TIDMEEE
RNS Number : 9778H
Empire Metals Limited
02 August 2023
Empire Metals Limited / LON : EEE / Sector: Natural
Resources
2 August 2023
Empire Metals Limited
("Empire " or "the Company")
Airborne Gravity Survey Completed at Pitfield
Empire Metals Limited (LON: EEE), the AIM-quoted resource
exploration and development company, is pleased to announce that an
Airborne Gravity Survey has recently been flown at the Pitfield
Project ('Pitfield' or the "Project"), located in the premier
mining jurisdiction of Western Australia.
Highlights
-- Airborne gravity data will help build a robust, detailed
geological model of the Yandanooka Basin, host to the previously
announced massive titanium discovery and coincident with the 40km
long magnetics anomaly that has been correlated to the extensively
altered and mineralised sedimentary beds.
-- Discrete high-density bodies of rock such as thick
iron-titanium mineralised beds or large zones of hematitic iron
oxides typically associated with copper mineralisation can be
directly detected by this type of survey.
-- Initial petrographic studies confirmed the presence of
ilmenite, a highly valued source for titanium oxide ('TiO(2) ') and
which accounts for over 85% of the feedstock for the entire
titanium industry.
-- The gravity data will be used in conjunction with all other
exploration data sets towards defining priority drill targets
across the entire length of the magnetics anomaly.
-- The fully funded next drill programme, including both diamond
core and additional RC drilling, will be carried out to confirm the
scale of this giant, titanium-enriched mineral system and also
provide more information about key parameters such as mineralogy,
grades, tonnage potential and geological controls on the thicker,
higher-grade mineralisation.
Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said: "We are making good headway
in understanding the size and scale of this globally significant
titanium discovery. The main objective of the gravity survey is to
map variations in the subsurface rock density at Pitfield across
the 40km by 8km magnetics anomaly at a high resolution that will
assist in drill target selection, with priority given to
identifying and testing the thicker and higher-grade parts of this
giant titanium-rich mineral system. The iron-titanium oxide
mineralisation already encountered at Pitfield has a higher density
than the surrounding unaltered sediments and should stand out well
in the survey."
The Pitfield Project
Empire holds a 70% interest in Pitfield which is comprised of
four granted Exploration Licences (E70/5465, E70/5876, E70/6320 and
E70/6323) covering 1,042km(2) . Pitfield is located near Three
Springs, a town 313km north of Perth, Western Australia on the
Midlands Road, which until the opening of the Brand Highway in 1975
was the main road route from Perth to the state's north (refer
Figure 1).
Figure 1. Pitfield Project Location showing the scale of the
magnetics anomaly and coincident alteration footprint.
Regional gravity and magnetics surveys, carried out historically
by the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA), identified
strong, extensive and coincident gravity and magnetics anomalies
within the Yandanooka Basin but lacked detail due to wide line
spacing of these historical surveys. The more detailed airborne
magnetics (AM) and airborne electromagnetics (AEM) surveys
undertaken by Empire (announced 21 September 2022) confirmed a
field-mapped massive alteration footprint within the host
sedimentary rocks that was coincident with the historical gravity
anomaly and the new, detailed magnetic and electromagnetic
anomalies extending over a 40km north-south distance (Figure 1).
These new surveys also provided more internal detail of this
massive geophysical anomaly that is required for more accurate
drill target selection.
The maiden, reconnaissance Reverse Circulation ('RC') drilling
campaign (announced 30 May 2023) was focused on areas where Empire
had previously identified highly chargeable-highly resistive
anomalies from Induced Polarisation (IP) ground surveys, which have
now been shown to be associated with stratabound iron and titanium
oxide mineralisation hosted within hydrothermally altered
sandstone-siltstone beds.
Airborne Gravity Survey
XCalibur Multiphysics Group ('Xcaliber') was contracted by
Empire to conduct a Falcon fixed-wing airborne gravity gradiometer
(AGG) survey at Pitfield, which was flown between 17 and 21 July.
The survey was flown over the entire magnetics anomaly and
consisted of 1,749 line-km at a spacing of 325m (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Local geological map showing AGG survey area flown.
Falcon is a low-noise, high sensitivity airborne system which is
ideally suited for rapid and accurate acquisition of gravity data
that is related to underlying rock densities. This type of survey
measures gravity tensors which are used to derive the vertical
gravity gradient. The Falcon AGG system employs two independent
horizontally-aligned accelerometers to measure variations in the
Earth's gravitational field (Figure 3).
Figure 3. XCalibur's Falcon fixed-wing AGG system.
The airborne gravity data will aid exploration efforts by better
defining the geological anatomy of the Yandanooka Basin even in
areas lacking surface rock exposures due to transported cover, and,
most importantly, the place of titanium, and potentially also
copper mineralisation and their controls. A more detailed
geological understanding of this giant mineral system will allow
Empire to better target the more intensely mineralised part of the
system with the overall objective of quickening the pace of project
development.
The data generated by the AGG survey will be complementary to
the existing magnetic and electromagnetic data over the same area
as it is measuring variations in rock density, a different but
equally fundamental physical property of rocks. Detailed gravity
surveying can also be used as a direct detection tool for
identifying discrete high-density zones of significant
mineralisation, such as thick iron-titanium oxide-rich mineralised
beds or large zones of hematitic iron oxides often associated with
copper mineralisation.
Future Work
The maiden drill campaign consisted of only 21 RC drill holes
totalling 3,206 metres, with the first 18 holes focused near the
old Mt Scratch workings to the north and the final three holes
spread evenly across a 30km distance to the south. The next fully
funded drill programme, including both diamond core and additional
RC drilling, will be carried out along the entire length of the
magnetics anomaly to confirm the scale of this giant,
titanium-enriched mineral system and to also understand the
distribution of key factors better, such as grade, mineralogy,
thickness and extent of mineralised beds and controls on high-grade
TiO(2) mineralisation.
TiO (2) Industry and Market Demand
Titanium minerals are highly valued as a source for titanium
oxide ("TiO(2) "), a high growth commodity used primarily as an
input into the process of the manufacture of pigments which are
used in the production of paints, paper and plastics. Titanium as a
metal alloy is known for its properties of low density (light
weight), high strength and rust-resistance, making it a key
component for the automotive industry with the rapid growth in
demand for light weight, fuel efficient vehicles and for green
energy generating technologies such as wind turbines.
Use in pigment manufacture accounts for approximately 90% of
total global demand for titanium feedstocks. Titanium metal and
welding flux cord wire jointly account for the remaining 10%
demand.
TiO(2) is generally mined as ilmenite, typically either from
hard rock deposits or from beach sand operations. Titanium dioxide
feedstocks are graded by their titanium dioxide content, which
ranges from approximately 50% (sulphate ilmenite) to 95% (natural
rutile). These feedstocks are sold as either "unprocessed"
(chloride or sulphate ilmenite) or as "processed" (sulphate or
chloride slag) where the source material (ilmenite) has been
upgraded to increase the concentration of TiO(2) in the
feedstock.
A schematic of the titanium market is laid out in Figure 4
below.
Figure 4. Titanium Market Products and Feedstocks.(1)
Pigments are essential to the manufacture of a wide range of
consumer products. Pigments are found in products with high quality
finishes, in plastics and paper and in foods and pharmaceuticals.
As disposable incomes have increased the demand for these consumer
products has increased.
The global titanium market size has been estimated to be worth
circa USD 26 billion in 2022 and is forecast to reach USD 36
billion by 2028, with a CAGR of 5.5% during the period of
review.(2)
Titanium minerals are regarded as a "critical" resource and
titanium is on the strategic "critical minerals list" in many
countries including the United States, the European Union, Japan
and Australia.
1. Source Iluka Resources Ltd website
2. Source www.marketwatch.com/press-release/titanium-market-insights-2030-2023-06-19
Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure
Certain information contained in this announcement would have
been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, as incorporated into UK law by the
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, until the release of this
announcement.
**ENDS**
For further information please visit www.empiremetals.co.uk or contact:
Empire Metals Ltd
Shaun Bunn / Greg Kuenzel Tel: 020 4583 1440
S. P. Angel Corporate Finance LLP Tel: 020 3470 0470
(Nomad & Broker)
Ewan Leggat / Adam Cowl
---------------------
Shard Capital Partners LLP (Joint Tel: 020 7186 9950
Broker)
Damon Heath
---------------------
St Brides Partners Ltd (Financial Tel: 020 7236 1177
PR)
Susie Geliher / Ana Ribeiro
---------------------
About Empire Metals Limited
Empire Metals is an AIM-listed (LON: EEE) exploration and
resource development company with a project portfolio comprising
copper, titanium and gold interests in Australia and Austria.
The Company's strategy is to develop a pipeline of projects at
different stages in the development curve. Its current focus is on
the Pitfield Project in Western Australia, which has demonstrated
to contain a newly recognized giant mineral system that hosts a
globally significant titanium discovery. The Company is also
advancing the Eclipse-Gindalbie Project in Western Australia, which
is prospective for high-grade gold and also kaolin used to produce
high-purity alumina, an essential component in lithium-ion
batteries.
The Company also has two further exploration projects in
Australia; the Walton Project in Western Australia, and the Stavely
Project in the Stavely Arc region of Victoria, in addition to three
precious metals projects located in a historically high-grade gold
producing region of Austria.
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END
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