New Heavy Mineral Sands Discoveries and Extensions at Tanga South
Sydney, Feb 6, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Strandline Resources Ltd (
ASX:STA) (STQNF:OTCMKTS) is pleased to announce Aircore (AC) drilling results for the heavy mineral sands (HMS) mineralised corridor south of Tanga (Tanga South) confirms the discovery of multiple new higher grade deposits at Tajiri and Pangani-Tongoni tenements and shows potential to significantly extend the existing Tajiri Mineral Resources.
Early geophysical and geochemical analysis at Tanga North (Kitambula) confirms a series of large coherent HMS mineralised zones at surface, ready for target drilling and Mineral Resource delineation by the Company.
These results re-affirm the increasing HMS scale potential and commerciality of Strandline Resources' tenement portfolio in the Tanga Region, spreading over 100km's of contiguous coastline. This announcement summarises the key results from the recent Tanga regional AC drilling and reconnaissance programmes:
HIGHLIGHTS:
- New HMS Discoveries at Tanga South - Assay results from drilling key targets has confirmed the discovery of two new higher grade HMS deposits; Tajiri T4 and Vumbi located north of Pangani village:
o Both HMS discoveries occur from surface and were discovered by drilling coincident topographic and radiometric features.
o Tajiri T4 is defined by a 3.2km long mineralised zone, 200 - 400m wide and 6 - 9m thick. Higher grade results include: 9m thick @ 6.7% THM, 6m @ 4.5% THM, 6m @ 4.0% THM and 7.5m @ 3.3% THM.
o Vumbi mineralisation is some 4.0km long, up to 400m wide with holes along strike ending the mineralisation at 15m deep. Higher grade drill results include: 15m @ 4.2% THM including 9m @ 5.5% THM, 18m @ 3.6% THM including 12m @ 4% THM and 7.5m @ 5.2% THM.
- Confirmation of Sizeable Tanga South (Tajiri) Mineralisation Extension - Drilling at Tajiri T1 has defined a 1.6km long mineralised zone extension 600m wide, at surface and up to 13.5m thick:
o Higher grade drill results include 6m @ 4.8% THM, 13.5m @ 4.0% THM including 7.5m @ 5.4% THM and 9m @ 3.6% THM including 3m @ 5.6% THM.
o The extension zone shows a high value, titanium dominated mineral assemblage similar to the initial Tajiri Indicated Mineral Resources (59Mt @ 3.7% THM) containing 87% valuable heavy mineral (VHM) including 68% ilmenite, 10% rutile, 5% zircon and 4% leucoxene.
o Further infill drilling of the extension zone to be undertaken to delineate the higher grade THM prior to an update to the Mineral Resource estimate.
- Tanga North Priority Drill Targets Defined - Geophysical and geochemical analysis from a series of radiometric anomalies at Kitambula confirms coherent mineralised zones with strong potential to grow the Mineral Resource inventory in the Tanga Region. AC resource drilling planned from April 2017.
Strandline's Managing Director and CEO, Luke Graham commented, "These drill results provide a positive step towards building more Mineral Resources in the Tanga Region and further demonstrates the potential scale and grade of a Tanga operation.
"The Company will now undertake resource infill drilling to define the higher grade boundaries of the new discoveries at Tanga South, while also embarking on the highly prospective Tanga North maiden drill programme."
Tanga Region Exploration - Delineating a Series of High Grade Deposits
The Company has received assay results from its next phase of exploration drilling across the Tanga South tenements at Tajiri and Pangani-Tongoni, located near the port infrastructure of Tanga in north-east Tanzania.
Recent exploration has been very successful in identifying at least two new promising discoveries at Tajiri and the Pangani-Tongoni tenements and confirming a significant higher grade HMS mineralisation extension zone south of the current Tajiri Indicated Mineral Resource (19mt @ 5.1% THM). With some additional infill drilling in the next campaign from April 2017, the Company is confident of increasing its high grade Mineral Resources inventory in this highly mineralised coastal corridor (refer Figure 2 in the link below).
Further, the Company has qualified the HMS prospectivity of the Tanga North (Kitambula) area through geophysics and reconnaissance and will prioritise drilling multiple higher grade targets in the next campaign
In parallel with exploration, the Company will progress an internal concept evaluation of project development options and strategies. This includes consideration of a hub style operation in the Tanga Region based on mining a series of 'economic grade' HMS deposits along the 100% owned tenement package.
TANGA SOUTH TAJIRI - DELINEATION OF MINERAL RESOURCES
A total of 302 holes for 3,006m were drilled along the 25km Tajiri mineralised corridor during the AC campaign in the December quarter. All sample intervals were submitted for THM analysis and the results are summarised as follows:
Tajiri T1 HMS Resource Extension
The mineralisation from the Tajiri Mineral Resource has been extended some 1600m further to the south with a 200 - 600m wide zone of lower grade mineralisation flanking a 200 - 300m wide zone of higher grade with good continuity across and along strike. The mineralisation begins at surface with thicknesses ranging from 6 - 12m. Infill drilling and a Mineral Resource upgrade of the extended Tajiri Resource (currently 19mt @ 5.1% THM) is planned for next season's drill campaign from April-2017.
Tajiri T4 HMS Discovery
The Tajiri T4 prospect is defined over 3,200m of strike forming a narrow arcuate radiometric and topographic high some 200 to 400m wide. The drill results have delineated a higher grade core that has shown solid intervals of mineralisation from individual holes some 200m apart with a number of mineralised holes open to the west. The mineralisation begins at surface and has thicknesses between 6 and 9m down hole.
This new discovery has strong potential to add additional Mineral Resources to the Tanga South area with further infill drilling definition. Significant results are presented in Table 1 (refer the link below).
Tajiri T2 HMS Mineralised Zone
The Tajiri T2 prospect is located to the north of the Tajiri Mineral Resource and is characterised by a broad zone 200m long and 800m wide mineralisation overlapping a topographic, radiometric and surface geochemical anomaly. The mineralised trend starts at surface and is dissected to the north and south by more recent erosional drainage. The continuity of the broader lower-grade mineralised halo is strong while the individual higher grade core requires additional AC drilling to determine the width and strike potential of the strandline.
Tajiri T3 HMS Mineralised Zone
The central Tajiri T3 prospect is currently less defined comprising wide spaced drilling with holes spaced 200m along lines 600 to 1,200m apart. The potential of this new drill prospect will be further understood with additional AC drilling to assist in delineating more consistent mineralisation or the discovery of smaller high grade zones within the overall strandline.
Generally, the Tajiri mineralised corridor is known for its high value, titanium dominated mineral assemblage (refer ASX release 4 April, 2016) reported from the combined Tajiri Indicated Mineral Resource estimation (59Mt @ 3.7% THM). The Valuable Heavy Mineral (VHM) assemblage of 87.7% has low trash and contaminants and nominally includes the following:
- Ilmenite content of 68% and Rutile 10%
- Leucoxene 4%
- Zircon 5%
It is anticipated that the newly discovered HMS zones along the Tajiri corridor will have a similar suite of high unit value minerals such as zircon, rutile and leucoxene.
TANGA SOUTH PANGANI-TONGONI DISCOVERY DRILLING
The Company completed its first phase of AC exploration drilling along the Pangani-Tongoni tenement during the fourth quarter 2016. The drill programme comprised 3,003m from 375 drill holes, with 921 samples submitted for THM analysis. The campaign has been successful in defining a number of large coherent mineralised zones identified as:
Vumbi HMS Discovery
The Vumbi HMS discovery, north of the Pangani Township is characterised by mineralisation some 4km long and up to 200m to 600m wide with several holes along strike of each other ending in mineralisation at 18m depth. The mineralisation occurs at the base of a prominent limestone ridge where the higher grade zone appears to be controlled by a deeper channel within the limestone basement The Vumbi mineralisation remains open to the north with the northern most hole 16PAAC807 encountering 7.5m @ 6.4% THM. The area was drilled to test a radiometric anomaly and subtle topographic ridge with limited historic surface geochemistry.
Considering the potential scale of the discovery, the Company will prioritise a phase of infill drilling with the view to further delineate the higher-grade domain and Mineral Resource.
Vumbi East Prospectivity
At Vumbi East, the mineralisation has been identified from a single drill line with the next drill line located some 1.6km to the north. The mineralisation at surface is more ilmenite rich and grades into a garnet-rich basal zone. The drilling information is considered too sparse to determine if this area shows strong grade or geological continuity but the results to date are highly encouraging for a first pass drill programme.
Kilale Prospectivity
Broad low grade heavy sand mineralisation has been encountered over potentially 3 zones at Kilale. The drill spacing is wide utilising a 1600m x 200m grid with shallow mineralisation defined along strike over 4.8km and width of 2 to 3km. The anomalies are of sufficient grade and size at this early stage to warrant additional follow up investigation. Drill sample logging of the sand in this area also identified an increase in garnet with potentially 10 to 20% of the THM comprising trash within the 3 main anomalies.
Additional mineral assemblage work is required to understand the value of the new prospects identified along the Pangani-Tongoni mineralised corridor. The significant results are presented in Table 2 (refer the link below).
TANGA NORTH EARLY EXPORATION - KITAMBULA
The Company has recently completed initial exploration activities of its Tanga North tenements, favourably located within 15-20km to the existing Tanga port infrastructure. The Company, through recently flown geophysical data and ground-truthing, has successfully identified a series of radiometric thorium anomalies extending over a promising 9km section of the Kitambula tenement with ground-reconnaissance sampling work verifying high grade HMS mineralisation at surface.
The mineral assemblage and mineral chemistry data for Kitambula shows a VHM percentage averaging 85% with the higher value minerals of rutile and zircon ranging between 10 and 15% combined. The TiO2 deportment is generally dominated by ilmenite with the TiO2 content more suitable to the larger sulphate ilmenite market, which is consistent with other operations in the region.
The Company is currently planning its maiden drill campaign for the Tanga North targets to be conducted in the first half of 2017.
Mineral Resource Estimate Data
Refer to the ASX Announcement dated 4 April 2016 for full details of the JORC 2012 Mineral Resource Estimate for the Tanga South Project. (http://www.abnnewswire.net/lnk/IPSC322X)
To view tables and figures, please visit:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/F38X9H9T
About Strandline Resources Limited
Strandline Resources is an Australian Stock Exchange listed company (ASX:STA) (OTCMKTS:STQNF) is a Tanzanian-focused mineral sands developer positioned within the world’s major zircon and titanium producing corridor in South East Africa. Strandline has a dominant mineral sands position with a series of 100% owned projects spread along 350km of the Tanzanian coastline.
Strandline’s strategy is to develop and operate quality, low cost, expandable mining assets with market differentiation. Leveraging off the exploration success of 2016, the Company’s focus is to continue its aggressive exploration and development strategy to progress economically attractive projects based on high unit value titanium and zircon products.
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