Venture scores giant tin hit in Tasmania

Venture Minerals is scrubbing up its Tasmanian tin-tungsten play in rapid fire after drilling at its Mount Lindsay project rattled off a clutch of exemplary results including a monster 119.2 metre intersection grading 0.8 per cent tin and 0.2 per cent tungsten from 75.8m. Remarkably, Venture says the hole is still open, leaving the door ajar for further high-grade hits.

The 119.2 m hit housed a higher-grade 23.2m section at 1.6 per cent tin with 0.03 per cent tungsten, or 1.7 per cent tin equivalent from 75.8m.

Another longer intersection included 45m grading 1 per cent tin and 0.2 per cent tungsten or 1.2 per cent tin equivalent from 147.8m.

Venture says its latest probe is aimed at confirming the continuity of high-grade zones at the project and consolidating its metallurgical samples in preparation for a revised feasibility assessment for an underground mine.

The company says it has also received a number of outstanding assay results from a previous hole that has increased the grade and size of a stonking 147m intersection that originally went 1.0 per cent tin and 0.2 per cent tungsten. According to Venture, the intersection has now been scaled up to 213m with a grade of 0.7 per cent tin and 0.2 per cent tungsten from 90m.

Venture now says it has completed the drilling of the main tin magnetite skarn at the project’s high-grade Macdonald shoot and is currently targeting similar holes at its Radford shoot.

Venture Minerals Managing Director, Andrew Radonjic said:“The new drilling at Mount Lindsay continues to deliver outstanding tin intersections within the high-grade MacDonald Shoot beneath historical tin workings. The value of Mount Lindsay today continues to grow having already more than 80,000 tonnes of tin metal in JORC complaint resources at a time of record Tin prices.”

Venture's Mount Lindsay project covers close to 150 square kilometres in Tasmania's north-west and is regarded as one of the world's largest undeveloped tin prospects. According to recent estimates, the project boasts around 81,000 tonnes of contained tin and a tungsten resource of approximately 3.2 million metric tonne units of tungsten trioxide.

Mount Lindsay has been earmarked as a “critical minerals project” by the Australian Government given its advanced tin-tungsten enrichment. The classification could see Venture pick up a slice of a $2 billion credit facility to help fund the project’s development.

In recent times Mt Lindsay has been boosted by the discovery of two new skarn zones, one within the revered Renison Mine sequence and the other along strike from Mount Lindsay’s main tin deposits.

The nearby Renison Bell tin mine is widely considered to be one of the world’s largest and highest-grade tin mines and has to-date punched out over 230,000 tonnes of metal. Current estimates at Renison point to a resource of 18.55 million tonnes grading 1.57 per cent tin for a total of 291,600 tonnes of contained metal.

The timing of Venture’s massive tin hits looks to be exquisite, with the price of the lucrative metal trading at historical highs of around US$43,000 per tonne, in part due to its use as a feedstock in the production of electric vehicles.

In fact, the price of tin is remarkable when compared to the more traditional minerals of copper and nickel that trade at about a quarter the price of tin and a bit over half the price respectively.

Pundits will no doubt be following Venture's ongoing work at Mount Lindsay and if any signs point to a resource analogous to the nearby Renison Bell tin mine, the company could find itself with plenty to go after in a market ravenous for all things new energy.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au