and large-scale, shear-hosted gold deposits.
Dart is adamant it will be able to add value to Triumph by using its wholly-owned drill rigs and says Queensland’s favourable prospectivity for million-ounce-plus gold deposits will provide an important strategic balance with its Victorian orogenic gold and now antimony projects.
And with antimony squarely in the spotlight of market investors, the company’s next moves in relation to the hot commodity will be an intriguing watch.
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