Mineral Commodities Ltd ('MRC' or 'the Company') and its empowerment partner, Blue Bantry Investments 255 (Pty) Ltd, are pleased to announce that the Company's 50%5 owned subsidiary, Mineral Sands Resources (Pty) Ltd ('MSR') has delivered a high grade Maiden Mineral Resource from Prospecting Right (WC 30/5/1/1/2/10240PR) for the De Punt Inland Strands (also referred to as strandlines), to the south of the existing Western Strandline deposit adjacent to the current Tormin operation.
This Maiden Mineral Resource is reflective of the high grade drilling results from the De Punt Western Strand previously reported6 . This increase to the overall Mineral Resources at Tormin reflects the Company's focused commitment to its Strategic Plan7 aiming to increase Tormin's asset value by expanding mineral resources and reserves through organic growth with the aim of significantly increasing production and returning Tormin to historical profitability levels.
The Maiden Mineral Resource has been completed utilising funds raised by the Company's most recent Rights Issue, in accordance with the anticipated use of funds (De Punt Resource and Reserve drilling, adjacent to Tormin) set out in the corresponding offer document8 . The Mineral Resource was prepared in accordance with the Australian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC 2012) and is estimated at 66.1 million tonnes at 16.9% THM in the categories of Indicated and Inferred using a 2% THM cut-off grade. There is also significant potential to increase Mineral Resources given only one of the seven identified De Punt exploration targets have been drilled. The estimation was done by Manna Hill Geoconsulting, an independent geological and geostatistical consultancy. Pursuant to ASX Listing Rule 5.8.1, and in addition to the information contained in the body of this release, please refer to Appendix 1, JORC
Geology and Geological Interpretation
The western coastal plain of South Africa contains a significant resource of detrital heavy minerals sands by world standards. These Cenozoic age deposits are hosted in raised palaeomarine strandlines (deposited and preserved by transgression/ regression cycles) and in aeolian deposits of the West Coast Group and are unconformably underlain by basement rocks of the Mesoproterozoic Namakwa-Natal Metamorphic Province, the Neoproterozoic Gariep Supergroup, the Palaezoic Cape Supergroup and the unconsolidated Cretaceous age clayey and gravelly sands. The De Punt Western Strandline deposit is a classic west coast inland strandline mineral sands deposit with the grain size characteristics interpreted to support an offshore depositional setting, closer to the shoreline position. The strandline is generally of moderate to high grade VHM whilst overlying lithologies, Red Aeolian Sand (RAS), silcrete and Orange Feldspathic Sand (OFS) generally contain lower grade. The overlying lithologies generally form a blanket and are intersected by all drillholes. Lithologies below the strandline may only be intersected by one or several holes such as clayey and gravelly layers.
Resource Drilling
The first phase of drilling with a truck-mounted air core drill rig at the De Punt commenced in October 2022 and targeted ca.6,000m. A total of 169 drill holes (165 within the Western Strandline geophysical anomaly) was drilled for 6,018m, in fence lines 250m apart on 25m holes spacing in the southern section, and 500m lines apart and 25m hole spacing in the northern section. The strandline has good continuity between holes along strike and good continuity across strike however is of limited extent across strike. Grade continuity is moderate/high in the strandline domain and moderate in other domains. The strandline is a concentration of high grade VHM with the overlying lithologies which are generally Red Aeolian Sand (RAS), silcrete, dorbank and Orange Feldspathic Sand (OFS) containing lower grade mineralisation. RAS and OFS generally form a blanket and are intersected by all drilling whilst other domains generally occurring below the strandline such as clay and gravel may only be intersected by one or several holes. Due to the size of the drill rig used, including the air compressor, drilling on occasion proved difficult at depth where gravels and bedrock were encountered. Consequently, drillholes terminated either on bedrock or when gravel which prevented further penetration was encountered.
Estimation Methodology
The Mineral Resource estimation involved the use of drillholes and geology/topography to construct three-dimensional wireframes to define mineralised domains using Leapfrog software. These domains were primarily based on lithological logging. Domains were snapped to holes and extended about half the drill spacing from last holes along and across strike. Ordinary kriging was used as the primary estimator for the THM and Valuable Heavy Minerals values. A non-rotated parent block size of 15m x 15m x2m (sublocking down to 5m x 5m x 0.5m) reflects the geometry of the mineralised domains and drillhole spacing. The estimation was undertaken within Isatis-Neo software. All samples are 1m in length and compositing was not required. Kriging Neighbourhood analysis was used to optimise the search strategy for THM in the Strand domain and this search was used for all domains and variables. The same search was used for all variables to maintain correlations. The search dimensions were 1200m x 400m x 60m with the average sample to block distance for kriging the Strand domain being about 250m. Quadrant searching was used with a maximum of 7 samples per quadrant. Domain boundaries were treated as hard during kriging. Although the variable distributions are positively skewed outliers are not a significant issue and this was demonstrated via statistically assessing the impact of top cuts. Top cuts were not used in the resource estimate. The kriged estimate was statistically validated against inverse distance and nearest neighbour check estimates. The kriged estimates was also visually validated on cross sections for all variables. The bulk density is based on a calculation of the specific gravity of the silica and heavy mineral content fractions of each sample. It is therefore not fixed and fluctuates between 1.7 and 2.5 as per the formula: SG=1.68+(0.0095 x THM). The use of a bulk density algorithm is a standard industry practice for the estimation of mineral sands resource and is considered adequate for the definition of Inferred and Indicated resources
Mining and Metallurgical Parameters
Mining is through conventional open pit methods. The thickness and continuous nature of the mineralisation supports a non-selective bulk mining method. Material east, west and above the Strand domain is mostly low-grade resource so dilution is not a significant issue. Dilution needs to be managed for the lower contact of the Strand domain, particularly if this material is high in clay.
The Company believes there are no mining factors which affect the assumption that the deposit has reasonable prospects for economic mining. The metallurgical parameters have been taken from the metallurgical tests at Geelwal Karoo because the deposits are considered to be similar. The VHM mineral assemblage, low slimes and oversize are considered fit for an economic extraction. The RAS domain (from 0 to about 10m below surface) has high slimes (about 30%) and has been excluded from the resource
Contact:
Tel: +61 8 6373 8900
About Mineral Commodities Ltd
Mineral Commodities Ltd is a global mining and development company with a primary focus on the production of high-grade Mineral Sands and Natural Flake Graphite from operations in South Africa and Norway. The Company is a leading producer of zircon, rutile, garnet, magnetite, and ilmenite concentrates through its Tormin Mineral Sands Operation, located on the Western Cape of South Africa. The Company owns and operates the Skaland Graphite Operation in Norway, the world's highest-grade operating flake graphite mine and is the only producer in Europe. The planned development of the Munglinup Graphite Project, located in Western Australia, builds on the Skaland acquisition and is a further step toward an integrated, downstream value-adding strategy which aims to capitalise on the fast-growing demand for sustainably manufactured lithium-ion batteries. In April 2022, the Company released its Five-Year Strategic Plan 2022-202611 to delineate and implement its aspiration to become a leading vertically integrated diversified producer of 11 Refer ASX Announcement entitled 'MRC Unveils Five Year Strategic Plan 2022-2026' dated 29 April 2022. For further information, please contact: INVESTORS & MEDIA CORPORATE Adam
Competent Persons Statement
The information in this Announcement related to Sampling Techniques and Data, and Exploration Results is based on information compiled and has been approved for release by Ms Thuli Hlela. Ms Hlela is a Registered Professional Natural Scientist ('Pr.Sci.Nat') with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions ('SACNASP') and a member of Geological Society of South Africa ('GSSA'), a Recognised Professional Organisation ('RPO'). She is Mineral Resources Manager of Mineral Sands Resources ('MSR') and a full-time employee of the Company. She has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and types of deposit under consideration and to the activity she is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person in accordance with the JORC Code (2012). Ms Hlela consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on this information in the form and context in which it appears. The information in this Announcement related to Mineral Resources is based on information compiled and approved for release by Mr. Chris De-Vitry, who is a member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy ('AusIMM') and the Australian Institute of Geoscientists ('AIG'). Mr. De-Vitry is a Principal Consultant at Manna Hill ABN 39 008 478 653 info@mncom.com.au Page 14 www.mncom.com.au ASX: MRC ASX: MRC 24 May 2023 GeoConsulting Pty Ltd. He has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and types of deposit under consideration and to the activity, he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person in accordance with the JORC Code (2012). The information from Mr. De-Vitry was prepared under the JORC Code (2012). Mr. DeVitry consents to the inclusion in this ASX release in the form and context in which it appears
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