Minerals explorer Surefire Resources has been buoyed by an impressive independent estimate which has at least doubled the amount of vanadium it has lurking in its wholly owned Victory Bore-Unaly Hill project in WA’s Mid West region. The magnetic modelling suggests a significant upgrade in the high-grade vanadium and critical minerals project which could vault it into “world class” territory.
Overall, the new global exploration target estimate, or “ETE” for the entire vanadium project is a whopping 682 million tonnes to 1.19 billion tonnes at 0.2 per cent to 0.43 per cent vanadium pentoxide.
The impressive ETE for the Victory Bore tenement is calculated as 400 million tonnes to 666 million tonnes at 0.2 per cent to 0.43 per cent vanadium pentoxide and the target for the Unaly Hill tenement is calculated as 282 million tonnes to 524 million tonnes at 0.2 per cent to 0.43 per cent vanadium pentoxide.
The ETE was commissioned by Surefire following its recently increased mineral resource estimate at the Victory Bore of 321 million tonnes at 0.39 per cent vanadium pentoxide and used the company’s extensive knowledge of vanadium occurrences from its previous drilling and metallurgical work.
However, Surefire is careful to note the modelling is based purely on assumptions and absolutely needs to be confirmed by drilling and laboratory assay.
In order to produce these numbers, existing aeromagnetic data covering the Victory Bore and Unaly Hill tenements were used to undertake 3D inversion modelling. The work aimed to define undercover magnetic bodies that could give rise to the observed magnetic anomalies mapped using magnetic susceptibility; the property of a rock which produces magnetic anomalies.
Volumes of high density bodies, presumably iron rich, at depth, were converted into a tonnage. The company says using this method to model a vanadium resource is supported by the very high correlation between iron and vanadium content of the drilled resource. At Victory Bore, the vanadium grades are highly correlated to iron grade and the iron grade is highly correlated to the rock’s magnetic susceptibility. It follows then that there is a high correlation between vanadium grades and magnetic susceptibility.
As a check, the ETE methodology was compared to the recently announced mineral resource estimate. The Victory Bore portion of the deposit was calculated to a depth of 250m. It is noted the ETE was also calculated to a depth of 300m, confirming the accuracy of the ETE given the different depths used in both estimations.
Surefire Resources Managing Director, Paul Burton said: “The extensive linear continuity of the Victory Bore titanomagnetite and high vanadium grades where we have drilled provide a compelling prediction of the total scale of this vanadium project. When proven, it would place this project as one the world’s largest undeveloped vanadium resources and given its good location only 400km from port and proximal to existing infrastructure means it is a hugely valuable asset for Surefire shareholders.”
Surefire currently has its hands on 321 million tonnes at 0.40 per cent vanadium pentoxide, including 16.8 million tonnes measured and 70.3 million tonnes indicated at Victory Bore. If the exploration estimate is anywhere near correct, Surefire has more than double that to play with over the coming years.
Surefire’s Victory Bore vanadium project covers more than 87 square kilometres of prospective ground in WA’s Mid West, 560km north-east of Perth. The iron-vanadium mineralisation occurs within the massive Atley Intrusion, a layered, elongate, mafic body which runs along the axis of the regional scale Youanmi Fault, a regionally dominant geological feature. This intrusion has maximum thickness of 4.5km and a strike length of more than 20km. At Victory Bore, the two mineralised lodes already known have an average grade of up to 0.45 per cent vanadium pentoxide.
Additionally, a recent petrographic study conducted by CSIRO has confirmed the Victory Bore magnetite deposit can provide clean vanadium concentrate with relatively low titanium and deleterious elements.
Vanadium has seen its demand increase on the back of vanadium redox flow batteries which can be used in conjunction with solar, wind and other renewable energy sources and provide grid-scale storage.
Meaning it’s not a bad time to potentially have one of the nation’s largest undeveloped deposits of high-quality vanadium in your possession.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Matt Birney
