Marmota Limited (ASX: MEU) has identified the high-value titanium mineral leucoxene in historical drilling by former ASX-listed Flinders Mines (now Red Hawk Mining) across its Muckanippie project in South Australia, stretching the heavy mineral discovery’s potential strike length to 9 kilometres.
The company says a review of heavy mineral samples from drilling conducted in 2009 by Flinders Mines showed that 100 per cent of the valuable leucoxene was present in all concentrate samples. The minerals were observed via visual logging of heavy mineral concentrates under a stereomicroscope.
Leucoxene is a high-value, fine-grained, high titanium content titanium dioxide.
The samples were from drilling at the western edge of Marmota’s tenement boundary and immediately west of the tenement ground where the company made a heavy mineral discovery last November.
The historical samples from the west of the discovery zone potentially extend mineralisation at the site to an imposing 9km and confirm the presence of titanium in the western ground. Further drilling will be required to validate that it runs a total of 9km.
The Diatech Heavy Mineral Services laboratory tested two sample intervals in 2009. One hole was tested over a 4-metre interval from 15m and a further hole was tested from a depth of 27 metres to 30m.
Both holes returned 100pc leucoxene and notably, the distance between the two holes was 277m.
Marmota has interpreted a titanium-bearing paleochannel stretching east to west across its ground, with samples from both holes deemed to be within the interpreted feature.
Flinders was searching for micro-diamonds at the site, which were never discovered. This may have contributed to the impressive titanium test results not being published at the time.
We are delighted with the new extension to the west. The two holes tested by Flinders are 277m apart, were sampled at different depths and both feature 100pc high-value leucoxene in all observed heavy mineral concentrate samples. The potential strike of the company’s titanium heavy mineral sands discovery is now 9 km.
Marmota Chairman Dr Colin Rose
In November, the company revealed a head-turning discovery made after drilling a fenceline of four holes across part of a magnetic anomaly identified at the project.
Every hole yielded thick titanium dioxide hits with impressive numbers including 28m running 10.1pc, 36m going 6.2pc, 39m at 4.6pc and a solid 24m section grading 7.5pc, all beginning from surface.
Management followed up in January by announcing all the fenceline discovery holes returned bonanza heavy mineral grades, with 28m at 19.2pc heavy minerals and 36m going 13.5pc heavy minerals. This intercept included a 4m section grading an eye-opening 27.8pc heavy minerals.
The results from both holes showed mineralisation starting from surface.
The discovery remains open in all directions and at depth.
A geological review at Muckanippie, disclosed in January, identified a regional-scale paleochannel interpreted to extend across the company’s ground into neighbour Petratherm’s site, which revealed a similar discovery of titanium-rich grades in September.
The Geological Survey of South Australia’s recent GP2 project has also aided the new interpretation of the Mesozoic paleochannel.
The project defined the paleochannel to be up to 5km in width across Marmota’s ground, with the geological feature extending for about 28km along its landholding.
A paleochannel is the remains of a river or stream that has been preserved and either buried or filled in by sediment.
Titanium is on the critical minerals list of Australia and many of its major trading partners, including the United States, the European Union, Japan, India and South Korea. It has a range of uses in defence, semiconductors, energy storage and the production of metal alloys.
The mineral reflects 96pc of light and absorbs ultraviolet rays making it useful as a core ingredient in sunscreen, paints, cosmetics, plastics and protective coatings. It is strong, lightweight and corrosion-resistant making it ideal for extremely hot conditions such as in aeroplane engines and extremely cold environments like outer space.
Titanium is also commonly used to combat corrosive environments such as seawater.
Marmota may now be sitting on a potentially large project spread across a wide area, with the market demand for the mineral tipped by some pundits to almost double in the coming decade. This could all add up to the company sitting in an enviable position in the future.
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