Heron Resources Limited
Suite 702, 191 Clarence St., Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
[email protected]
+61 2 9119 8111
ASX/TSX Release
6 January 2017
ABN: 30 068 263 098
Ardea Resources Limited
KNP Cobalt Zone - Australia's Premier Cobalt Resource
Heron Resources Limited (Heron or Company) is pleased to advise that its wholly owned subsidiary, Ardea Resources Limited (Ardea), has completed an independent Resource Statement for the cobalt-rich portions of the Kalgoorlie Nickel Project (KNP). The KNP Cobalt Zone is a key element of Ardea's IPO and listing on ASX, planned for February 2017.
The new estimate for the KNP Cobalt Zone is 49.7Mt at 0.12% cobalt and 0.86% nickel, occurring within three separate KNP centres (Table 1). The global cobalt resource for the full KNP remains unchanged at 805Mt at 0.05% cobalt and 0.7% nickel using a 0.5% Ni cut-off grade1.
Ardea completed a review of the KNP in late 2016, concluding that the KNP as a whole comprises Australia's and the
developed world's largest cobalt resource2.
The KNP Cobalt Zone is located 50-150km north and northeast of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia (Figures 1 & 2), a favoured investment jurisdiction with excellent infrastructure that can facilitate ethical cobalt production for green energy.
Independent firm Ridley Mineral Resource Consulting Pty Limited (RMRC) has reported the following Mineral Resources within the five cobalt-rich prospect areas based on identified zones of continuous elevated cobalt mineralisation using a
0.08 % Co cut-off in these areas:
Table 1 - KNP Cobalt Zone - Resource Statement from RMRC
|
Area
|
Prospect
|
Resource category
|
Cutoff
(% Co)
|
Size
(Mt)
|
Co Ni MgO* FeO* Al2O3* SiO2* CaO* Mn* Cr*
(%) % % % % % % % %
|
|
Goongarrie
|
Goongarrie
|
Measured
|
0.08
|
3.4
|
0.14
|
1.19
|
1.6
|
47
|
6.3
|
17
|
0.16
|
1.02
|
1.27
|
|
South
|
Indicated
|
0.08
|
11.2
|
0.11
|
0.92
|
1.8
|
43
|
6.2
|
23
|
0.78
|
0.71
|
1.20
|
|
Inferred
|
0.08
|
1.4
|
0.11
|
0.76
|
1.8
|
39
|
5.9
|
30
|
0.32
|
0.74
|
1.20
|
|
Big Four
|
Indicated
|
0.08
|
4.5
|
0.11
|
0.89
|
1.6
|
40
|
5.3
|
32
|
0.68
|
0.76
|
1.07
|
|
Inferred
|
0.08
|
0.2
|
0.11
|
0.95
|
1.6
|
38
|
4.2
|
36
|
0.25
|
0.73
|
1.09
|
Scotia Dam Inferred 0.08 2.9 0.14 0.88 3.2 34 4.4
Goongarrie subtotal 23.6 0.12 0.94
|
Siberia
|
Black Range
|
Inferred
|
0.50(Ni)
|
20.1 0.10 0.75
|
7.9
|
28
|
6.7
|
|
Yerilla
|
Aubils
|
Inferred
|
0.08
|
6.0 0.15 0.90
|
6.4
|
33
|
4.7
|
31
|
4.57
|
0.91
|
KNP Cobalt Zone TOTAL 49.7 0.12 0.86
*Estimates for MgO, FeO, Al2O3, SiO2, CaO, Mn and Cr are provided for reference only and do not constitute Mineral Resources
Goongarrie South, Big Four and Scotia Dam are effectively a contiguous mineralized belt
1 See Annexures 1 and 2 for full KNP categories. The breakdown for the full KNP resource categories is as follows:
|
Resource Category
|
Quantity (Mt)
|
Co (%)
|
Ni (%)
|
|
Measured
|
9.6
|
0.081
|
1.02
|
|
Indicated
|
244.0
|
0.052
|
0.75
|
|
KNP Total Measured and Indicated
|
253.6
|
0.052
|
0.76
|
|
Inferred
|
551.7
|
0.046
|
0.68
|
|
KNP Total Resources
|
805.3
|
0.048
|
0.70
|
2 By contained cobalt metal. Source of data: SNL Metals & Mining database (www.snl.com)
Vale Inco3 completed a $34.5 million Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) on the KNP in 2009 concluding that it is "one of the most prospective nickel laterite tenement packages in the world" and "the KNP tenements form one of the largest potential nickel laterite deposits in the world".
RMRC has prepared the 2017 updated Resource Statement using modified reporting criteria for cobalt abundances in existing resource models that were previously prepared by Snowden Mining Industry Consultants (Snowden) and Heron.
This update describes the current publicly reported Mineral Resources for five prospect areas within the KNP known to contain cobalt-rich mineralisation. Two of the estimates, completed by Snowden in 2004, formed part of Heron's early assessment of the Scotia Dam and Black Range prospect areas.
Estimates for the Goongarrie South and Big Four prospects were completed by Heron in 2009 as part of a KNP PFS update following an initial PFS completed by Vale Inco in 2009. The current estimate for Aubils was by Heron in 2008 as part of feasibility assessment of the Yerilla Nickel Project.
The KNP Cobalt Zone is associated with a distinctive geo-metallurgical type defined as "Clay Upper Pyrolusitic". Mineralogy is goethite, gibbsite and cobaltian pyrolusite (strictly "asbolite" or "cobaltian wad"). Each of the cobalt-rich zones typically occurs as a sub-horizontal body (Figure 4) at a palaeo-water table within the KNP (and developed as a late stage supergene enrichment). This material is particularly well developed at Goongarrie South, which will be the focus area for Ardea's cobalt development studies.
Figure 1 - Ardea Resources Limited, Kalgoorlie Nickel Project showing KNP Cobalt Zones reviewed by RMRC
3 Vale Inco has not consented to the use of the PFS in this announcement.
Figure 2 - Ardea Resources Limited, Project Locations showing KNP Cobalt Zones and regional infrastructure
Based on the contained cobalt metal within the deposit, the KNP is Australia's largest cobalt deposit (Table 2, Figure 3). By this measure, it is more than three times larger than Australia's second largest cobalt deposit. The newly-defined cobalt resource from the high-grade KNP Cobalt Zone is a subset within the larger KNP resource, and the subset by itself is Australia's fourth largest cobalt resource. The KNP Cobalt Zone also is amongst the highest cobalt grades in Australia (Tables 2 & 3). In terms of global cobalt resources, the KNP is the premier resource within stable western jurisdictions.
The updated resource reporting for cobalt-rich zones provides a basis for KNP remodelling work planned by Ardea that is focused on cobalt grade shells. Quantifying the cobalt-rich mineralisation at the KNP marks the first part of a refocussing for the KNP onto the cobalt component of the deposit.
Forthcoming drilling and metallurgical studies will move the KNP towards a PFS focussing on cobalt-nickel-manganese feedstocks for thelithium ion battery industry (Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide - LiNiMnCoO2 or NMC).
Table 2 - Ardea Benchmarks, ASX-listed companies ranked by contained cobalt metal
|
Company
|
Size
(Mt)
|
Co
(%)
|
Co metal
(kt)
|
Project
|
Mineralisation style
|
|
1
|
Ardea Resources
|
805
|
0.05%
|
386.4
|
Kalgoorlie Nickel Project, WA
|
Laterite Ni-Co
|
|
2
|
CleanTeq Holdings
|
109
|
0.10%
|
114
|
Syerston, NSW
|
Laterite Ni-Co-Sc
|
|
3
|
GME Resources
|
108
|
0.06%
|
65.1
|
NiWest Project, WA
|
Laterite Ni-Co
|
|
4
|
Ardea Resources
|
50
|
0.12%
|
59.6
|
KNP Cobalt Zone, WA
|
Laterite Co-Ni-Mn
|
|
5
|
Conico Limited
|
32
|
0.12%
|
39.3
|
Mt Thirsty, WA
|
Laterite Ni-Co
|
|
6
|
Cobalt Blue Hlding
|
36
|
0.08%
|
30.0
|
Broken Hill, NSW
|
Co sulphide
|
|
7
|
Regal Resources
|
4
|
0.72%
|
29.1
|
Kalongwe, DRC
|
Cu-Co sulphide
|
|
8
|
Havilah Resources
|
18
|
0.10%
|
17.5
|
Mutooroo, NSW
|
Cu-Co sulphide
|
|
9
|
CuDeco Limited
|
57
|
0.03%
|
16.7
|
Rocklands, Qld
|
Cu-Au-Co sulphide
|
|
10
|
Mithril Resources
|
27
|
0.05%
|
13.4
|
Leaky Bore, NT
|
Cu-Co sulphide
|
|
11
|
Platina Resources
|
9
|
0.15%
|
12.6
|
Owendale, NSW
|
Laterite Ni-Co-Sc
|
|
12
|
Independence Gp
|
14
|
0.08%
|
11.4
|
Nova-Bollinger, WA
|
Ni-Cu-Co sulphide
|
|
13
|
Augur Resources
|
16
|
0.05%
|
8.2
|
Homeville, NSW
|
Laterite Ni-Co
|
|
14
|
Cougar Metals
|
10
|
0.07%
|
7.1
|
Pyke Hill, WA
|
Laterite Ni-Co
|
|
15
|
Hammer Metals
|
6
|
0.11%
|
6.5
|
Millenium, Qld
|
Cu-Au-Co sulphide
|
ARDEA RESOURCES
ARDEA RESOURCES
Figure 3 - Ardea Benchmarks, ASX-listed companies ranked by contained cobalt metal